Best Handheld Leaf Blowers of 2025

Corded leaf blowers are best for small yards or patios, like those for a row house or townhouse. These handhelds require an outdoor-rated extension cord, limiting your reach to about 100 feet.

Battery-powered models are best for yards where a corded model is too limiting. The battery allows you to cover as large a range as you’d like—up to the point when it runs out of juice and you have to stop to either recharge it or swap in a backup battery. Our tests found many battery handheld models to be even more powerful than gas. Plus, these models are far better for the environment than gas options and are quieter.

Gas handheld blowers are an option for large lots or yards with lots of trees. They let you blow leaves as long as you keep adding fuel, though the internal combustion engine will require regular maintenance.

We’ve tested over 70 handheld models, including options from Atlas, Ego, Makita, Troy-Bilt, and Toro. Our goal is to find the models that are both effective and comfortable to use. Here’s what our top performers have in common:

They’re fast at moving leaves. The best blowers in our tests clear a large swath of grass in under a minute.

They’re good at loosening embedded leaves from a lawn. Even with a leaf blower that’s quick to move most leaves, you’ll notice a few stragglers. We look for tools that don’t require you to break out a rake to clean up.

They’re powerful. We measure the force of a leaf blower’s airflow. A more powerful leaf blower will move pine cones, twigs, or other debris and can do the job of clearing gutters.

They’re easy to handle. We consider weight, the placement of the controls, and ease of starting to find models that start and run effortlessly. We also favor models that are light and easy enough to use that you won’t end up with sore arms.

They’re reliable. We survey thousands of CR members each year to provide brand-level reliability and owner satisfaction scores to zero in on leaf blowers that will continue to work well long after their first autumn.

For CR’s leaf blower tests, we rope off a swath of grass and dump leaves inside the boundary, going through some 2,500 pounds during a busy year. We generally start collecting these leaves a year or more ahead of time so that we can test the newest leaf blower models without waiting until fall.

We time how long each blower takes to clear the pile. We don’t lower our standards for handheld models: We use the same stringent time measurements that we use for beefier backpack and wheeled blowers to make sure that we recommend only the top tier of handheld models.

We also assess how thoroughly the blower removes leaves near the bottom of the pile, a task that can get tricky because those leaves are often embedded in the grass. To further test loosening, we embed sawdust and rice into synthetic turf to determine how well a leaf blower can clear debris.

Our experts also evaluate handling, ease of use, and—for models that have it—the vacuuming function, which mulches down dried leaves. Finally, we factor in owner satisfaction and brand-level reliability by brand and type.