Which leaf blower and lawn mower?
---Update at the end---
Bit of a 'Dadsnet' question if I may.
With the autumn leaves making a mess, I'm trying to buy a leaf blower. Having previously bought one that was utter rubbish, I thought I'd ask if anyone's had a really good battery powered one? My garden, patio, driveway are mid size so hopefully a good battery one will do the job. I asked my neighbour's gardener and he said the only brand he would buy is Stihl - expensive but worth it. The gardener at my tennis club said Stihl used to be good but their battery powered stuff is rubbish with small parts like buttons and battery housings failing after warranty and Stihl not really standing by their product.
As I think about it, I will eventually be replacing my Bosch 41cm electric lawn mower with a battery one at some point as well. So perhaps it would be sensible to think about a brand that does a quality one of those as well with the batteries being the same. I don't really use many other power tools so it's just those two I would need to think of - not a broader 'ecosystem'. Maybe a hedge trimmer perhaps.
Google chucks out so many brands and specs. 18V, 36V, 40V batteries; all sorts of claimed speeds - it's a minefield. I'd ideally want to buy something where parts are available easily. My Bosch lawnmower is 5 years old and needed a couple of bits replaced and it was easy enough to get them!
Share your experience and recommendations please?
Which leaf blower and lawn mower?
I had the Makita dub186z leaf blower ran for 20/25mins at full throttle using genuine Makita 5AH battery (£70 for blower body and slightly less for 5AH battery), was ok unless leaves were wet, or leaves were on grass or if numbers got to numerous
I had to upgrade to a Stihl petrol bg86 for about £270 which is bloody brilliant saves time, very powerful and runs for duration i need it for and not just 25mins, only drawbacks is its noisy and a target for local thieves
https://www.powertoolworld.co.uk/mak...QaAhNvEALw_wcB
https://www.mowwithus.com/Machinery/...AaAg8xEALw_wcB
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Which leaf blower and lawn mower?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
thieuster
Ah, old trusty. The Elbow Steam MKI!
This sort of rake with metal pins/fingers (what's the word for it in English) is by far the best tool to get rid of acorns that have fallen onto the lawn. Those modern poxy rakes with their posh plastic 'fingers' are too flimsy for that job!
Au contraire. I find the wide plastic fingers are the Rolls Royce of leaf raking. Too many leaves get pronged on the metal type, and they dig into the ground or plastic grass making raking more difficult.
Probably the only item where I prefer placky over metal.
Updated with my takeaways
Many thanks for your opinions all. I thought I'd share my takeaways in case it helps anyone else. I shortlisted it down to 4 main products - Stihl, Ego, Husvarna and Makita. They're all around £200-220 including a bundled battery and charger except the Ego at £270.
I expected the Stihl to be the most expensive but surprisingly it isn't. However, reviews are a bit mixed and the batteries & ecosystem products (mower mainly but also hedge trimmer etc) are expensive. Ego seems to be very well reviewed and the performance seems a cut above the rest. However, ecosystem products are expensive - as are batteries. The Husqvarna seems a decent option from the metrics but not many reviews. Not sure how their consumer grade stuff is.
The Makita is pretty close to the cheapest, has excellent reviews and batteries & other ecosystem products are inexpensive as well as well reviewed. So that's the direction I'm going in.
Hope this helps anyone else thinking about the same thing!
Stihl BGA57
Price including bundled battery and charger: £210-220
Battery: 36V, 2Ah capacity; Spare costs around £100
Weight including battery: 3.4kg
Blowing force: 9N
Max airspeed: 45 m/s
Airflow: 620 m3/hr
Mower: RMA248 46cm cutting width - £400 bare or 37cm for £310
Takeaway: Great brand reputation overall but mixed reviews for this one. Battery capacity very low and other ecosystem products expensive
Ego LB5301E
Price including bundled battery and charger: £270
Battery: 56V, 2.5Ah capacity; Spare costs around £110; Higher capacity ones available but pricey (4Ah is £180)
Weight including battery: 3.4kg
Blowing force: 16N
Max airspeed: 59 m/s
Airflow: 900 m3/hr
Mower: LM1700E 42cm cutting width - £370 bare
Takeaway: Great reviews. Most powerful. Expensive though
Husqvarna 120iB
Price including bundled battery and charger: £200
Battery: 36V, 4Ah capacity; Spare costs around £125
Weight including battery: 3.25kg
Blowing force: 9.6N
Max airspeed: 46 m/s
Airflow: 610 m3/hr
Mower: LB 142i 42cm £360 bare
Takeaway: Good brand. Not many reviews
Makita DUB184RT (the model mentioned on this thread is not powerful enough)
Price including bundled battery and charger: £220-230
Battery: 18V, 5Ah capacity; Spare costs around £50
Weight including battery: 2.9kg
Blowing force: 10.9N
Max airspeed: 52 m/s
Airflow: 780 m3/hr
Mower: DLM432 43cm cutting width £250 bare
Takeaway: Lots of great reviews. Matching ecosystem products inexpensive as well. Lots of battery and charger options. Battery is 18V – lower than others products – but it doesn’t seem to impact the performance as per the metrics and the reviews
Which leaf blower and lawn mower?
If you’re only after powerful garden tools (and won’t need the batteries for other tools), Makita also sell 40V blowers/lawnmowers.