Choose The Best Cordless Leaf Blower

Gardening rewards your labor with neat flowerbeds, emerald lawns and blossoming shrubs. However that picture postcard image is destroyed in high winds, leaves all over the place, on your drive, in the guttering and drains. We love trees in blossom, appreciate the hues of fall, those gorgeous reds, ambers and russet browns but clearing fallen leaves away has to be one of the worst jobs a gardener faces.

Click Here To See The Top Rated Cordless Leaf Blowers

There are a lot of products on the market to deal with those leaves, but with variety comes choice, sometimes a difficult choice to make.

Types of Cordless Leaf Blowers

The essential difference between all the cordless leaf blowers on the market is type of power, speed, and cost. You need to consider weight, output and basically how hard it blows. A leaf blower is used to clear leaves away, it won’t collect them. For that you need a vacuum or a good old fashioned dustpan. Leaf blowers are good for getting leaves out of awkward places and useful for moving leaves to one place where you can then collect them up and dispose of them. The advantage of a cordless leaf blower is that it can reach all those hard to get to places, without miles of extension cord back to an electric source.

When buying a cordless leaf blower you are comparing power, speed settings, the voltage and any extra features.  Expect to pay anything from $60 to $300 with more choice around the $100 mark. Beware of buying combination blower/vacuum/strimmer items. It seems a good deal at first but generally you end up with a product that does none of the individual functions particularly well. Be clear on the usage life of your product. There is nothing more frustrating than half way through a job, the battery runs out it takes ages to recharge before you can finish the job. Leaf blowing is not much fun in the dark! An alternative is a gas powered leaf blower, generally heavier than the electric versions, more expensive, but with longer use time and good for heavy duty jobs.

How to choose a cordless leaf blower?

  • Quantity of leaves. If your property only suffers from a few leaves you need to clear off the deck or patio or drive, you will not need a massively powerful product.
  • Weight of product? Some of the top of the range products have very powerful batteries but can be heavy. One way to get a work out, but not comfortable for prolonged use.
  • Quantity of work.  A big leaf clearing job need long life batteries. A few leaves and a small area to clear, save some money, buy a cheaper shorter battery life version. Alternatively, a big job taking a long time may need a gas powered blower.
  • Cost.  Cordless leaf blowers are a seasonal product. You generally have little need for them in Spring and Summer. Consider the amount of usage you will get from the product and adjust your spend accordingly.

So, now you have an idea of the usage you want from your cordless leaf blower, which one to choose? Below are three recommendations for products from the different price ranges covering both electric and gas powered blowers.

Top Recommended Electric Blowers

Black & Decker 18-Volt Cordless Blower: Light jobs

The Black & Decker 18-Volt Cordless Blower is good for light jobs, clearing your patio or deck, getting rid of cobwebs and dust. It is lightweight- less than 5 pounds, but the battery life is only 15 minutes. It comes with two batteries and a charger that are standard with each blower. This blower is designed more like an electric broom, but as such does a good job. It is also very quiet and unlike gas or oil powered leaf blowers has no emissions, so no complaints from the neighbours about noise or smell. One word of warning, do not use in temperatures below 40 degrees so not an option for those of you in the chilly North!

Makita 18-Volt LXT Lithium-Ion Cordless Blower: Medium jobs

The Makita 18-Volt LXT Lithium-Ion Cordless Blower is sold without a battery but with battery only weighs about 4 pounds, with an incredible power of 179mph air velocity.  Add to that 3 different speeds and 3 year warranty you have a good product.  It runs on a Lithium Ion battery, chargeable anytime and repeatedly without losing power. The battery life is up to 75 minutes for low power jobs, but on the highest setting that drops to 15 minutes run time. It has a soft grip handle, making it comfortable to use and a two finger variable speed trigger switch. The flexible nozzle of the blower can be bent to get into hard to reach areas but it is not really powerful enough to move wet leaves. You can use this blower for a variety of maintenance jobs; a useful addition to your workshop.

