Hi guys,

Could any of you recommend a good quality garden backpack blower? The makes
I am considering a

ECHO
RYOBI

What other makes are worth considering?

I have been told it's best to go for a blower and not a shred and vac type
blower......has anyone any experience of these makes? Any ideas on where I
can also get the best price would really help too!

Happy gardening this autumn!

kind regards,
Richard

In article , Richard Kerry
writes

I have been told it's best to go for a blower and not a shred and vac type
blower......



Why? I was thinking of getting a vacuum and would be interested to know
why the larger ones wouldn't be better than blowing the leaves around.

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

Xref: kermit uk.rec.gardening:176209

I've been told by several people that the shred and vac ones aren't
practical for the following reasons;

1. Not as powerful as the blower variety

2. Usually only have small collector bags e.g. lots of leaves to collect =
lots of time spent emptying the bag.

3. Can get clogged up quite easily, especially with wet leaves

Also, I was told that professional garden folks use powerful blowers so they
can gather and direct all the leaves into one area and then collect. This
makes sense.

I was also advised by my name to purchase a STIHL blower, not cheap (circa
£500) but will probably last forever!

regards,
Richard

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
In article , Richard Kerry
writes

I have been told it's best to go for a blower and not a shred and vac
type
blower......



Why? I was thinking of getting a vacuum and would be interested to know
why the larger ones wouldn't be better than blowing the leaves around.

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
In article , Richard Kerry
writes

I have been told it's best to go for a blower and not a shred and vac
type
blower......



Why? I was thinking of getting a vacuum and would be interested to know
why the larger ones wouldn't be better than blowing the leaves around.

If they are small enough to be portable, you spend most of your time
emptying them somewhere.
It is much easier to blow the leaves into a convenient heap and then pick
them up with a plastic snow shovel.

Franz

In article ,
Janet Tweedy writes:
| In article , Richard Kerry
| writes
|
| I have been told it's best to go for a blower and not a shred and vac type
| blower......
|
| Why? I was thinking of getting a vacuum and would be interested to know
| why the larger ones wouldn't be better than blowing the leaves around.

Well, having seen blowers used in parks etc., I shall stick with
a rake! It is quicker, cheaper and needs less storage space.
Except for people with serious back problems, I can't see the
objection to a decent rake, even relative to a garden vaccum, but
I agree that they are relatively hard on backs.

I can't imagine any blower capable of handling wet leaves that
wouldn't blow loose soil into the air and damage plants. If one
can't handle wet leaves, then it is of pretty restrictive use in
the UK!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 22:34:05 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:


"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
In article , Richard Kerry
writes

I have been told it's best to go for a blower and not a shred and vac
type
blower......



Why? I was thinking of getting a vacuum and would be interested to know
why the larger ones wouldn't be better than blowing the leaves around.

If they are small enough to be portable, you spend most of your time
emptying them somewhere.
It is much easier to blow the leaves into a convenient heap and then pick
them up with a plastic snow shovel.

It's what the contractors employed by the local authority did. For
some reason they did it two or three weeks ago and they haven't been
back for the rest of the leaves, most of which were still attached to
trees at the time they blew and shovelled up the leaves.
--
Martin

The message
from "Richard Kerry" contains these words:

Also, I was told that professional garden folks use powerful blowers so they
can gather and direct all the leaves into one area and then collect. This
makes sense.

I was also advised by my name to purchase a STIHL blower, not cheap (circa
£500) but will probably last forever!

Imho it often doesn't make sense for amateurs with an average size
garden to invest that kind of money in a machine for limited brief
seasonal use. If you wait till all the leaves are down then can clear
them in a day, £500 will buy many years of hire. Collecting and
returning the machine is a consideration (can be shared with a
neighbour, like the cost), but the plus side is, you don't have to store
an idle bulky machine all year or insure, service or repair it. Hire
machines are usually a larger more industrial model so do the job faster
and better.

Janet.

Janet Baraclough wrote:

Imho it often doesn't make sense for amateurs with an average size
garden to invest that kind of money in a machine for limited brief
seasonal use. If you wait till all the leaves are down then can clear
them in a day, £500 will buy many years of hire. Collecting and
returning the machine is a consideration (can be shared with a
neighbour, like the cost), but the plus side is, you don't have to store
an idle bulky machine all year or insure, service or repair it. Hire
machines are usually a larger more industrial model so do the job faster
and better.

Sound advice!
--
Nick Wagg

Agreed. It's all economies of scale, and yes from a ROI perspective you have
to weigh up hire costs, personal time, convenience plus TCO etc etc etc.
It's also very dependent on size of garden, number of tree (leaves!) and
what quality you put on your time e.g. If I could blow my leaves into a pile
in a day versus 2-4 weekends of manually raking the leaves up....

