The 10 year old leaf blower is getting awfully hard to start, half dozen pulls minimum and my gas line repair is now spouting fuel around the tank hole when I press the little bulb thing. Its noise level is an assault on the ears, so much so that I wear ear plugs and Donna has to be in the opposite yard from me when I use it. Time to replace it.
Earlier this year we bought a battery operated Black & Decker string trimmer & hedge trimmer. They work pretty well, so I thought maybe we could get the B&D leaf blower that uses the same 18v batteries. It would be quiet and light with no dripping flammable fluids. I read the reviews online and the biggest negatives about the unit were it was kind of weak and used up batteries.
Weak might be OK because all I would be using it for would be blowing off leaves and grass clippings from the back deck, the front sidewalk and the driveway. Batteries shouldn’t be an issue as I already have 3, one came with the string trimmer and one plus a bonus came with the hedge trimmer. Home Depot had some in stock and at $75 worth a trip right after work.
Boy was the box small. It fit in the Miata trunk along with both our lunch boxes and Donna’s purse. When I got home I snapped on the the two tubes and plugged up one of my already charged batteries. I started with the back deck and it seemed like I was cruising along blowing leaves everywhere, but it was having trouble moving the acorns around. The battery was drained by the time I was done with the deck. Hooked up battery number two and headed to the driveway. The small scattering of leaves danced out of the way, the acorns not so much. On the smoother deck it did get them rolling, but on the rougher concrete surface it was like they were super glued down.
Came inside, disassembled the thing and packed it back in its box. After dinner we went back to Home Depot and spent $150 bucks on a new gas powered leaf blower.