blower backpack or push?

[farmerjim]

i'm in the market for a blower. i'm looking to get something that would be powerful enough to blow leaves that were damp or a bit wet but not soaked. since i have a large area i was looking into either a backpack or push variety. i've been looking at the husqvarna and stihl backpacks, but i have not looked at any of the push type yet. just looking for some feed back on what to look for.

 

[PhilNH5]

Jim.
I just got a Stihl backpack blower last fall. I am disappointed with how well it works. The machine it's self is fine. It is just my idea of what it would accomplish doesn't match with what it actually can do.
It has plenty of power. But moving leaves any distance is very time consuming. I thought I could clear large areas with it but it doesn't work that way. I wind up back tracking over and over trying to keep the leaves moving in a direction I want. Took lots and lots of time. Turns out I could do the job faster with a rake and a tarp to haul the leaves away.
Maybe my technique just blows ( /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif pun intended) but I would not buy another backback blower.
Phil

 

[hobbyfarm]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( But moving leaves any distance is very time consuming. )</font>
Pushing any machine around really gets old quick. Backpack blowers are kind of handy, but moving large volumes of leaves, the push has more power, and <font color="brown">these</font> are even better. All you need is a blank check. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I agree with PhilNH45, raking is almost as fast, but quite a bit more tiresome.

 

[bczoom]

farmerjim,

A backpack blower is a valuable tool for blowing in tight spaces or smaller areas. For the large areas, they're not very good. There's lots of threads on leaf removal if you do a search. Lots of tools/ideas/techniques already discussed.

I use the backpack for cleaning off paved or stone areas, getting around buildings, garage/shop floors, around kids swingset, inside the sandbox... Basically areas you can't use a push or pull type. Once I'm in the open areas, I switch to other equipment.

Brian

 

[lhfarm]

I purchased a wheeled blower and made a tow bar out of an old mower handle. I tow it behind my old Cub Lo-Boy and it works great. The blower was a "returned" model (I suspect that after pushing across uneven ground once, the owner decided it was a bad idea). I can give you more details if that would help.

 

[1bush2hog]

Is mulching an option?

Mulching has many benefits for you and your yard /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[gav64]

farmer jim it depends, I have had the small hold in your hand blower (usless) and now have a dolmar back pack blower which as others have said is great for spot cleaning, blowing leaves out of flower beds, rough areas (my property is steep) basiscally doing the prep work for the other blower. I also have had a 8hp little wonder, used it when i lived on a smaller piece of property, the new place needed more hp, surrounded by oaks. I now have a 13 hp little wonder with a honda engine
it is amazing how much air it moves, well balanced and easy to push. I tried out a giant vac 16hp twin electric start hydro drive(i think ganos in colchester carries them) it was cool but a little slow and too top heavy for my property. this year i am making a caddy to put the 13hp in that will attach to the front of the ztr mower so i don't have to push anymore as someone said earlier pushing gets old especially when it is up hill. If you need any other specifics you can pm me. glenn

 

[TMcD_in_MI]

I think it just boils down to horsepower. The more leaves you have to move and the bigger area to move them, the more power you're gonna need. With your big area, I think you would need to wear at least an eight horse engine on your back in order for a backpack blower to do the job for you. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Decades ago I ran a Ford 9N on a golf course and we used a good-sized PTO-driven leaf blower behind it in the fall. That baby would blow leaves! We had never heard of an overrunning clutch on the PTO shaft, so you had to plan your stops ahead of time because the transmission driven PTO would keep the tractor moving until the leaf blower had stopped spinning. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif It seems to me that I could throw it in neutral if I timed it just right and then stop the tractor, but it wasn't a sure thing.

Tom

 

[farmerjim]

thanks for the info guys. mainly the blower will be used to just blow the leaves into a row or swath so i can just go w/ the leaf vac and suck them up, only thing is i share the vac w/ my family and it may be awhile b4 it comes my way, so the leaves will build up a bit. anyway i guess i'll have to do some shopping, an possibly some customizing to the jd 316 if i get a push type.

 

[Junkman]

The amount of leaves is in direct proportion to the amount of equipment that you will need. I find that it is best to pick up as much as you can with a bagger system attached to your mower deck and then blow the rest out of the cracks and crevices to be picked up on the last trip with the bagger. Just remember that the leaves that don't fall today, will be falling the day after you have cleaned up what fell yesterday. There is no end to the cycle until the first snow falls. Then the leaves that are left on the ground will be covered till the spring and you can pick them up then.
I purchase a Husqvarna back pack blower and it works well. I have also used the cyclone rake for mulching on my old Bolens tractor. This year, I have added the Kubota bagger to the arsenal to do even more. If I can get the wife on the Bolens, and me on the Kubota BX, there is a good chance that we don't have to spend as much time doing leaf collection. If you keep the lawn cut short, the leaves will all blow off to a central collection area and then all you have to do is pick them up. The only problem with this scenario is that you don't get to pick the central location. The wind does. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[bontai_Joe]

For me, it would be which ever hurt my back the least, the push unit would have to have proper height handle bars so I didn't have to bend over, or the backpack unit would have to darn confortable and light weight. Nothing worse than using tools that HURT.

