Looking for a leaf blower!! advice

[likeitorlumpit]

I brought a secondhand Komatsu Zenoah backpack on ebay for £150, seems equivilant to the BR600 in terms of size. Lovely machine, only problem was finding a throttle cable when it snapped but found a company on the Isle of Wight which does parts.

 

I'd look for a secondhand backpack, biggest you can get IMO. There seem to be a lot of decent secondhand ones about for £150-200, I can't imagine blowers really get abused in the same way as saws etc...

 

biggest you can get is a pain (heavy on your back)when you are using it during the summer just blowing grass clippings.

wet autumn leaves- now thats a different story as is arb waste where you really need power

[GardenKit]

I've had a ryobi handheld blower that I've had for 6 years and used daily for 4 years now, I've never changed the spark plug, needed to fix anything, alter anything, tighten anything, it's been dropped, rained on for days, had logs dropped on it, and generally abused horridly, and it still starts first pull every single time. Possibly the best £95 I ever spent.

I,m pleased that you have had good value from your Ryobi, but as Pleasant says, you must be the only one who has!

 

As as a dealer and repairer of machines, and having more work than I can cope with, I have to draw a line as to what work I take in.

 

Ryobi is most certainly under the line, along with McCulloch and B&Q brands. I advise to keep clear.

[jrose]

wanna bet??

 

maybe I should have said apart from ex tree surgery blowers they don't get abused much

[Timbermcpherson]

I ran stihl bg85's for years and years and thought they were good. Got a echo PB655 and relised I had wasted WEEKS (WEEKS I SAY) of productive time puffing around the job with an underpowered machine. The extra money you spend on a backpack will pay itself of over and over and over again. Going back to handhelds is like running your saws on the job at half throttle

 

Go the big backpacks!!!!!!!

[atree]

I ran stihl bg85's for years and years and thought they were good. Got a echo PB655 and relised I had wasted WEEKS (WEEKS I SAY) of productive time puffing around the job with an underpowered machine. The extra money you spend on a backpack will pay itself of over and over and over again. Going back to handhelds is like running your saws on the job at half throttle

 

Go the big backpacks!!!!!!!

 

We just got a new sthil (magnum)backpack blower....You'll never need to use a rake again thats for sure!