Leaf Blower Buying Guide
Gas vs. Electric Leaf Blowers
Before reading the rest of this guide, check your town’s regulations to see whether you even have options. Some towns ban gas leaf blowers altogether because they tend to be louder than electric blowers. Even if yours allows them, you may want to consider how much noise they make. Generally speaking, the difference in decibel levels can be significant. If you don’t need to blow leaves for long stretches—like half an hour or longer—you might do well with a battery model.
What’s more, the best battery handheld leaf blowers consistently outperform their gas counterparts, including when it comes to how powerful they are. It’s just that battery models have a limited run time per charge, around 8 to 30 minutes. (Consider buying your lawn tools from the same brand so that you can use the same batteries and charger across your suite of tools. It’ll also cut down on costs and help you avoid waiting for a battery to charge mid-task.) Note that these models are also sometimes sold as cordless blowers or electric leaf blowers.
If you have a large expanse of land with lots of leaves, you might consider gas. A gas leaf blower—even handheld and backpack varieties—can be taken far and wide for an indefinite amount of time as long as you keep the tank full. It’s also the only kind that’s available as a wheeled option, which makes for easier, quicker cleanup. It’s important to note, however, that a gas leaf blower, like any gas-powered tool, requires more maintenance than an electric model.
Electric blowers, whether corded or cordless, are better for the environment. They have no emissions at the point of use, and they run far more efficiently. Based on our member surveys, they’re also more reliable, which means they’re less likely to end up in a landfill.
Types of Leaf Blowers
Selecting the right leaf blower comes down to your terrain, yard size, and budget. Both gas and electric models take much of the work (and blisters) out of raking up fallen leaves and other yard and driveway debris.
Corded Electric Leaf Blowers
Corded models typically weigh 9 pounds or less and are designed for one-handed use. They cost around $60 to $100. They are generally easy to use and offer no-hassle push-button starting and zero exhaust emissions. But the power cord limits your mobility and can be a hassle around trees and other obstacles. Consider an electric blower if a power outlet will always be within 100 feet of the work area.
Battery Handheld Leaf Blowers
These tools are slightly heavier than corded electrics (though still usually around 10 pounds or less) and more maneuverable. They range in price from about $100 to $650 (though many top-performing models are under $300). They’ve become popular among people who want tools as part of a battery platform, where power tools can share the same battery. A battery leaf blower also means you won’t have the maintenance requirements of a gas-powered model, and you won’t be tethered to a power cord. Power can exceed that of the best gas blowers, too. Rechargeable batteries last about half an hour, tops, so if the chore takes longer, you’ll have to take a break while your battery juices up or have a second battery on hand.
Gas-Powered Backpack Leaf Blowers
These blowers are typically more powerful than handheld models. Most weigh 20 pounds or more, twice as much as a gas-powered handheld blower. But your back and shoulders, rather than your arms, support the weight. Like handheld gas models, they’re noisier than electrics. They can’t vacuum or shred. And they cost more than handheld blowers, ranging from about $280 to $600.
Battery Backpack Leaf Blowers
These tools blend the best attributes of battery handheld blowers and gas-powered backpack options. Like most battery blowers, they’re quiet, start effortlessly, and don’t use gasoline or oil. They’re typically more powerful than handheld battery blowers and offer longer run times. Many battery backpack blowers come with 5.0- or even 7.5-amp-hour batteries vs. the 2.5-amp-hour batteries on most handheld models. Top models typically run between $500 and $700.
Gas-Powered Wheeled Leaf Blowers
Need lots of oomph to quickly clear a sizable area? A wheeled blower might fit the bill for large yards. But this type has a few drawbacks. Wheeled blowers can’t vacuum or shred, and they require about 8 square feet of storage space. At 80 pounds or more, they’re bulky, and they’re not easy to maneuver and push, especially uphill. They’re also usually noisy and expensive ($350 to $975). Large four-stroke engines require no mixing of fuel and oil.
Gas-Powered Handheld Leaf Blowers
Gas handheld blowers can go anywhere, and they never require a charge. You do need to yank a pull cord to start the engine, and gas engines require periodic tuneups. Most models weigh about 10 pounds. They’re not as powerful as most battery models in our tests. And though they’re quieter than they used to be, gas models are usually still quite loud, so it’s best to wear hearing protection. The majority have two-stroke engines, which require mixing fuel and oil. Those with four-stroke engines let you skip that step, and they run cleaner. Gas-powered handheld leaf blowers range in price from about $110 to $350.
Leaf Blower Features
Some leaf blower features add convenience, while others enhance safety. Here’s what to consider.
Nozzle Design
Choose a model with both a rounded tip and a flattened one, or opt for a rounded one and then supplement it with a separate flattened-tip attachment. You’ll use the flattened tip (shown above) for sweeping loose leaves and the rounded tip for loosening leaves that are embedded in the lawn.
Nozzle Design
Choose a model with both a rounded tip and a flattened one, or opt for a rounded one and then supplement it with a separate flattened-tip attachment. You’ll use the flattened tip (shown above) for sweeping loose leaves and the rounded tip for loosening leaves that are embedded in the lawn.
A Few Words About Noise
As anyone with an early-rising, yard-obsessed neighbor can confirm, a running leaf blower can get really loud. Product labels list decibels, so you can compare noise levels as you shop.
Some communities prohibit leaf-blower use during certain hours; others ban gas blowers altogether because they tend to be louder than electric models. In California, some communities ban all leaf blowers, no matter how quiet their operation.
Check your town’s regulations. Then check the 50-foot noise scores in our leaf blower ratings. Models that earn an excellent rating should meet the toughest limits, and those that receive at least a midrange rating are likely to meet most restrictions. But keep in mind that blowers that are relatively quiet at a distance can still be very noisy up close.
CR recommends wearing hearing protection when using a leaf blower, especially with models that receive a midlevel or lower rating in our ear-level noise tests. We also suggest that you avoid running even the quietest blowers very early or late at night so that you don’t disturb sleeping neighbors.
How CR Tests Leaf Blowers
We test handheld, backpack, and wheeled leaf blowers. Some years, we blow through 2,500 pounds of leaves in the process. Because we can’t rely on that quantity of leaves falling on our Yonkers, N.Y., campus each autumn, we often start collecting and storing fallen foliage a year in advance.
To make sure we use the same quantity of leaves to test each model, CR’s test engineers rope off a standardized swath of grass and dump bags of leaves inside the boundary. We time how long each blower takes to clear the pile and whether the tool moves every last leaf. Some leaf blowers struggle by the time we reach the bottom of the pile, where leaves can get embedded in the grass. To see how well leaf blowers loosen debris, our technicians embed grasslike synthetic turf with sawdust and rice. We weigh the turf before and after to determine just how much the leaf blower was able to clear in a set amount of time. Each leaf blower goes through four rounds of tests.
To test the strength of a leaf blower’s airflow, we conduct what’s called a “ball rise” test. We direct the leaf blower’s air through a vertical tube and measure how high the air can lift two dimpled batting cage balls. (The two balls together help create a stable height reading.)
We also note how difficult it is to maneuver each leaf blower, how heavy it feels, and how intuitive the controls are.
In Search of the Best Leaf Blowers
Here's how we blow through 2,000 pounds of leaves a year to find the top performers.
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