 

[anturing84]

I bought a 208cc Troy-Bilt a few years ago and I just love the darn thing. Gives me enough power to take care of damp areas in a piece of land with lots of trees. I used to have a Billy Goat, but boy it sure did give me a work out with its 90ｰ design. I find the Troy-Bilt to be much easier to handle and just as powerful.

When I was shopping for mine, though, I made sure to read up on a few comparisons and reviews before visiting my local Lowe's.

Well, that's my two cents. Hope it helps!

 

[mercdv]

I don't have a lot of land so keep in mind that I only do my acre and my dad's acre now but have used both types at my old job on a golf course. I'm a mulcher so I just use the backpack blower to blow the leaves out into open areas to be mulched. I find this is enough for me. Most of my friends are mulchers too so they do the same. I only know three people with push blowers and all of them drag it with their tractor to clear large paved areas on their land. That is the same reason I used the push ones at my old job but we used the backpack blowers everywhere else. Occasionally we would use the on a fairway but the was usually only after large windstorms with not much rain. I think the main problem I had with the push type is that pushing them over anything that wasn't paved and uneven got tiring after a day. Keep in mind we did this daily and I'm assuming you will be doing it less often so this might not matter to you. Pulling it with a tractor meant that we were limited to whatever power we set it at until we stopped and readjusted it which in some areas required a lot of adjustment unless you wanted flowerbed mulch all over creation. If you are just blowing large wide open areas (paved or not) a push blower would work well dragged with a tractor/mower. If you have a lot of obstacles and mulched areas, I'd say a powerful backpack blower. When my back acts up, I even mount my blower to my ROPS and drive around blowing the leaves from the comfort of the saddle. I prefer to walk but my bulging disc in my back says otherwise some days.

I guess like everything else you need to look at the totality of your circumstances. Both are good options but each have advantages/disadvantages. Not sure I helped any but thought I'd chime in to offer what little experience I have.

 

[4570Man]

I’ve got limited use with a push blower and I hated the thing. I’d take my backpack blower any time. If your yard is perfectly level it might be a different story. And my backpack blower does a lot of other chores besides blow leaves. The push blower is a one use tool. I’ve got a cyclone rake in my lawn mower and I’m not a fan of it either. I prefer to just mulch them, but you have to stay on top of the work. That’s not a once and done project.

 

[LMychajluk]

I use a Stihl BR600 backpack blower to clean up leaves around ~2 acres on the side of a hill. No problem with wet leaves on the lawn - it'll even dig into the rotting stuff around the trees at the edges of the lawn. The weight of the blower doesn't bother my back much, but at the end of the day, my feet will be killing me (maybe I need better boots). Last fall I tried to do more with the mower. I don't have a bagger, or even the mulch kit for my deck, but I would do a few laps with the discharge pointing 'inward', mulching the leaves until the deck started to clog, then turn around and do a lap throwing the mulched leaves 'outward' for one lap before turning around again and repeating the process. That seemed to do better, but I'll see how much of that was absorbed into the soil when the snow melts.

I don't think that a push blower would be better, because it wouldn't be as maneuverable.

 

[edgarrian]

We live in the middle of a 8 acres wood lot. So the leaves are plentiful. I purchased a commercial grade leaf blower thats a stihl. It does a good job but after two years I'm looking to get a pull behind for massey 1705. Trac Vac makes some nice leaf vacs that a I'm going to look at. It just so happens they are built in Thorntown IN which is about 7 miles from where we live. The back pack blower is a good machine but it is time consuming. We have a fenced in back yard for the dogs and i just blow the leaves into a pile underneath the trees. I don't really like doing that. It would take forever to blow them out of the fenced in yard. I did it once and meh ill save money in fuel over time by getting a leaf vac

 

[dadster4]

A couple years ago I was looking for something to pickup hickory nuts. Bought the Husqvarna backpack and couldn't be happier. I can blow leaves and nuts on 1/4 acre of lawn into two piles in about 45 minutes. Doesn't sound like much, but I had 8 100' trees in that area and 6 more just off the side, up till a few weeks ago when I had three trees cut down that could have hit the house.