My 18 year old Sears leaf blower gave up its ghost. I tried to resuscitate it by rebuilding the carb, but no joy.
I am looking for an inexpensive gas leaf blower for light duty around my home.
I was looking at the reviews of some blowers at Walmart, the HD and Amazon, but they all had rather poor reviews, except the $ 500 Echos. I don't want to spend more than @ 100.
Any recommendations based on experience? Is it worth looking at any of the many re-furbished blowers on E-bay?
Thanks
Walter
Whatsa gas leaf?
Consumer Reports has a Weed Eater VS2000BV as a Best Buy.
100 bucks on the nose. Poulan Pro BVM200VS is $110. Craftsman 79470 is $125. All 3 score 70 points on the CR scale. Top rated is the Echo PB-250. It scores 80 points and the price listed is $170.
I really like my 5hp craftsman shop vac which also acts as a leaf blower......
the shop vac just plugs in conveniently around my yard
I got two stihl blowers. Very good. Don't buy horizontal flywheels. You can't move side to Side. My one is also a sucker. My smaller unit, I drilled out the exhaust for more hp. That one is 7 years old. Don't go for wind speed. You need speed and volume.
Greg
I use my 5hp craftsman shop vac as a vac to get the leafs out from under my bushes and from around the flowers in my wife's gardens. I removed the Y fitting inside the inlet to eliminate the clogging that used to occur at that point.
That's a trick question. There is no such thing as a "best leaf blower". They should all be banned.
I thank the gods that none of my neighbors are retarded enough to have one.
How about you don't bother the leaves? And give nearby folks a break on noise & air pollution?
Two stroke engines dump about 30% of their fuel unburned. Blowers stir up lots of particulates, the good news, operator suffers the worst.
Or heaven forbid...use a rake?
Hi, I likd back pack kind Echo brand when I did my yard work. Now some one else is doing it for me.
Harbor Freight has some nice Chinese blowers.
Tend to agree that every time you use a 2 cycle small engine you need to put your smelly clothes in the hamper and take a shower.
I prefer my corded unit. I can do things like dust out the car and sweep out the garage without all the noise and smell.
OP was asking about leaf blowers.
Rake... think blisters and bandaides. BTDT and it's no joy especially with packed down leaves from all winter.
You're hands must be too soft or perhaps you haven't discovered gloves. So it's ok to blow unburned hydrocarbons & dust around?
btw..if oyu rake in the fall, they won't pack down during the winter.
I bother them by running over them with the mulching mower at least where we have grass. There are a few shreds of leaves scattered around for a few days but I am not in the make your lawn look like a putting green competition.
+1
Thats what I use in some spots to pull them out so I can get them with the mower.
Why? I can get most of them with the mulching mower and use a pair of garden gloves to rake out the ones I can get to with the mower. And I will run the mower just to break down the leaves before winter.
Stop by my house and check out the areas that have bushes and my wife's gardens.
There is no way you're pulling them out with a rake. I even have a very narrow rake for working around plants.
Option 1 - Get down on my hands and knees and spend hours upon hours removing the leaves by hand Option 2 - Stand upright and use a shop vac to remove the leaves from in and around the bushes and plants.
Guess which option I use?
de quoted text -
I don't know where you live, but we often get snow before all the leaves are down.
In addition, you can't make the neighbors rake their's and there is often "blow over" that occurs mid-winter that doesn't get cleaned up until spring.
At least that's what happens in my neck of the woods.
I miss my Craftsman, it gave up the ghost a couple years ago. Although it was undersized for my yard, it did the job eventually. Was great for blowing out the garage too.
Ended up getting a Stihl backpack, does the job as fast as I can move. But, it only serves the one purpose, unlike the Craftsman shop vac.
Rake in the fall where I lived is a joke. No one did it.
If you are really that worried about pollution, why not check out the oil refineries. They pollute a lot more than a measly leaf blower. I know because I've been inside many.
ps-- FWIW, landscapers use leaf blowers everyday where I live now.
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