Also, I'd rather opt for an industrial strength professional tools rather
than waste money buying something that won't do the job as well and won't
last. False economy in my opinion.

richard



"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Richard Kerry" contains these
words:

Also, I was told that professional garden folks use powerful blowers so
they
can gather and direct all the leaves into one area and then collect.
This
makes sense.

I was also advised by my name to purchase a STIHL blower, not cheap
(circa
£500) but will probably last forever!

Imho it often doesn't make sense for amateurs with an average size
garden to invest that kind of money in a machine for limited brief
seasonal use. If you wait till all the leaves are down then can clear
them in a day, £500 will buy many years of hire. Collecting and
returning the machine is a consideration (can be shared with a
neighbour, like the cost), but the plus side is, you don't have to store
an idle bulky machine all year or insure, service or repair it. Hire
machines are usually a larger more industrial model so do the job faster
and better.

Janet.

On 18 Nov 2003 08:23:00 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:

~
~In article ,
~Janet Tweedy writes:
~| In article , Richard Kerry
~| writes
~|
~| I have been told it's best to go for a blower and not a shred and vac type
~| blower......
~|
~| Why? I was thinking of getting a vacuum and would be interested to know
~| why the larger ones wouldn't be better than blowing the leaves around.
~
~Well, having seen blowers used in parks etc., I shall stick with
~a rake! It is quicker, cheaper and needs less storage space.
~Except for people with serious back problems, I can't see the
~objection to a decent rake, even relative to a garden vaccum, but
~I agree that they are relatively hard on backs.
~
~I can't imagine any blower capable of handling wet leaves that
~wouldn't blow loose soil into the air and damage plants. If one
~can't handle wet leaves, then it is of pretty restrictive use in
~the UK!

Upsides and downsides of my own experience...

I have a cheapo electric Black and Decker which can be a blower or a
hoover. As I've said oodles of time before I've three pain-in-the-bum
sycamores from the council side of the boundary, hanging over my front
garden which is only 20'x30', and mostly my alpine-filled rock garden. At
this time of the year you end up literally wading through leaves to get to
the door and thanks to the uneven paving stones in the access path, rain
and the dark nights, it's rather lethal! I tried cleaning the paths etc
with a broom for the first couple of years here which was a backbreaker
then the sister out law gave me her old slightly dodgy B&D as she was
emigrating.

Converted in a day. When it died I took it to bits (physicist in me strikes
again) . Motor brushes gone. I went straight out and got another as new
motor was only a fiver less... plus postage!

This way I can get all of them up in a few hours, the sycamore leaves get
shredded so rot faster and I don't have to bend. Also, I can hoover the
rockery (!) and I've not lost so many alpines to the wet since. It does
happily cope with wet leaves, though it's essential to listen to the pitch
of the motor. As soon as it goes off the original sound, you stop and clear
out a) the bag (sound goes higher) b) the spout and c) the leaf-mud mix
from the inside of the in-pipe around the shredding thingy. b) and c) can
burn out the motor if clogged. I think this is what happened to the first
one as it was in bad nick when I got it.

Yes you have to empty the bag a lot, but one bagful is about 3/4
binlinerful so it' a fair number of leaves. It's easier on the lumbar spine
to shake leaves out into the binliners while standing upright than to keep
on bending over! And I defy anyone to clear a rockery with a rake or broom
without damaging things.

jane, almost over her slipped disk now *phew*


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!

In article ,
jane wrote:
~
~I can't imagine any blower capable of handling wet leaves that
~wouldn't blow loose soil into the air and damage plants. If one
~can't handle wet leaves, then it is of pretty restrictive use in
~the UK!

I have a cheapo electric Black and Decker which can be a blower or a
hoover. ...
... I tried cleaning the paths etc
with a broom for the first couple of years here which was a backbreaker
then the sister out law gave me her old slightly dodgy B&D as she was
emigrating.

Brooms aren't good at removing wet leaves, I agree. When I need to
do that, I use a spade, followed by a broom to clean up. But even
a spade isn't ideal.

Yes you have to empty the bag a lot, but one bagful is about 3/4
binlinerful so it' a fair number of leaves. It's easier on the lumbar spine
to shake leaves out into the binliners while standing upright than to keep
on bending over! And I defy anyone to clear a rockery with a rake or broom
without damaging things.

I'll defy anyone to blow wet leaves out of a rockery, too :-)

From your posting, it sounds as if you use it in vaccuum mode most
of the time, and my muttering was specifically about blowers. I
can see that a garden vaccuum could be useful.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 18 Nov 2003 21:10:00 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:

~In article ,
~jane wrote:
~~
~~I can't imagine any blower capable of handling wet leaves that
~~wouldn't blow loose soil into the air and damage plants. If one
~~can't handle wet leaves, then it is of pretty restrictive use in
~~the UK!
~
~I have a cheapo electric Black and Decker which can be a blower or a
~hoover. ...
~... I tried cleaning the paths etc
~with a broom for the first couple of years here which was a backbreaker
~then the sister out law gave me her old slightly dodgy B&D as she was
~emigrating.
~
~Brooms aren't good at removing wet leaves, I agree. When I need to
~do that, I use a spade, followed by a broom to clean up. But even
~a spade isn't ideal.
~
~Yes you have to empty the bag a lot, but one bagful is about 3/4
~binlinerful so it' a fair number of leaves. It's easier on the lumbar spine
~to shake leaves out into the binliners while standing upright than to keep
~on bending over! And I defy anyone to clear a rockery with a rake or broom
~without damaging things.
~
~I'll defy anyone to blow wet leaves out of a rockery, too :-)

wooops there goes the edelweiss....!

:-)

~From your posting, it sounds as if you use it in vaccuum mode most
~of the time, and my muttering was specifically about blowers. I
~can see that a garden vaccuum could be useful.
Yes, only used it in blow a couple of times and it wasn't as useful *in my
particular circumstances*. The poster above yours was asking why not a
vacuum as they had been thinking of one, so I figured my pennorth may be
useful.

Of course if the bag comes off accidentally then you get a blower at the
same time! (or if you forget to rezip the bag after emptying it...)

Another downside of a blower as a against a vac is if you have lots of
specimen shrubs or a hedge that is getting covered. Suck gets the leaves
out and blow tends to push them further in.

I guess if you have a drive or lots of paths and loads of trees and just
want the leaves off the surfaces, a blower is best. Off a garden or largish
lawn, probably a vac. I did notice how yellow the lawn was under the
relatively few leaves that were round the back... so I guess I'll be
resowing the wretch yet again...


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!

In article ,
(jane) writes:
|
| I guess if you have a drive or lots of paths and loads of trees and just
| want the leaves off the surfaces, a blower is best. Off a garden or largish
| lawn, probably a vac. I did notice how yellow the lawn was under the
| relatively few leaves that were round the back... so I guess I'll be
| resowing the wretch yet again...

That was my point. Based on observation of them in use, blowers
aren't much good even for that!

That excludes the minor detail that merely clearing a path though
grass during leaffall is a waste of time, and it will cover again
the first time there is more than a breath of wind. And wind isn't
exactly rare in autumn, even in the south east!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Nick Wagg" wrote in message
...
Janet Baraclough wrote:

Imho it often doesn't make sense for amateurs with an average size
garden to invest that kind of money in a machine for limited brief
seasonal use. If you wait till all the leaves are down then can clear
them in a day, £500 will buy many years of hire. Collecting and
returning the machine is a consideration (can be shared with a
neighbour, like the cost), but the plus side is, you don't have to store
an idle bulky machine all year or insure, service or repair it. Hire
machines are usually a larger more industrial model so do the job faster
and better.

Sound advice!
--
Nick Wagg

If the leaf quantity is not huge I find raising the blades on my rotary
mower and vacuuming them up works well! I certainly wouldn't want something
sitting in the shed for 11 months (you could bet it wouldn't start when you
wanted it, as suggested I would hire.

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collection of Clematis viticella (cvs)

Richard Kerry wrote:

Agreed. It's all economies of scale, and yes from a ROI perspective you have
to weigh up hire costs, personal time, convenience plus TCO etc etc etc.
It's also very dependent on size of garden, number of tree (leaves!) and
what quality you put on your time e.g. If I could blow my leaves into a pile
in a day versus 2-4 weekends of manually raking the leaves up....

Also, I'd rather opt for an industrial strength professional tools rather
than waste money buying something that won't do the job as well and won't
last. False economy in my opinion.

richard

I was wondering why a backpack? Unless you have a very large area to deal with. My
mate at work takes about a day to get around our 10Ha of woodland garden with a
network of gravel paths and walks - this week will be about the last time and it
will take longer - 2 days perhaps, now most of the leaves are down and they're
wet. He uses a good hand held blower and we have plenty of places to blow the
leaves to. All the usual suspects -Stihl, Husquavarna etc make them. I'm not
questioning your preference for quality kit - just the proportionality of the size
(and cost) to the task - as Janet has said these things spend 10 months of the
year doing nothing. That said it was quite good for cleaning the Rose Garden after
a big dead heading session.
Anybody using these small blowers - look out for spark traps in the exhaust
especially if you are one of those folks who doesn't like revving machines hard.
It's a little wire mesh filter stuck in the exhaust and it quickly gets bunged up
with oily carbon to the point the engine won't run. We don't need 'em in Wales so
we take them out - not much chance of sparks igniting this place atm.

--
Rod
http://website.lineone.net/~rodcraddock/