I am getting older and my LEAST favorite activity is picking up leaves. I actually enjoy mowing and doing outside activities. I noticed an ad at Sears for a vacuum and I’m wondering if they are worth it. Are there other options other than blowing leaves into a tarp and pulling them to the back of my yard (woods). Any other suggestions would be appreciated. Is the Sears vacuum worth the money? $579.99
I would attach it but the pop-up to attach files is not coming up and I have turned off my pop-up blockers.
Regards,
Buzzsaw
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” Gil Bailie
Replies
I bought a smaller version of the same Sears machine several years ago, as the wind blows all the hood's leaves against my house. Often I have 50' x 30' x 6" worth of leaves.
The thing works reasonably well, feed too much and the input will jam, turn it off and clean it out. I wish it had a bigger bag, I think the new ones do, and the bag is a bit of a pain to empty.
I built a wall bracket to hold the bag upright above a garbage can. Hang the bag up and shake / pull the leaves out. Only way to empty the bag into a can with one person.
The ground up leaves are supposed to be a good source of mulch.
Overall, though flawed, I would buy it again. I think the newer ones are probably better than mine.
Thanks Norman,
I am an outdoors guy but the leaves thing kills me! I spend probably 12-16 hours each Fall just cleaning up leaves. I have cut down a significant amount of trees on my property but the others grow higher and fuller to make up for the ones that were cut down. I have a landscaping lawnmower (52" cut, older Bunton) but I never got the bag because for one it is too small and would fill up in an instant. My nieghbor has a John Deere and he built a cage for the back of his ride-on and the leaves fill up in the cage. I just have a hand-help blower so maybe my next step is to at least get a push landscaping blower or this vacuum. I just have to read more about these newer ones before I invest in this. I also need more room to store it...Regards,
Buzzsaw
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie
Hey Buzzsaw - hear your pain!
Those leaves, they just keep coming! And then the wind adds your neighbor's to your piles. Ah, the joys of living in hurrican-free Florida! (no offense to Floridians, who have suffered mightily these past couple of years...).
We use a mulching push-mower to chip up the leaves onto the lawn (and sometimes "farm it out" to a lawn service with a 60" swath when we get overwhelmed. A good blower/vacuum combination in blower mode helps a lot to get the leaves out of corners and out from under our low deck; then it's time to convert to the vacuum mode and suck the leaves and debris off the rocks we use close to the house.
We bought a Stihl Model HS-85 because it is a)light enough to be very portable and versatile, b)has a 180 mph blower, c)has a set of chipper blades located in the vacuum uptake that greatly reduces the volume of leaves and debris and d)has a local dealer who repairs things when they (inevitably!) go wrong.
Looked at the Home Depot lineup and found them heavier, bulkier, harder to convert into vacuum mode and NOT having the chipper blade for the vacuum mode.
And, it was $249, not over $600. Many of the riding mowers do a good job of mulching and/or vacuuming, but they are up in the thousants of $$'s.
I still appreciate the exercise and crisp fall air involved... call me a nut!
Dave,
I did a Goole search on Stihl Model HS-85 and got hedge trimmers. Can you verify the model number.Regards,
Buzzsaw
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie
SH85 is indeed a leaf vacuum....
http://www.stihlusa.com/blowers/SH85.html
Try mowing them where they fall. Seriously. It may not work for you, but it works for me just fine. I have some large trees in my yard, but they are different kinds of trees and they drop their leaves at different times. Basically it takes about a month and a half for all the leaves to fall down off the various trees. It's not all at once. I mow every weekend during the fall. The grass doesn't need mowing, I just do it to mulch the leaves. The pieces of leaves are small enough that they drop down in between the grass blades and are hard to see. It's easy. No bags to mess with, no rakes to make your arms sore. You just have to stay on top of it. Mow each week. If the leaves get too deep, they overwhelm the lawnmower and you have to rake them. The added benefit is that if you do end up having to rake the leaves, the grass is nice and short and easy to rake.
