Leaf blower recommendation

[Scott O]

Has this been discussed on the AGF before? Not that I can remember, so get ready for a thrilling discussion!

The electric blower I inherited when I bought my house just died so I'm the market for a new one. There's a few things I want to use it for:

Patios and driveway: these get a lot of debris (leaves, sticks,etc) on them from the surrounding woods as well as dirt and sand. The patios and walkway are probabaly a total of 350 square feet. The driveway is @1200 sq ft, so a total of 1550 sq ft of hard surfaces.

Yard: total of about 1 acre of which probably 10,000 sq feet is a lawn of some sort. I would expect to only clean the yard up once or twice in the spring and then few times in the fall when I get a lot of leaves. If I'm ambitious, I may want to try to clear out more parts of the wooded areas of leaves and pine needles. The areas that are grass are not cookie cutter squres. Ie, there lots of angles, corners, and odd shapes to it.

So the most frequent usage will be to keep the patios and driveway clean every few weeks. And then annual spring and fall clean ups. I'd like to spend as little time as possible doing these tasks so I'll budget more if it saves me time. It looks like the options for leaf blowers is endless (647 results on Amazon).


- corded vs cordless rechargeable vs gas? I've got concerns with using a cord with such a big area. I've also got concerns with how long batteries will last. And of course, how reliable are gas blowers for someone who it not great at maitenance (my 2 stroke Stihl trimmer starts every time while my Husky chainsaw is a headache).

- leaf bag/mulcher attached? Do these work? Seems like it would be a time saver if I could use it to just vacuum up the patios vs blowing everything into a pile and then sweeping it up. I do have a mulching mower that I use in the fall for leaves and that is a pretty good setup.


- What brands? Do I want the Martin of leafblowers or the Taylor? Any brands to stay away from?

Any advice from the collective brainpower of the AGF as to which styles/modes is greatly appreciated, thanks.

[OKCtodd71]

My only suggestion is that you don't fire it up at 7am on Sunday morning.

[Dirk Hofman]

Please get another electric, for you neighbors’ sake!

[Mr. Paul]

My Stihl has been 100% reliable over many years.

If I were shopping now though I would go battery powered( though we don't have neighbors) ... the EGO system looks intriguing though I've never used one. Battery technology has come a long ways.

[ras1500]

"- leaf bag/mulcher attached? Do these work? "

They do work, however, years ago I had a corded blower that I tried to use as a leaf vac. I don't remember the brand name, but it had a plastic impeller. The vac swallowed a small rock and fractured one of the impeller vanes. That put the whole system out of balance and the blower vibrated severely. I was able to purchase a replacement impeller. After that incident, I no longer used that blower as a vac, I used my lawn mower with the bag attached. That blower died many years ago, and I have not used my replacement blower as a vac to avoid a recurrence of a broken impeller. Some brands indicate they have a metal impeller, so that may be a better choice if it will be used as a vac.

[hubcapsc]

I built my house down in the woods. My "yard" is pretty rough...



I used to rake into a tarp and pull that to a pile in the woods. There's
some pretty good stuff at the bottom of that pile now!

I have to clear the "yard" out two or three times each fall what with all
the leaves that accumulate down in the woods like that. I've moved on
to an electric leaf blower... an EGO... I have a couple of other EGO
tools and have gotten a couple of extra larger batteries. I can say that
if you need to blow out a sizeable area, you'll need numerous batteries.

Electric is still plenty loud and annoying. Not having to keep a gas
engine maintained is a GIANT win, though.

-Mike

[hairpuller]

Sorry but there's no comparison when it comes to leaf blowers. Those electric ones are like an oversized blow-dryer. I own a Husqvarna gas powered leaf blower, and it BLOWS!

I am very considerate of my neighbors, though we live on 2 acres. I only fire it up once a month when I'm up on the roof and never before 8 am. I can finish the job in less than half the time it took me with my old electric model.

Just my 2 cents.

scott

[Glennwillow]

Moving lots of air at significant velocity takes a fair amount of power. Battery powered blowers are quiet and lighter weight, but they cannot do what a gas-powered leaf blower can do.

I have always hated the sound of gas-powered left blowers but I finally bought one because I needed an effective way to keep my roof clear of debris in the fall. I use a Stihl gas-powered blower. I do not use it early in the morning. Also, I am at the end of a road way out in the country, so few people hear me when I use this thing.

This blower really goes through gas at a fairly high rate because, as I noted, it takes a lot of power to move a lot of air at significant velocity.

- Glenn

[Acousticado]

For my past rural needs up to a couple of years ago, it was gas all the way for various yard maintenance tools. Before moving, it was time to replace a number of my yard tools and I would’ve been exploring a set of rechargeable components with a common battery system. I didn’t need a blower because I used my garden tractor to achieve the same thing with no nearby neighbors to be concerned about. I might’ve had to stick with gas depending on power needs.

After having moved to a suburban community, I explored rechargeable yard maintenance tools and wanted (need) a vacuum more than a blower to not blow stuff around on my adjacent neighbor properties. When I researched makes/models, there are tons of options for blowers of any power source, but for (combo) blower/vacuums, nowhere near as much and not among any of the quality brands. To get a combo blower/vacuum as part of several rechargeable yard care components with a common battery system, I wanted a Makita system, but their combo blower/vacuum unit didn’t seem very good, so I ended-up with a Black& Decker system. It gets the job done, but nowhere near powerful enough for other than a small suburban property.

[David Eastwood]

I’ve had plug-in electric blower/mulchers for years. I got tired of dealing with the cord, so bought a small Ryobi cordless blower a couple of years ago. It does a great job for ‘touch up’ around the yard and the house, but can’t cope with the autumn leaf fall.

The Ego cordless blower I bought last year absolutely can. This thing is a beast - plenty of power for my needs, good runtime on the standard 2.5Ah battery, but if I need more, I just slot in one of the 5Ah batteries I have for my snowblower. That makes it a tad heavy, but it’s by no means unmanageable. It’s decently quiet too - a most impressive tool.

I just wish they’d make a leaf mulcher. Until they do, I’ll stick with my trusty corded Toro.

[spock]

Hard to find reliable tools/power equipment anymore, but our Echo blower has been outstanding over the years. The only reason we had to get a new one after 5 years of trouble free usage is because I backed over the first one with my car.

https://www.echo-usa.com/Products/Blowers/PB-2520

[hubcapsc]

The biggest baddest Stihl (BR 800 C-E MAGNUM) can blow 912 CFM...

My EGO is rated at 600 CFM...

I have an expensive RedMax gas powered string trimmer that can stand up to
being used all day every day by those crews you see on the side of
the road. I use it to keep my trails in the woods clear and abuse it
in many other ways. Its .13 string seems more important than the
gas motor. My EGO string trimmer can only use up to .095 string,
it breaks too easy.

Don't give up on battery unless you're sure, and it is a mistake
to think the wimpy battery powered tools you could get ten
years ago aren't a LOT better now. I use my flexvolt Dewalt
circular saw by choice over my plugged in ones these days.

-Mike

[lfoo6952]

For electric powered, Consumer Reports recommends the Toro 51624. It is corded, not cordless.

For gas powered, they recommend Husqvarna 350BT.

[Simon Fay]

Go with the EGO blower and don't look back. I'm completely sold on their system. For residential use they are more than enough.

[blue]

I like my Stihl as well.

The real question is less one of brand, but of handheld vs. backpack.

Few things are as annoying as refueling mid, or early-mid job. If you're talking small subruban lot, no issues with a handheld. 3/4 acre or more? Blech!