Anyone have one/recommend a leaf vacuum? I'd like to surprise my husband with one since raking and bagging up leaves takes so much time but I'm not sure if they're worth the trouble. The models I'm looking at are the three-in-one blower/vacuum/mulch options. He already has a blower but I haven't found a vacuum-only. Would appreciate any thoughts if you've used one.

How picky is your husband about his yard tools? I would hate doing the lawn if my wife bought my lawn tools so good job coming here first.

I know nothing about leaf vacs other than the big walk behind my dad had when I was a kid sucked - sorry for the dad joke.

I would look at the brands of lawn equipment he already has and try to stick to a similar brands. For example, if he has a high end Honda mower and Echo trimmers, go high end. If he has a black and decker trimmer and Walmart brand mower, he's a masochist, so buy a whip or a riding crop and tell him he's been a naughty boy this year.

Get something with a metal fan or impeller. You'll suck up all kinds of stuff.

Also, bag size and ergonomics are important. A small bag will fill up fast and be a pain in the ass to continually empty every couple of minutes. An unergonomic bag will also make you wish you were dead after awhile.

Also, bagging them with a lawnmower is easier to me. I blow them into piles or rows with a blower and then just hit them with the mower. Still a pain, but not that bad.

Check out the Toro Blower Vac. Does a pretty good job except with gumballs (in which case I just turn it off/on)

I have the Echo Blower/Vac and to be honest it's probably not worth it if he has to pick up a ton of leaves.

I use mine to pick up my grass clippers after edging and the occasional bit of leaves but I have zero trees on my property so I only get leaves blown in from neighbors.

The issue is it doesn't truly mulch the leaves to nothing so the bag fills quickly.

pnut02 said:

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Check out the Toro Blower Vac. Does a pretty good job except with gumballs (in which case I just turn it off/on)

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I have this one. The Vacuum function works better than others I have used in the past. It does a good job on my live oak leaves and can handle small twigs without clogging. My only negative is that it isn't cordless.

Thanks y'all - I'll check out the Toro. And as has been noted upthread, I'm a little wary of getting him a tool he didn't pick out himself, but if I get him a Home Depot gift card to get one he'll just use it for another chainsaw. Very much appreciate the replies.

TexAg2001 said:

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pnut02 said:

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Check out the Toro Blower Vac. Does a pretty good job except with gumballs (in which case I just turn it off/on)

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I have this one. The Vacuum function works better than others I have used in the past. It does a good job on my live oak leaves and can handle small twigs without clogging. My only negative is that it isn't cordless.

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That looks exactly like my craftsman blower/vac which looks exactly like the black and decker blower/vac that my neighbor has.

https://www.stihlusa.com/products/blowers-and-shredder-vacs/shredder-vacs/

Quote:

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https://www.stihlusa.com/products/blowers-and-shredder-vacs/shredder-vacs/

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EOT. Get a Stihl blower/shredder. Your husband will be indebted to you forever.

1) The heck is wrong with a WalMart mower? I bought the damn thing during a summer internship in 2007 and it still starts 1st pull every time. I'm not going to waste the money to replace it just so the neighbors can see me pushing a Toro or Honda around the yard.

I have a vac blower combo that I bought a few years ago just for the vac. Pretty sure I threw away all of the blower stuff because I already had a gas blower. It's decent-ish. It'll pick up smaller leaves off of concrete or out of a flower bed. It will NOT pick up heavy magnolia leaves out of the yard. In truth it doesn't do much of anything in grass. It just doesn't move enough air through.

Blowers work pretty well because they reduce the area the air passes through. Vacuums can't do that and need a larger passage so they don't clog. I kinda wonder if they even make one with a high enough CFM to work effectively.

pnut02 said:

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Check out the Toro Blower Vac. Does a pretty good job except with gumballs (in which case I just turn it off/on)

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That's the one I have. Works great and had for a few years now.
Be sure to get one that also mulches the leaves. Turned my many many bag yard into a 2 bag yard.

I just bought an echo. I mainly bought it for the flower beds and think it'll also be useful along the street curb and lawn edges. For larger areas like the lawn you'll still need to rake the leaves into a pile. I use my mulching mower and bag for the lawn areas. It makes bagging easier and does reduce the number of bags. It's a useful tool but mainly for small/tight areas.

I have turf and use this one to pick up leafs and mulch them. Works great for everything but heavy acorns, it can't pick that up.

WORX

I need something for acorns....do not have those huge ones....small ones....cherry size....


Will most of these vacuums work? My next option is going to be chop down the darn tree....

planoaggie123 said:

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I need something for acorns....do not have those huge ones....small ones....cherry size....


Will most of these vacuums work? My next option is going to be chop down the darn tree....

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Get some feral hogs.

I like where you are going with this:

1) Feral hogs eat acorns and get fat

2) Feral hogs destroy flower beds and wife says "fine, we never have to plant flowers again" (maybe the biggest win of all???)

3) Eat feral hogs

4) Repeat....

So mine defintely does NOT work on small live oak acorns. I have to blow them in a pile and use a snow shovel. It's a pain in the A. That's why I'm selling my house and the next house won't have a single tree near the turf!!

