While I'm at it, does anyone have any opinions on those big leaf vacuums on
wheels versus leaf blowers? The vacuum idea seems more attractive to me, but
the fact that you never see professionals using them makes me think that
they aren't as effective or efficient.

I have a yard vacuum from YardMan (or MTD?). It works OK for vacuuming
leaves from my lawn/yard in fall. But its suction power is not high
enough to suck those winged seeds from the trees.

It is useful if you intend to put the leaves into your compost piles
because the machine also cuts the leaves into smaller pieces (not very
small, but small enough for me). On the other hand, if you don't
intend to put the leaves into compost piles, you may as well get the
leaf blower because it is cheaper (and you don't need to lift the
heavy bag of leaves from the machine).

I also use it to clean up the drive-way and the road-way along my yard
after I mow my lawn. But I must admit that it doesn't clean as good as
a blower-on-wheels that my neighbor uses.

If I could start it over with, I would still buy a yard vaccum. But I
would buy one with higher suction power than the one I have now (more
$$$).

Hope this helps.

Jay Chan