I do mow wevery weekend in the fall but the leaves get too deep to just mow over. It simply doesn't work once they start falling rapidly. My guess is that your leaves are less abundant than mine...Regards,
Buzzsaw
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie
Sorry to hear that it doesn't work for you. I have a mulching mower that does a really good job at it. Before I got the mulching mower, I would still mow them, but I would use the side discharge of my old mower to act as a leaf blower. I would mow forward and backward, always pointing the discharge toward the curb. I'd end up with a row of mulched up leaves at the curb. There would also be a bunch of mulched up leaves left in the grass, but you couldn't see them they were so small. At the end, I'd rake the long skinny pile at the curb into a nice pile, and the county would come by with a vacuum truck to suck them up. Could have easily bagged them at that point too.I'm not trying to make you do it my way to re-affirm my way of doing things. It's just that maybe you can get the job done easily this way without buying anything new and expensive.Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
I have a Mackissic built four-in-one blower, chipper, vacuum, shredder. It is GREAT. Very sturdy and gets the job done. I got it at my local hardware store for less than Home Depot was asking for flimsy units. Take a look at them at: http://www.mackissic.com/
Mine has a long hose to suck 'em up with and a durable bag. That bag is eight years old and shows only dirt - no signs of wear. I chip up to 2 1/2" oak in it a few times a year, every year, and it is real labor saver. Powerful Briggs and Stratton engine never bogs down.
Good luck!
Do you own one of these?
http://www.mackissic.com/consumer/leafcycleconsumer/leafvacuumcycler.htm
Thanks,Billy
Mine is similar to the one on the left but red instead of green. I thought the engine was bigger than 6.5, but it gets the job done. I modified the handle (thinwall) on the hose by lenghtening it another four feet. It is much easier to "sweep" the end around and pick-up everything. Those nice big pneumatic tires make it easy to handle back by my pond. Oh, and the monster flywheel (over 17 lbs.) means pull the starter once and it starts. Being red and ever dependable kind of reminds me of my Milwaukee stuff. ;-)
~ Lee
I picked up a "yard man" lawn vaccuum at a yard sale 2 years ago, and it does an insane job of picking up leaves, beer cans, small animals, trash and shredding them to a fine pulp. Still starts every year..
Renaissance Restorations llc
Victorian Home Restoration Services
http://www.renaissancerestorations.com
Buzz,
A few years ago, I replaced my lawn mower with a Yardman mulching mower. When the oak leaves started falling, I just kept on mulching ! Sometimes I have to go over the lawn twice, but I have not raked a leaf since I got the new mower. Our entire 1/2 acre lot is surrounded by oaks so we get plenty of them :)
Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md
Long ago when I was still burdened with a lawn, I used a lawn sweeper and liked it. Apparently they were not particularly popular as I seldom see them in lawn and garden stores any more. Mine was a low end machine and worked well as long as the leaves weren't too wet and soggy - it was also considerably less than the ones I just looked at on the internet. Very good for a mild workout and considerably quieter than the raucous leaf blowers - although even leave blowers may not be as loud as a teenager's protest when asked to use a lawn sweeper...
http://www2.yardiac.com/long.asp?tgs=15805987:24895295&cart_id=&item_id=8460
$600 will pay for a lot hours for a neighbor kid to rake them up! I have the kids (my own) rake them, then use the mover to take care of the remaining ones. I live in Oregon, where they are usually wet when they are on the ground, and the mover works fine.
I just use my lawnboy with a leaf bagger attchment & a mulching screen for the past 20 - 25 years. The regular grass bad is replaced with a bag with 3 times the volume, don't try to use it with grass the mower will tip over!. I also have a screen that goes between the deck and the chute for the bagger. The screen makes the mower actually chop up the leaves into smaller parts before they get bagged and with the larger bag you can get some real work done.
