"Malcolm" wrote in message
...
Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
"Muddymike" writes:
| | While vacuums do work better, I doubt that the cheap ones are any
| more effective than a rake, either.
| | For these reasons I use a Billy Goat vacuum. Its big, its noisy, it
uses a | lot of petrol, and the bag is a pain to empty, but it sucks up
everything in | its path. As soon as the rain stops for long enough I
shall be using the | Billy Goat today.

And it's not cheap. I never said that the large, expensive vacuums
didn't work!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


Use one in the school where I work - cost new about £600 +vat, bags about
£80 each.

Yes the bags are expensive, I have very effectively repaired the zips on my
two simply by purchasing new runners (cost less than a fiver for 4 including
mail from the US) which are normally the bit to wear/break first.


Very affective unless the leaf litter is trodden in and damp.
I agree, trodden leaves are ok, damp leaves are ok, both however tend to be
stuck to the ground and take a bit of sucking up. The manufactures say they
will suck up cans and glass bottles, but I don't get too many of them laying
around. Have tried, and yes it does.


I believe the way to empty it is the unzip the flap of the valve and blow
the contents into a netted enclosure.
We lift the bag an empty it into a compost heap.
Yes I normally remove mine and lift it onto the heap, just tried the "open
the flap and blow it method" wow, what a dust storm that created, I think I
will stick to the remove and lift method. Must remember not to let the bag
get too full when the leaves are wet as I can't lift it then.

Somewhat overkill for a garden - we have 6 large trees and of the order
of 800m2 of playground.
Depends on the garden. I have over 100 trees and around 300m2 of paved paths
and tarmac drive/yard.

Mike