?'s for backpack blower owners

[trophyhunter]

So the county finally got their act together and is doing roadside leaf pick up this year, I was using a pull behind sweeper with a dump catcher behind the tractor and it works great to get them all in one place to burn but I'm wondering if I can replace that with a back pack blower and get them all out to the streets edge without it taking all day?

I have used a small Stihl handheld blower for years to do minor clean up but you aren't touching a 3/4 acre yard with it. Will a large enough backpack blower move all the leaves from the rear of a pretty heavily wooded lot to the front edge at the road without taking all day to get it done?

Never used one before, will likely buy a big Stihl if I go that route I'd like to get rid of the yard sweeper it has a huge footprint and takes up to much storage space.

 

[bowtechmadman]

How many leaves?? I blow at most a half acre and it's an all day ordeal with wife and I with backpack blowers going (Redmax and a Husky). Part of ours is how forested the yard is so lots of leaves and a lot of trees/shrubs etc...to blow them around to the woods.
If you are fairly open the walk behind blowers are pretty darn nice (quite a bit more CFM)...used to use one on my parents place where they were pretty open/flat and it worked very well. My property doesn't lend itself to anything but backpack to get around.

 

[trophyhunter]

Lot's of leaves, oaks and cherry trees on and all the way around the property. So yea, based on your experience I'm in similar conditions and not wanting an all day ordeal at all the pull behind sweeper knocks it out pretty fast it's just that a pass or three in the heavy areas and it's full already so needs to be dumped.

Also my wife is no where to be found when it's time for yard work so you got a leg up on me already running two of them. If I did buy one I'd go all in for a big Stihl unit with some power but not sure that's enough to really get it done in a reasonable time.

 

[Blue Oaks]

I have about a quarter acre to blow, but it's pretty smooth and downhill. My backpack works great, the electric start is a bonus.

 

[bowtechmadman]

My redmax is a beast and the Husky is much smaller. I can peel sod with the redmax if not careful...unfortunately, still takes quite some time to take care of complete yard. Wish I had enough open ground for the push style blower.

 

[Bobby Kirbos]

Wife and I would rake the yard together until she got pregnant. That year, I was on my own. I got a backpack blower. It was the greatest $$ spent to that point. It's a Husky 130BT. It's on the small side (30cc I think) but it gets the job done. I use it to move the bulk of the leaves, then still go over the yard with the bagging mower to do a really good cleanup.

I learned this tid-bit from my grandfather:
For the last cut of the season (after the bulk cleanup), use your mower and drop the blade deck by 1 notch. Any leaves that hit your yard during the winter will be blown out of your yard; tall grass will hold the leaves.

 

[CentaurG2]

We use a 19hp diesel tractor with a shaft driven vac system. Mulches and picks up leaves all in one sweep. Stuff is gold so into the compost pile it goes. I have a big redmax ebz8500. It will easily move mountains of leaves as well as bricks if you need it to but it is very heavy and just drinks fuel. I use it mostly to dethatch the lawn in the spring as it is almost too powerful to use near planted beds. Time it takes to move leaves really depends on the wind direction. If you have the wind in the right direction, you want the backpack blower. Wind in the wrong direction, you want the sweeper.

 

[KenJax Tree]

 

[Conquistador3]

¾ of an acre = over 3,000 square meters... I'll take the compact tractor with whatever attachment is available.

 

[challenger]

If the leaves are dry a wide plastic rake will be a fast way to clean them up. If there is distance to the landing zone rake the leaves on to a tarp and drag and repeat. I enjoy raking leaves off of a nice lawn. The rake gets the little leaves much better than a blower and the clean look is satisfying. Maybe I'm this way because my lawn is pretty sorry AND I get only pine straw dropping [emoji16]

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[trophyhunter]

I can assure you the tractor and pull behind sweeper and catcher are far faster than any rake lol. Thing is you still have to use at least a handheld blower to get them away from the chain link fence, around the house and tress etc out into a traffic area to drive over them. We used to do the rake and tarp thing, what took 2 people 2 long days to rake and pull the tractor does in 2 hours or less with that pull behind sweeper heck it's even got a pull cord to dump the hopper you don't have to get off the tractor to dump it.