I tried a leaf blower once and by the time I reached the edge of the woods, I had a windrow of leaves 3' high. I once lost 20 oak trees 2' in diameter or bigger in a storm in and around my lawn. I don't need any more experience with raking!
I have a large Maple which dumps leaves in the yard. Unfortunately it also drops a lot of twigs.
I bought the most expensive leaf vacume they have a Home Cheapo. I found it to be inefffective because the little twigs keep jamming up the blades. I would have to open up the unit every 3 minutes to clear the jam.
I find the blower works well to keep the sidewalks and patio clear of leaves, cut grass, and dirt. I still end up using a rake on the leaves.
I got smookered by the advertising and bought one a few years ago. Worst piece of c^*p I have ever owned. I was so disgusted with it that I even wrote a detailed letter to Sears telling them of all the faults in their design (even sent it certified mail with a return receipt because I wanted to be sure those miserable SOX's read it). Never even had the courtesy of a response from them.
For starters, the engine is waaay underpowered leading to poor suction and quick jams. Because of the dead-man's switch, you have to shut it off to clear the chute so your fingers don't get ripped off and then pull the starter cord till it starts up again. Obviously, no electric starter here.
Small, narrow, hard wheels - sink right into moist earth of a ventilated lawn. They also leave nice little ruts all over your lawn when any weight accumulates in the bag.
Sear's saved a few cents in some tubular aluminum in making the handle bar about 4" too short. I'm only 5'11" so I don't consider myself to be tall - I figure I should be in the range of regular height (I know I am a giant in my own mind, but that's another subject). Got one heck of a lower back ache pushing that machine around the yard because I had to bend forward to reach the handle.
There was no height adjustment for the handle bars, and no adjustment for the proper angle (such as on an incline). You find them on lawn mowers, but not this thing.
Pitifully small bag for the leaves to go into. It easily filled up within 1 minute of use. To empty it, you had to shut it down again, unfasten it from the machine's exit port, unhitch the sling from the handlebars, lug or drag the thing over to where you're dumping, pull open a zipper that wasn't quite long enough to easily empty the bag, and bounce it a few times to try to get the bulk of the leaves out. BUT, since the zipper was too short and the opening was too small, the leaves would jam up trying to get out. So, then you had to put the bag down, bend over and reach in with your hand and grab leaves and pull them out manually till the bag was emptied. Also, since the zipper didn't open all the way around the side of the bag, you had corners that never got emptied unless you reached in and specifically cleared those areas out.
Poorly balanced design. A bag of wet leaves hanging off the end of the handlebar at the back was heavier than the weight of the machine on the front wheels. So, before the bag got full, the front wheels (where the plastic suction device was located) came off the ground (eliminating your suction) unless you held the back end up as you pushed the machine forward. Know how long you muscles allow you to do that before they start to complain?
Does not have self propelled drive - so you're the poor devil who has to wrestle this thing around your yard. Back and forth, back and forth about 100 times because it only picks up a 14" or 16" swath at a time. All the time fighting not to allow its wheels to sink into your lawn, and not have it tip over on you cause it's back heavy. Lots of fun.
The extension hose is 100% useless. Too small a diameter, engine too underpowered to pull much through that length, jams easily, leaves you with an unclearable mess in the middle of the hose that's too far away to reach. Finally wound up tearing it while using a 2x2 to clean it out. Of course, that was after the plastic handle at the end broke off.
Oh, did I mention that each time you empty the bag and each time there's a jam, you have to shut the machine off and then pull of the starter rope till it starts again? Hmmm, try doing that 40 or 50 times over the course of an afternoon while you're working to get the leaves cleared off your lawn and see how you feel.
After not quite 2 seasons of (frustrating) use (understand the word "season" doesn't mean more than a few hours on one or two days each Fall), the bottom of the bag wore through from dragging on the ground behind the machine. The only pleasant recollection was that I had suckered my son into doing it the 2nd year. He had the same impressions about the machine, only he didn't say them as nicely as I have!