DeBoss said:

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So mine defintely does NOT work on small live oak acorns. I have to blow them in a pile and use a snow shovel. It's a pain in the A. That's why I'm selling my house and the next house won't have a single tree near the turf!!

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I think we are 1 - 2 years away from chopping the darn thing down. My wife likes it because it is fully mature and looks like but even she is growing really tired of the acorns....100s a day on our walkway....

Had the Toro for several years. Eventually a safety switch went out and I ended up tossing it. It works pretty well, but the bag is a little small. It alsi left me sure a lot because of the height of the vacuum attachment and the way the bag connected was a little awkward for me. Metal impeller is a big plus though. It does best if the leaves have been raked already. It won't really pull them out of the grass, just off of it.

Tried the Ryobi electric version last year. It was pretty disappointing and not very well designed.

Just purchased the STIHL SH 56 C-E. It is gas. Much better design and power, works much better. Do wish it shredded things up finer, but it's okay.

The toro leaf vac is good. I had an old one and a more recent one. The more recent one is definitely more cheaply made (thinner plastic; bag not as thick) but still works fine. It does a good job. I like to set it on its side on the ground and then feed leaves into it. I wish cyclone leaf rake sold their leaf vac Setup alone without the whole cyclone rake kit. That's an idea that could be scaled down and sold well to homeowners

If you already have a tractor/zero turn/utv you could use a leaf sweeper. I paid $265 for this one a few years back:
Agri-Fab 45-0492 Lawn Sweeper, 44-Inch

2nd the leaf sweeper, great for bulk leaf pickup

Bottlerocket said:

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The toro leaf vac is good. I had an old one and a more recent one. The more recent one is definitely more cheaply made (thinner plastic; bag not as thick) but still works fine. It does a good job. I like to set it on its side on the ground and then feed leaves into it. I wish cyclone leaf rake sold their leaf vac Setup alone without the whole cyclone rake kit. That's an idea that could be scaled down and sold well to homeowners

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Definitely have done this. If I had access to a 3D printer, I would make an adapter to feed to a shop vac hose or some larger canvas bag.

Just mulch them up with the mower. Quicker and easier.

In the day, we used a push leaf collector whose wide brush helped them into a broad, big bag but not much mulching to be flower bed useful.

Later, thought it was the greatest, this Bday leaf sucker mulcher present from sister, BUT UGH
what a pain, too much work. If you have a small residential lot & want ideal mulch for flower beds, then go for that Toro mentioned above.

With a large lot or 1/2acre, it's more fun doing a better job with a mulching blade on a riding mower made for mulching!
Now THAT'S a great present!

ABATTBQ11 said:

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Had the Toro for several years. Eventually a safety switch went out and I ended up tossing it. It works pretty well, but the bag is a little small. It alsi left me sure a lot because of the height of the vacuum attachment and the way the bag connected was a little awkward for me. Metal impeller is a big plus though. It does best if the leaves have been raked already. It won't really pull them out of the grass, just off of it.

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I'm a big guy and it's very awkward! Heavy too.

I wouldn't buy it again.

I'm curious about this...Sun Joe SBJ803E-SJG 14-Amp Walk Behind Outdoor Corded-Electric Vacuum Blower & Mulcher scroll to the bottom for video.

I used to have the Worx power vac/shredder thing. If you could hook it straight up to my yard cart or a big trash can, maybe I'd have kept it.

Best way I've found is to use a backpack blower to clean out the beds/bushes into the yard. Then I use the bag on my Honda walk behind and have to empty it about 25 times on the front yard alone. Having to mess with a power cord on that SunJoe would be annoying.

ABATTBQ11 said:

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Also, bagging them with a lawnmower is easier to me. I blow them into piles or rows with a blower and then just hit them with the mower. Still a pain, but not that bad.

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This except why bother blowing them in a pile or rows first?

I just mow with the bag on a few times when leaves are actively falling down, makes quick work of cleaning it all up. Only blowing I'll do is getting leaves from bed areas onto the grass.

Used to have an older toro bag mower and then bought a used Honda commercial hydrostatic with an aluminum deck. Game changer in cleaning up leaves. I have lots of pecan trees and it makes short work. Even use it on the driveway.

Honda deck is a better design for sucking up leaves.

I have one similar to this. It was given to me, I am not sure that I'd buy one as it takes up as much room as my lawn mower, but it does a very good job.

The downside is that it is a small gas engine that gets used a few times over 1 month per year. It's not always easy to start.

62strat said:

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ABATTBQ11 said:

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Also, bagging them with a lawnmower is easier to me. I blow them into piles or rows with a blower and then just hit them with the mower. Still a pain, but not that bad.

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This except why bother blowing them in a pile or rows first?

I just mow with the bag on a few times when leaves are actively falling down, makes quick work of cleaning it all up. Only blowing I'll do is getting leaves from bed areas onto the grass.

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I blow them into rows or piles instead of raking them out of the grass. For larger leaves I'd just mow over, but the live oak leaves we have don't get picked up if they're not raked or blown out.

DeBoss said:

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I have turf and use this one to pick up leafs and mulch them. Works great for everything but heavy acorns, it can't pick that up.

WORX

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I have this one also. It works well. Surprising how much the bag will hold after the leaves are shredded. Just can't feed it too fast.