[cwmma]

It's mentioned in the article but easy to miss, this is an improvement on the already much much quieter electric leaf blowers that are readily available. The ones you are thinking of are two stroke gas powered ones which are loud as fuck and terrible for the environment, anyone using one of those could have gotten a quieter electric one but chose not to, which means they definitely aren't going to use this improved electric one.

[justinclift]

> they definitely aren't going to use this improved electric one.

The (major) manufacturer they demonstrated it to seems to have adopted it.

Maybe they'll expand the concept out over time to the two stroke ones as well. :)

[aftbit]

Yeah except the electric ones that I've used kinda suck. I have an electric leaf blower from Ego and a gas backpack one. The electric one is awesome for blowing the grass off the driveway after mowing or other light tasks. OTOH I used it to manage the leaves in our quarter acre or so backyard last year, and it took me three charge cycles using two batteries each every time I tried to move the leaves. I ended up just raking both years. Last year I finally bought a backpack blower after trying one out with a friend on a much smaller property. It blows harder and has the endurance to actually finish the job.

[jdc0589]

You are right, and I agree with the last bit for the record.

But, keep in mind that "just going electric" isn't a good option universally. It's MUCH more expensive to put together an electric setup and the number of batteries necessary to do any significant amount of work than it is to buy even a mid range backpack 2-stroke blower. Especially if you do what a lot of people do and look for used equipment to save a ton of $.

If you have a small yard or are only ever doing stuff like blowing off a deck/patio/sidewalk/driveway: battery 100%. if you need to do any significant amount of leaf management in a larger area: good luck.

I have an m18 electric, and gas Echo backpack. If im cleaning off a sidewalk/patio, cleaning gutters, etc.. im 100% using the electric. Otherwise....not so much. I don't even clean up grass clippings, mulch and cut frequently enough that they aren't an issue.

[bhandziuk]

I use a corded electric blower (it's also the motor for a shop vac). It works very well for the driveway, blowing out the garage and, for the very rare times I've done it, leaves on grass.

[jdc0589]

corded ones can be great. I moved to a battery powered one for cleaning gutters because eventually the cord was going to trip me on the roof and cause a fall.

obviously less convenient than gas or battery, but they can be good for stuff reasonably close to your house.