My advice: Save your money and keep your blood pressure under control. Stay away from Sears. Instead, pay the neighborhood kid $50, even $100, to rake and dump using the tarp. At $100 a year, it's still 6 years worth of leaf raking before the equation equals out - you don't really expect this thing to be working 6 years from now, do you?
So, did I explain myself enough or was I just blowing smoke here? Believe me - buy it and you'll regret it.
Now, I did see a motorized suction unit that was towed like a trailer behind a lawn tractor and it seemed to be working real well. Stopped the fellow who was using it and asked him what he thought of the device. Said he loved it, that it worked like a charm, and that he'd buy another without hesitation if he had to. This one, he said, was in its 5th year of use. I figure he had about an acre and a half meadow filled with leaves - well over 50 trees, mostly maple and oaks. I'm talking major league leaf raking here. If what he said was true, it was really remarkable. I think he said the machine cost him about $1,600 and he had the tractor to begin with to cut his grass. Not an inexpensive alternative, but if you're going to buy something to make sure the job gets done....
Griff,
I thoroughly appreciate your sage advice on this topic. Just the fact that it is not self-propelled is worth not buying it, among the other multitude of issues you bring up. I think I'm going to stick to blowing the leaves and just upgrade my blower. I'm pretty much done for this year. Maybe another weekend or two and I'll be done and I only have about 3/4 acres but it's all trees. I'm almost 50 and I can't see myself doing this for too many years without some advanced machinery. I love the outdoors, landscaping, mowing, and the lot but I can't stand picking up leaves. I'm hoping there will be a reasonable solution in the next 5 years or so. I will never buy one of those machines after reading your post. Thank you for the information. This info is exactly what I was looking for...Regards,
Buzzsaw
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie
Buzz
I bought mine when I was around 50 (should have known better at that age, right?). I'll be 57 in a couple of weeks.
I still have a neighborhood kid raking for me - it's great how they just keep appearing, like magic, just when you need them. The old one grows up and one day says he's "tired of doing that S*#t, man..." and, poof, here's some other smiley, energetic idiot to do it for me. Right on time. And for less money since he's just starting off and doesn't have the "experience " yet that the older turd had.
I don't think I've paid out the $600 odd dollars I spent on that machine all those years ago on these kids yet. Only now, I get to stay in on a weekend and invite some buddies over, watch a ball game, drink some beer, laugh a little, and contemplate the meaning of life, instead of working like a dog on Saturday and dragging my a** around on Sunday from the effort.
You're definitely making the right choice. Enjoy.Griff
check out http://www.cyclonerake.com my father and i just split one of these and it works great
You guys are gonna laugh at me, but I pay a landscaper to clean up that crap.
Ever since I was a kid I've HATED raking leaves. I love yard work, love to work outside, love getting dirty, I'll push wheel barrows of stone, dig holes, cut the grass, spread and rake loam or stone or mulch..... but I hate raking with a passion.
Life's too short for me to do something I hate. I wait until they're all down, call the landscaper, and he'll swamp the place out for me for a couple hundred bucks and take 'em away. I'd rather go build something and break even for the day then mess with that.
I use a blower and make long rows 20' long, then I come back and rake them onto a large tarp and drag them to the curb. Our town picks them up only during the month of Nov. and last year I didn't get to it till the last weekend. Well I spent one afternoon getting the rows ready, with the intention of finishing up the next morning. It had started snowing that night, so when I went to drag my piles in the morning I couldn't get any footing and kept slipping, they get so heavy that it looks like a strongman competition, I'm almost horizontal struggling with them. So, I drove the JEEP around back and tied the tarps to it and dragged them round front. Got a few strange looks from the neighbours, but it sure sped up the process. I have since adjusted my method to skip a step and blow the leaves right onto the tarp. Have to weight the tarp down with some old 2x8's though. Hardly need the rake at all except for final cleaning.