More and more every year the leaf rake is placed into retirement and replaced with a powerful handheld power tool that will easily move enormous amounts of leaves into piles where they can be vacuumed up by the same tool. The gas powered blower vacuum becomes more popular every season and is held in high esteem with most owners. However there are some features that most owner's consider necessary and through years of working with these tools they have developed some techniques to gain maximum value from their use.
Homeowners choose the gas powered version to eliminate the trouble of dragging an extension cord around the yard. While the gas engine models produce more noise than the electric version this is not considered a problem because ear protection should always be worn with any type of powered garden tool. Models with good size gas engines in the 31-cubic-centimeter range are highly praised for the ability to both blow and vacuum wet leaves. Wet leaves can be a major problem for some garden tools including mulchers and leaf vacuums but these blower vacuums handle this chore well according to a number of owners.
There are a few complaints about the engines being hard to start with the pull starter but some models have eased this problem with a spring assisted pull cord system. Models with this and other features can be easily found with just a few minutes of research in the owner's review section.
These units seem to perform best for small to medium size yards. Many owners praise units that have leaf bags that can be emptied without removal from the machine. A simple zipper system makes this an easy task. These machines reduce the bulk of vacuumed leaves by about a 10 to 1 ratio. Although some owners feel that a larger bag would be convenient to reduce the time necessary to stop and empty the bag, they do admit that larger bags full of wet leaves would add considerable weight to the handheld machines.
The feature that is most valued according to owner's reviews is the ability to switch from blower to vacuum with the flip of a lever. There were many complaints from owners who own or have used models that do not switch easily and this becomes a tiresome issue after long use. This is a feature that should be sought out if you plan on using your machine frequently.
A very important feature to search for is the ability to remove the pickup tube if it clogs without the use of specialized tools such as tork screw drivers. There are few complaints about these tools clogging but when they do a simple method of removing the vacuum tube is appreciated.
For very small areas owners suggest vacuuming the leaves from the lawn where thy lie. For larger areas it seems to be more convenient to blow the leaves into piles, flip over to vacuum mode and vacuum up the piles.
Don't hide the machine away during seasons when there are not leaves to pick up. These units can be used year around to clear driveways, blow grass clipping from walkways and other areas and are really great for cleaning patios. All in all most owners report that they would never go back to the old rake but do advise doing a little research to find just the right blower vacuum for your yard.
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