My wife bought a small vac (probably off Amaz*n) and it's been craptastic to say the least. With two boys in the back seat of our SUV, the interior takes a beating for sure.

Any recommendations for a small unit I can keep in the back of the SUV and do a good job sucking up broken crayons, those plastic wraps from juice box straws and the evil of all evils, stale Goldfish crackers?

No. Virtually all these small vacs are weak and ineffective at getting the job done. Buy a good shop vac and keep it handy in your garage. Then make it a habit to vac out the car on a regular basis. When my son was little, I did touch up vac jobs every other day as need be, and a complete vac out once a week. That's the only real way to protect the interior of your vehicle.

My wife uses one from Makita that takes my 18v batteries. Basically a modern dustbuster. It's good for kid-induced shrapnel.

She also has a rechargeable Dirt Devil that has a spinning brush, for when a deeper clean is needed.

We've got one similar to this one, mostly for the stairs in the house, but it does a pretty good job.

http://www.qvc.com/Shark-Bagle...type=shopping&TZ=EST

I have a small Ridgid brand from home depot that is very handy. No wheels, etc, just a carry handle, and small, but works great.

It's 120 volt AC plug in the wall powered, and it does a really fine job.

I can't find the model number, but if you just happen to go into Home Depot you'll probably see it.

Anything 12 volt is going to, well, suck, but not suck in a good efficient way.

the little portable dysons (battery powered) are really good but spendy. The Shark portable battery powered are almost as good but not as spendy.