Buying a Blower, Vac or Sweeper

The thought of the leaves falling in the Autumn can be very off putting as it means taking the rake out of the shed and going to work for hours piling up the leaves and other debris and if permitted setting them alight. Of course that is not always possible nowadays so it can mean lots of costly trips to the tip or overladen bins for the Council collectors.
 
A garden vacuum, blower or sweeper can help eliminate the drudgery of the job, there is a choice of small hand held machines which only blow the leaves, then there is backpack machines that are capable of sucking up and shredding leaves, twigs and even pine cones. And then wheeled machines that suck and shred anything from leaves, twigs and bottles.
 
There are many types of garden blowers/vacs as follows:
 
- Electric, Battery Cordless and Petrol: hand held blower vacs
 
- Electric, Battery Cordless and Petrol: hand held or back pack blower only
 
- Wheeled: hand propelled or trailing leaf sweepers
 
- Wheeled Petrol: leaf blowers; leaf and litter vacuums
 
- Truck Mounted: leaf and debris vacuums
 
There is a blower, sweeper or blower vac for most peoples needs but it is important to consider the following:
 
Hand held machines: Study the power to weight ratio, the lower the weight and the higher the power can make the difference on the time spent on the job meaning less strain on the operators arms and shoulders. Depending on the weight of the machine it is preferred to have a shoulder strap for comfort.
 
Shredding the materials as they pass through the machine is very important, the shredding mechanism determines the size of the pieces collected in the bag. The smaller the pieces the less space they take and are much easier to dispose of or compost. Look for a shredding ratio of 10:1 or more.
 
Blower Vacs normally have a system of changing from blower to vacuum, look at how easy it is before deciding which machine to buy. Look for one with a simple lever conversation.
 
Sweepers come in hand propelled or tractor trailing versions. Hand propelled vary in sweeping width and quality of the wheel drive mechanism, also consider the quality of the collector and size of bag which varies depending on the type of material that it is made of.