OT? Garden Vac Recommendations?

[CC]

X-No-Archive: Yes

I had a Pro Performance (B&Q own brand?) electric garden vac that, frankly, was rubbish. It didn't seem to have much suction (it was either 1600 or 1800 watt), and because the end of the tube was square, you had to hold it vertically to maximise what little suction there was. I had expected to be able to hold it at an angle (which was more comfortable) because the handle arrangement suggested that this was the way it was supposed to be used, and some distance above the ground so that it would take in material from a larger area, but this was not the case - you had to go over 'every square inch'. Also, the plastic impeller seemed to trap certain hedge trimmings around its edge, which then began to wear. Finally, the bag seemed very 'open', resulting in considerable stoor 'out the back'.

I would like an electric vac which would be mainly used for picking up grass clippings (which blow out from the sides of my mower onto adjacent paths) and hedge trimmings (privet, holly and leylandii).

Are vacs suitable for the jobs I need them to do? Are there any good quality vacs out there, or are they likely to be just as poor as the one I had?

As info./experiences and recommendations would be much appreciated.

TIA.

[Andrew McKay]

Dunno about good quality, but being a sucker for special offers I picked one of these up from Homebase about 10 days ago. Cost £29. Comes with castors on the bottom of the pipe to relieve the weight of holding the thing, and it is angled.

Sounds like Rolls Royce found another outlet for the Concorde jet engines when in use, but that's no big deal because you'd use a set of ear defenders if you were using it frequently.

I got it home and used it to collect the sawdust and other debris from my garage floor - seemed to do a pretty good job.

Can suck, blow and regurgitate (not sure what you'd use the latter for but there you go). 1800w.

Andrew

[Capitol]

CC wrote: etc.

FWIW, our experience has been that all garden vacs, other than big motor propelled ones are pretty useless at sucking or blowing. They are very heavy to operate even with the wheels, which clog with mud in this weather. However, the McCulloch small(33cm) wheeled rotary lawn mower with collecting box IOE works like a charm when picking up grass clippings or leaves from grass or paving. Quite unexpected, she regularly now volunteers to pick up the leaves!I have seen the small hand held petrol powered blowers operated in the US, these worked very well on dry leaves, (but are very expensive IME in the UK), as do the bigger units which are back packs in the UK.

Regards Capitol