Top Recommended Gas Powered Blower

Hitachi 2 Stroke Gas Powered Handheld Blower: Medium to heavy duty jobs

The Hitachi 2 Stroke Gas Powered Handheld Blower is a great blower for people looking to have power for medium to heavy jobs. Most gas powered blowers come as backpacks, this is a handheld version. It’s light at 8.6 pounds and very powerful at 170 mph. It is powered by a 23.9 cc commercial grade 2 stroke engine. This particular model is carb compliant so can be used in all states including California. It features an auto return stop switch, which resets the blower to the “on” position for easy starts and comes with a 7 year consumer warranty. It is operated by a large two finger throttle lever and is easy to start. It is more expensive than other electric models, but much more powerful too.

If you have a really heavy duty job you should consider gas powered back pack style blowers. They range in price from $90 to $400 and if you live in California you need to look out for models that are CARB compliant.

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Select The Right Leaf Blower

A Leaf blower is a handy machine mainly used to blow or vacuum leaves. It can also double up as driveway sweepers or snow clearers. Leaf blowers work by propelling air out of a nozzle to move yard debris such as leaves and are usually powered by two-stroke engine or an electric motor but four-stroke engines were recently introduced to partially address air pollution concerns.

Click Here To See The Top Rated Leaf Blowers

There’s a type of blower to suit every yard from small electric handhelds to beefier gas-powered backpack models or powerful walk-behind machines. The choice of which would tend to allude to the amount of work and the size of the budget that the user has at hand. The important thing to note here is that the bigger the blower the more noise it makes, which is why these tools have their detractors. There are currently twenty California cities that have banned leaf blowers, sometimes only within residential neighborhoods and usually targeting gasoline-powered equipment. Another 80 cities have ordinances on the books restricting either usage or noise level or both.

In response to criticisms, manufactures have come back with mufflers for gas-powered blowers although you’ll still need ear protection. For to the above reason, it may be best to first consider the amount of work that is required before considering using a leaf blower. If you have a large lawn and it becomes covered with great masses of leaves in fall, it may make sense to use leaf blower as a first step in the leaf-removal process. Factors to consider while using a leaf blower:

  • Leaf blowing should be conducted on a completely dry day. If there is moisture in the leaves they will stick to each other creating more mess than before. Leaf blowing should also be equally avoided on a windy day.
  • Always ensure that you have worn the proper safety apparel should be worn before attempting any type of outdoor maintenance work. Also make sure ears as leaf blowing can be very loud. Eye protection is important because leaves could blow into the air and obstruct your vision – even damaging it. Also wear Gloves to protect your hands from grime and dirt that is on the leaves as well as blisters from working the machinery.
  • You should first choose an area of the yard where you are going to pile the leaves. This should be in a secluded area that is accessible from the entire property. It is important to lay a tarp or have bags ready for the leaves to be piled into. This destination is where the leaves are going to be blown to. It is important that it be a dry area as well.
  • Leaf blowers are unable to move large piles of leaves at one time. It is important to start a leaf blowing destination where the leaves will move cohesively to the proper area. A common choice is to begin is the opposite edge of the yard while moving in an upwards motion to create a path for the leaves. It’s important that you stick to your chosen path because it becomes confusing if you are choosing a random method of collection.
  • Slowly blow the leaves towards the tarp moving it slightly away when reaching the tarp as to not disturb the leaves that are already present. It is important that you move slowly in fluid motion when blowing leaves towards the tarp area. If there are a large amount of leaves it is likely that this will take a period of time. Leaf blowing is efficient but can turn into a disaster if attempted in a nonchalant motion. It is important to take proper care with the machine, and the movements that you are making.

It is important to take your time when trying to choose a leaf blower that is right for your needs. Always consider the various options that are available when trying to choose a quality leaf blower. Online reviews are a great way to gauge the quality of specific leaf blowers that are available.

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