Husqvarna Leaf Blower
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cliffp
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- Jun 22, 2012
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Kev, did you know Stihl have brought out a new blower, the BGA100? Its slightly more powerful but can't directly take the plug in batteries. You either need a backpack battery or the AP300 with a battery holder/adapter cable to plug into the blower. I held off from buying the BGA85 because I already had the Viking mains powered blower/vac (now marketed under the Stihl brand) which I quite liked for sucking up leaves. In light of what Peter said about it being more expedient to blow into a pile and scoop up manually I may go for a more powerful (and cordless) blower after all. I have also noticed council workers dealing with leaves the way Peter recommends (lets face it, it isn't often Peter doesn't find the best way of doing things!).
I was also a bit tempted with the Stihl Br600 backpack petrol blower!
I was also a bit tempted with the Stihl Br600 backpack petrol blower!
cliffp
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I bought the BGA100 and AP battery holder and cable. In case anyone in the UK is interested it was cheapest from mad4mowers - £255 inc vat and delivery (excellent customer service as well).
It is an amazing product! It is very light (2.5 Kgs), incredibly powerful and the variable speed trigger makes it easy to gather leaves into a neat pile for scooping up. The only negative is that it doesn't come with a shoulder strap so if you want to switch from blowing to scooping you have to either take the belt off or unplug the cable (it is very heavy duty so it requires a fair bit of effort and I wouldn't want to be wearing out the connections). I plan to buy a shoulder strap or improvise one.
It is an amazing product! It is very light (2.5 Kgs), incredibly powerful and the variable speed trigger makes it easy to gather leaves into a neat pile for scooping up. The only negative is that it doesn't come with a shoulder strap so if you want to switch from blowing to scooping you have to either take the belt off or unplug the cable (it is very heavy duty so it requires a fair bit of effort and I wouldn't want to be wearing out the connections). I plan to buy a shoulder strap or improvise one.
Some suggestions for using small equipment (hand blowers/small mowers/mulching blades):
1 you don't necessarily need to blow or vac all the leaves. If you cross mow where leaves are less dense in quantity, you can make your leaves practically disappear.
2 If you do mulch your leaves, let your grass grow a little higher than you normally mow. The leaves will settle at whatever height you let your grass grow. When ready to "mow" your leaves, they will suck up muck quicker and more efficient cleanup.
3 when blowing large areas with small blower capacity, start blowing the area closest to where you want your leaves to go. get your pile started. when that area is cleared and piled, move to the closest areas your did not boo and start blowing to the pile. Then repeat a little further away ad repeat. Your leaves will move much further and much faster and you will have more time to relax with a cold one. I use this method with my large commercial sized equipment.
4 there are other neat little tricks that can make the job easy and quick. Yesterday (actually day before yesterday. we got rain yesterday and i spent the day playing with my wood working toys) I was doing a large lawn working alone. (I like that sized crew. when i yell, nobody goes into a tizzy. When my wife yells, the entire crew jumps) Next door there was a crew of 3 moving leaves from a lawn about same size as mine. They were already working when i started. They were still working when i was all done and headed for home. [big grin]
Tinker
1 you don't necessarily need to blow or vac all the leaves. If you cross mow where leaves are less dense in quantity, you can make your leaves practically disappear.
2 If you do mulch your leaves, let your grass grow a little higher than you normally mow. The leaves will settle at whatever height you let your grass grow. When ready to "mow" your leaves, they will suck up muck quicker and more efficient cleanup.
3 when blowing large areas with small blower capacity, start blowing the area closest to where you want your leaves to go. get your pile started. when that area is cleared and piled, move to the closest areas your did not boo and start blowing to the pile. Then repeat a little further away ad repeat. Your leaves will move much further and much faster and you will have more time to relax with a cold one. I use this method with my large commercial sized equipment.
4 there are other neat little tricks that can make the job easy and quick. Yesterday (actually day before yesterday. we got rain yesterday and i spent the day playing with my wood working toys) I was doing a large lawn working alone. (I like that sized crew. when i yell, nobody goes into a tizzy. When my wife yells, the entire crew jumps) Next door there was a crew of 3 moving leaves from a lawn about same size as mine. They were already working when i started. They were still working when i was all done and headed for home. [big grin]
Tinker
cliffp
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- Jun 22, 2012
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- 517
My tip is to engage a dedicated "scooper"[big grin]
Unfortunately my wife isn't interested in collecting leaves. She already does most of the gardening, particularly the tedious jobs like weeding which I claim I can't do because of my bad back
I bought something a bit like this for scooping leaves (I couldn't find a link for the actual product):
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spear-Jackson-Plastic-Leaf-Grabber/dp/B005RYE6SQ/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1JW6KJ8RZSNYB07M11Q1
I find it works really well.
