Leaf Blower Brands and Links

Using a leaf blower effectively

In a US News and World Report article titled "Get Rid of the Leaf Blower," Linda Creighton offers some reasons to use a $25 rake instead of a leaf blower. In addition to saving money (on fuel as well as initial cost), she notes that 60 minutes of raking leaves burns about 325 calories -- more than twice as many as you burn using a leaf blower.

Complete instructions for using leaf blowers are posted on the Stihl website. (Note that this file requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.)

ProGardenBiz.com provides some guidelines for using a leaf blower with minimal disturbance to neighbors.

Leaf-Blowers.com provides information about different types of leaf blowers as well as links to two newspaper articles about the noise-pollution controversy they've caused.

The tool shed forum at GardenWeb.com offers good advice from users about their experiences with various leaf blower brands and models. You can search for discussion threads about a specific make and/or model, which makes the site easy to use.

Another good user-based source of information is LawnSite.com; the commercial and residential lawn mowing forum includes discussion threads about leaf blowers. There is no convenient search feature, however.

The Louisiana State University Agricultural Extension Center posts a useful online publication on choosing and using a leaf blower.

Leaf blower brands

Black & Decker

Craftsman

Echo

Homelite

Husqvarna

John Deere

Ryobi

Stihl

Toro

Troy-Bilt

Weed Eater

Worx

Yard-Man