OT- Leaf Blowers

Re: OT- Leaf Blowers---battery

Tom Dunlap

Look hard at battery power.

Soooooo many of my arborist buddies are buying battery powered tools when its time to replace. I have not read of any regrets either.

Husky seems to have a little bit of an edge in the battery game.

Color makes less of a difference though. Service is the key. Find a shop that handles multiple lines of small power equipment. They need to stay up on education which helps across all of the platforms.

Last spring I stopped at the shop I dealt with for years to talk about battery tools. He told me that he is doing almost ZERO billable work for repairs to the small tools. The tool companies started their entry into batteries with small stuff. The tools are now out of warranties and might be needing repairs. He isn't seeing it at all. He IS concerned though since repairs are part of his income. WIth more dependable tools across all platforms he's concerned about his bottom line.

Buy the biggest blower you can. You'll never regret it and they don't cost much more than the less powerful.

Tom

Re: OT- Leaf Blowers

Jason Roehl

I have a 2-cycle backpack blower at work. There’s just no comparison with battery-powered—more airflow, and much more run time that is much more easily renewed. Blowers use a LOT of juice. I can tell just by what I use at home—I can mow my lawn twice on one battery (50 minutes total run time) but put that same battery in the blower, and I’m lucky to get 20 minutes out of it.

That’s not to say cordless blowers aren’t useful. I got mine because it also converts into a vacuum, which is very useful for my sunken driveway that collects leaves in the corners up by the garage. It’s much easier to vacuum them up than to blow them halfway across creation.

Jason

Re: OT- Leaf Blowers-compare

Tom Dunlap

Interesting

HOw do the CFM specs compare between the gas and battery? What brand?

While reading about dust collector systems the writer of an article showed how much cfm was needed to vacuum then compared it to blowing. MUCH different values. It was eye opening. Then I bought Husky blower/vac...handheld gas...and saw it first hand.

Re: OT- Leaf Blowers

kneale brownson

Beware of gas-powered blowers. All that noise behind your head is only slightly reduced by ear muffs. The parts availability for older machines, like chain saws, falls off rather rapidly. I like the idea of a battery-powered version.

Could your existing blower work better for you if you mounted it on something with some large wheels that could make it easier to move?

Re: OT- Leaf Blowers

John K Jordan

I don't have the Stihl but I have a Shindiawa backpack blower. IT is amazing, strong enough to pick up and roll 5" diameter rocks at full throttle. Always starts, minimal maintenance.

I'm not interested in battery powered devices for around the farm unless they are used often. My experience is the batteries slowly degrade otherwise and I'm faced with a 1/2 done job or worse, buying new batteries. I like the "put in good gas and oil and go" method.) But here I may use weedwackers, leafblowers, mowers, and chainsaws almost continuously for hours at a time which requires buying even more batteries. May be fine on a 1/4acre lot in town.

I have no choice concerning hand-held power tools away from AC power.

JKJ

Dewalt 60V and a Stihl

Mike L

I have a Dewalt 60V blower and it does a pretty good job clearing half my driveway, by the time I am on the other drive it is just about done. My drive way is U shaped about 80 feet each side then the apron is 40 by 20. I can clear the side yard with the Dewalt and will have to change batteries twice. If the leaves a a bit wet or piles to high the Dewalt has a hard time moving them. I have a Stihl hand held gas type, that will push them with no problems.

I have the 60 V chain saw and love it. For quick jobs it does great and will last a few trees before it kills the batteries. I also have the 60V string trimmer and it will last three or four uses before needing recharge.

I am not sure of the CFM of the blowers, but I do know it will kill a battery faster then any other tool I use.