Which was why I considered just dropping the coin for a Stihl 700 backpack since you have to fire up a blower and walk the property once over anyways before getting the tractor out and digging out the sweeper.

Plus there are now new neighbors all the way around and across the street that don't get off their ***** and do much of anything so every time the wind blows my nice clean yard ends up full of whatever was left to lay in theirs. It would be fun to fire up a big blower and return to sender some days just to make a point.

 

[mh9162013]

If you get a backpack blower, get the newest, most powerful one. For example, don't get the Stihl 700. Instead get the new Stihl 800 (they have 2 versions, the 800C or 800X). These have 20% more power than the 700 backpack blowers. They both have in excess of 200 MPH and 1,000 CFM. It's the CFM that really helps you move leaves.

Echo has a comparable one, the new PB-8010T or PB-8010H.

Either way, don't expect your 3/4 acre yard to be done in 2 hours, though (even with the help of the wind). Shouldn't take all day, though it really depends on the layout of your yard and how many leaves there are. It took me about 7 hours to do my 3/4 acre yard, but 90% of what needed leafblowing was contained in fenced in areas so I had to leaf blow a lot of leaves through a gated doorway in my fence. Also, I had several months worth of leaf build up to content with.

I have a Stihl BR 600 Magnum (which roughly 25-35% less powerful than the new 800 series blowers).

 

[Cycledude]

I believe the new Stihl 800 is a little over 900 CFM not 1,000 and list price is $600.00 , one major improvement is they designed the new 800 so that the operator can pull the rope to start it without having to dismount it from the operators back first, I am very seriously considering buying one.

 

[trophyhunter]

I believe the new Stihl 800 is a little over 900 CFM not 1,000 and list price is $600.00 , one major improvement is they designed the new 800 so that the operator can pull the rope to start it without having to dismount it from the operators back first, I am very seriously considering buying one.

I got through this fall without buying one, mainly because none of my local dealers had the 800 in stock yet or they were hiding them in back and playing dumb to sell off their stock of 600/700's in inventory.

I'll grab one when they hit the floor, leaf clean up this year was a good reminder nothing replaces the tractor and sweeper to pick them up and haul them to the dump piles it's getting all those leaves into the traffic areas where you can drive over them to pick them up that's the hard part and handheld blowers take hours to make that happen.

 

[Cycledude]

My dealer doesn’t have any 800’s yet either but there is another dude besides me wanting one, he is supposed to call me when they come in. The 800’s are not even on the Stihl website yet, at least if they are I couldn’t find them, the dealer showed it to me on his computer and I figure dealers probably have access to stuff that the general public doesn’t . Believe it or not I’m wanting to try it for lighter snow removal.

 

[trophyhunter]

I think it will work fine for light snow so long as it's not the wet heavy stuff, great way to clear snow off trailers etc. and the wood pile. I got an email from Stihl few weeks back promoting the 800 blower so it shouldn't be to long a wait.

 

[mh9162013]

I believe the new Stihl 800 is a little over 900 CFM not 1,000 and list price is $600.00 , one major improvement is they designed the new 800 so that the operator can pull the rope to start it without having to dismount it from the operators back first, I am very seriously considering buying one.

You are correct, but just to clarify, the CFM is 912 with the blower tube and almost 1,200 without it.

https://m.stihlusa.com/WebContent/C...BR-800-BR-800-X-Owners-Instruction-Manual.pdf (see page 30 of the manual)

 

[Deleted member 117362]

Cyclone Rake XL behind a zero turn and a Husqvarna 165 back pack blower is my plan.

 

[Cycledude]

I think it will work fine for light snow so long as it's not the wet heavy stuff, great way to clear snow off trailers etc. and the wood pile. I got an email from Stihl few weeks back promoting the 800 blower so it shouldn't be to long a wait.

Oh yes being able to blow snow off the woodpile sounds like another great idea I never thought of !

 

[challenger]

Doesn't anyone here use a vacuum?

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