Its that time of year again and the neighborhood boys who used to do my raking are grown and gone... I am thinking about getting a back pack leaf blower. I don't want to mess around. Something with 10000 CFM and 900 mph wind would be good! :laugh: But seriously, any recommendations? - Bill
I would recommend Ryobi but because they dont make a back-pack leaf blower, I would look into Echo. They range in price from $280-300 for the backpack models at Home Depot. Goodluck. :TU:
Get a goat instead, they are quieter and fertilize your lawn at the same time. Get a nanny goat and you can make some nice cheese as well. :moonu: :laugh: Seriously, why do those things have to be so dang LOUD!! :rant:
blowers Get the Stihl BR420 back pack blower its the balls.... just do a web search for info,,,, :Comp:
The Tanaka's work fricken great. They also work great for drying off your car after washing it. http://www.tanaka-usa.com/index.php?b=blowers Rob
ECHO stuff is of high quality and lasts a long time. I have a leaf blower and string trimmer. Very happy with them. You will find ECHO stuff at the professional equipment stores, not in HD or Lowes.
Stihl I have had a Stihl for about 8 years - It has been used heavily (6 acres) and has been very reliable - It has been used in combination with my track vac tackle tons of leaves - I also use it to blow snow off the driveway, and keeping the driveway clean even in the summer.
i pulled a Ryobi off the curb on trash day and took it home thinking SCORE !!!! .... had good compression, got spark...fuel...but couldn't get it to fire. Took it to the local small equip. guy (who I became friends with since he's got 14 cars !!!) I take it out of the car and put it on the ground next to me waiting for him to finish demo'ing some equip. to a lawn service guy. He finally comes over, looks down at it and sez.... Him - "Whats wrong....it doesnt run ??" Me - Nope Him - May I ???? me - sure !! ....thinking the god of small 2-cycle engines is going to lay hands on my blower and I'll soon be the envy of every garbage picker/ home lawn care guy on the planet, I watch with anticipation to see what exactly he's going to do He reaches over....grabs hold of it....and FLINGS IT as hard as he can !! I watch it Sail in the air tumbling end over end....until it swooshes right into the dumpster for a perfect 3-point score. I can tell he's done that maneuver before too I stared at him in shock !!! He looks over at me ... and asks "Did you pull that out of the garbage ??" I sheepishly answer yes....why ?? Those things are the biggest JUNK, motor shaft is bushed instead of bearings and they wear out with mild use in just a few seasons He said, when Im ready to buy a good one, he'll cut me a deal on a REAL one.....Husquevarna
Bill, have you thought of going electric? We got this Toro "Super Blower" a couple season's ago at Sears and this thing is great. Smokes all the neighbors gas one's and also has a vacuum attachment so the wife can get the leafs out of her garden without blasting all the delicate foliage. One fun thing to do is pop a soup can on the end and turn it on high, the thing flies about 50 feet in the air and then all the neighborhood kids scrum to come up with the the thing. I know, were starved for entertainment over here p D. And Alan, we just threw out an old bird cage, but ya better hurry before the junk man snags it p :moonu: :laugh:
This is my Dream Leaf BLOWER !!!!!!!!!!! * One pass down the street..........Bye-Bye leaves !!!!!!!!!
I'm with Jim and Alan. I deep six'd my Ryobi weed eater after it kept killing on me then for no reason it would rev out of control. While wide open, I threw it over the fence into the canal pond behind my house. You should have heard the rod come out of it when it hit the water! Made me feel great!! Then I went to a PROFESSIONAL equipment dealer as I got tired of the junk Home Depot, Lowe's and Wal-Mart sells that you can't service. The dealer carried Husqvarna and Red Max. I liked both but ended up with a Red Max weed eater. It's a commercial model and you can get parts and service for it!! Grease fittings and rebuildable parts. Gotta love it. I liked it so much, I went back and bought a Red Max blower. Now I ENJOY CUTTING MY GRASS!! http://www.redmax.com/
oh yeah And here we have the final choice: Shindaiwa EB630 - (a what???) It was down to the Sthil and the Echo but in comparison this one won out. I like the left hand controls and it had the same/better specs as the rest: 20 lbs - 201 mph and 613 CFM at the end of the nozzel! mo' power! And it will move a mountain of leaves. I watched other folks with smaller packages struggle when the leaves piled up. Eventually they had to stop and use a rake. This puppy moved a 3 foot high wave of leaves across my yard with little effort! I am happy camper - now I can spend more time watching Speed channel! - Bill :TU:
