If the leaves are starting to pile up in your yard, you may be considering buying a leaf blower or a blower vac with a built-in vacuum. But how do you know which model will do the best job?
On this page:
- Our expert tester
- How we choose what to test
- How we test leaf blowers and blower vacs
- Test criteria explained
Our expert tester
Our tester, James Thomson, knows how to find out which blowers are worth buying and which are just blowing hot air. When testing performance and ease of use, he uses the leaf blowers in a real-life situation to see how they compare when it comes to clearing leaves and twigs from lawns and, in the case of blower vacs, vacuuming up the pile.
How we choose what to test
Leaf blowers come in electric, petrol and battery-powered cordless varieties, while some also have a vacuum function. Our leaf blower reviews include electric and cordless models, and some with a vacuum function. Petrol models continue to be available but the latest offerings are of the battery powered cordless variety and increases in battery capacity and power allow these devices to perform stronger for longer.
Our product researchers survey manufacturers to find out what the latest models are, as well as specifications. We try to include a range of brands and models found in both mainstream and specialist hardware stores.
Once a list featuring a range of brands and price points is chosen, our buyers then go through the arduous process of ordering the leaf blowers and blower vacs just as a consumer would, to ensure the manufacturer hasn't tampered with the unit in any way.
How we test leaf blowers and blower vacs
Performance
The blowing test is conducted by spreading 3.5kg of dry leaves and small twigs on a 5 x 3.5-metre grassed area to closely replicate a home lawn environment. Our tester times how long it takes for each blower to blow all the leaves out of the marked area. He penalises the battery-powered models that run out of power before completing the job.
To test the performance of the blower vacs with a vacuuming function, James times how long it takes to convert from blower to vacuum mode and suck up a 1kg pile of leaves and twigs. He then repeats the test with a 2kg pile of leaves only. The fastest times are used as the basis of the blowing and vacuuming performance scores.
James also measures the noise produced by each blower and we publish the highest noise level in our blower vac reviews.
Ease of use
James looks at how easy it is to manoeuvre the leaf blower, taking into account the absence or presence of a power cord and the weight of the blower, as well as what it's like to use the leaf blower, including how easily the machine becomes blocked, intensity of vibrations, trigger comfort and ease of switching between modes for blower vacs.
Test criteria explained
The CHOICE Expert Rating, our overall score that determines which products we recommend, is made up of:
- blowing performance (65%)
- ease of use (35%).
As not all models have a vacuum, the vacuum scores for blower vacs are not included in the CHOICE Expert Rating but shown for comparison with other blower vac models.
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Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
