Bounty, never tried one of the hand vacuum pumps. Know a few people that have one and most say that it is a little slow. I have been told that if you put some teflon tape around the bleed screw threads you get much less air leaking making the vacuum more efficient. I have done brake bleeding with just the hose and the bottle and it works.

The catch jar on my vacuum will hold over a quart so it has a constant supply of vacuum, and when i flush the brake system i usually run about a quart through the lines. And when i am doing this by myself the vacuum makes it easy, attach the hose, flip the switch, open the bleed screw, and keep adding fluid to the master cylinder.

The differential valves in most non-abs cars is reset by slamming on the brakes, if nothing else you know you did a good brake job. Also if you are doing a non-ABS pickup there is a proportioning valve located on one of the frame rails under the bed, as more weight is added to the back of the truck the valve allows more pressure to the rear brakes to help you stop easier. There is usually a bleed screw on top of this valve.

ABS system on most cars can be bled with your method or a vacuum pump, vacuum bleeding is the recomended method, but make sure the car is off and don't let the master cylinder run out. If air gets into some of the valves it can be a real pain to get out. Some of the complicated ABS systems require actuating some of the electric valves to properly bleed and flush, stay away from these.