Leaf blowers

Comment:

I don't recommend it. Mine broke down on the 4th use and all of the uses were VERY light duty. No more tan 10 minutes sweeping off a small back patio. never got a chance to use the vacuum.

How long have you owned it:

Three-to-six months

Bottom Line

No, I would not recommend this to a friend.

Comment:

I need to get one thing out of the way.... If your leaf blower is burning out frequently, there is one common denominator in all of this.... YOU. Why?<br /><br />Because these are 12A leaf blowers on 15a 120v circuits, which so happens to be the absolute maximum for continuous usage. If you're using a very high powered electric device, you need to use the appropriate gauge electric cord... This means those cheap, light weight orange 16ga extension cords are completely unacceptable! It gets even worse over a long distance like 100ft. As a point of reference, the wiring in your wall for a 15a circuit is using solid core, 14 or 12ga wiring yet you're using a stranded wire 16ga wire over 25ft+ and think it's ok to load this circuit to its absolute maximum!? I think not! So what is the appropriate remedy? Well the bad news is, if you're going say 100FT, you'll need a 10ga cord... Yes this is expensive, heavy and beefy but absolutely necessary. Why? Because if you're loading down that puny 15a circuit to its absolute maximum, and you're a far distance away, there are tremendous electrical losses and since that extension cord is using stranded wire, a 10ga stranded over 100+ft=14ga solid core wire. <br /><br />If you can get a watt meter, load it up at full power on this blower and have the blower on a thin cord at one end, one thing you'll see is a huge voltage sag from like 120v which is what it's designed for down to something unsafe like 100v which means the current goes up to compensate, burning out the motor and possibly cause fire. For a given power load like 1200watts, less volts means higher amps.<br /><br />I don't know WHY toro doesn't have a guide, maybe because it would repel people but anybody who is a professional knows or should know that high powered devices need high gauge cords less they want to start a fire or damage their equipment.<br /><br />Now if you're really REALLY lazy, you MIGHT be able to get away with a thin gauge cord IF and only IF, you run the blower on the lowest speed setting and don't do it for an extended period of time. However this removes some of the utility of this blower which is why getting the high gauge cord is so important. <br /><br />For 50ft, a 12gauge cord should be sufficient but anything more the whole cord needs to be 100ft. Also, tying extension cords onto each other is very bad as there are a lot of losses in the extension cord connectors so having 4 10ga 25ft extension cords isn't acceptable either but definitely better than using those cheap orange 16ga extension cords.

How long have you owned it:

More than six months

Bottom Line

Yes, I would recommend this to a friend.

Comment:

As blowers go, it was very good and I was pleased with its performance. However, over the coarse of three years I went through two blowers. The first one only lasted one season. I did use the vacuuming feature, and thought that maybe that use did it in. The store did take it back and with the second one I decided just to use the blower feature. it lasted approximately two years, then quickly started to decrease in power, and then completely quit working. I have since gone with an entirely different brand, hoping for better reliability.

How long have you owned it:

More than six months

Bottom Line

No, I would not recommend this to a friend.