I wanted to write a very quick review for the Metro Vac Master Blaster Revolution as I didn’t see a pro review on it yet.  We currently have 2 at the shop and use them daily.  We have only been using the master blaster for the last 2.5-3 years or so.  Reason being, we used the Sidekick blower for a very long time and the performance was great.  The sidekick costs only $80 and lasts as they say, forever.  We have probably 4-6 sidekick blowers around the shop and still use them on some projects or mobile work where the master blaster is too bulky.  It’s very easy to hold, has plenty of power to dry out jambs, wheels and full cars and as I mentioned, it’s very durable.

That said, the Master Blaster literally, figuratively and any other -ly, blows the sidekick out of the water.  The power is not comparable and the performance is at least 4-5x better.  We invested in one of these as a fluke a few years back and have since purchased another one.  We “had to have it” because one of us at the shop using the master blaster would dry their half of the car by the time the other person finished the roof, windows and mirrors with the sidekick.  I made a quick video showing the comparison in power and some general photos included, but it’s my first video review so please bear with me :).

As you can see in the video, the Master Blaster is just an overall better product and does the job both better and quicker.  It’s 8hp motor makes it really easy to not only get water off the surface, but also remove most of the water from door jambs and random crevices around the car.  The regular master blaster has no swivel wheels, but I’ve found working with either of them is a pleasure.  The swivel wheels are great as you can really pull it around where you want, but sometimes you want it to only go in one direction, such as when moving from front to rear of the car to avoid accidentally hitting the car.

One thing people sometimes mention is that a blower isn’t strong enough to dry off the entire car before you get water spots.  This is a false statement about any blower because too many other variables go into the process.  If it’s warm and definitely if you’re in the sun, no blower will dry a car fully before you get water spots.  You have to find what works for you and for your specific environment and use that as a guideline.  Sometimes we get water spots 2 minutes into the process because we’re on a mobile job and the sun caught a section of the glass or paint through some tree cover. Other times just one person can fully dry a car and not get any water spots at all because the car is well protected with a sealant or coating and the temperature is perfect so water doesn’t dry out quickly.  I personally recommend drying the car in sections, regardless of temperature, just to make sure you’re not leaving spots and also to get into habit for those warmer temps.  I dry off the whole top of the car from one side (blowing all water to the other side), all crevices like sunroof, window seals, etc. and then finish off the other side so the whole top of the car (cabin with windows/glass) is dry.  Then I hose down the rest of it to keep it wet and start drying to hood and driver side.  Once that’s done, I’ll hose down the passenger side and finish drying everything.  Jambs, gas cap, bumper/light crevices, etc. are saved for last to get some remaining water out.

With the master blaster, there is an option for 10′ and 30′ hose.  I’ve tried both and if I had to have one, I slightly lean towards the 10′ hose.  The 30′ hose definitely has a bit less power for obvious reasons, but that’s not why I’d choose the 10′ hose.  Mainly it’s because unless you have a lot of space in your work area, the 30′ hose becomes an obstacle.  It’s very long, but not long enough to go around the entire car… what I mean is if I left the blower at the front of the car, I can’t go fully around the car and dry everything without moving the blower.  The other negative I found is that it’s just too hard/stiff, so when you’re moving it sometimes it tends to flip over if twisted the wrong way and can hit the car or get stuck under a wheel, etc.  It’s nowhere near as bad as some of the cheap vacuum hoses you would find at Home Depot that are impossible to maneuver however.  If Metro made it closer in flexibility to a rubber hose that’s a bit easier to use, I may prefer the 30′.  Although I may still want it to be longer… maybe 40′ so there’s no moving of the blower.  The 10′ hose reaches everything really well, even on SUVs, but does need the blower to be moved to the next location.  I normally have to move the blower 3-5 times depending on the car, but most of that is just pulling it rather than lifting and moving it.

While all this does come at a cost ($340-400 vs $80 of the sidekick), I couldn’t be happier with the product.  I’ve recommended it to quite a few clients who bought one as soon as they compared the two and if I didn’t have it for my business I’d invest in one for personal use.  So far it has been very durable and other than having to tape a 2.5 year old hose as it started to bend too much (our fault for pulling it sideways too much), the unit has worked 100% of the time.  It has an easy to replace filter at the end, but even with all we’ve done with it (probably used an average of 1 hour daily, Mon-Fri, last 2.5 years) all I had to do was wash the filter a few times and replace it just recently.

If you’re someone who likes to wash your or a few other cars weekly, I would highly recommend investing in the Master Blaster as it will make drying more enjoyable and perform well on any vehicle.