Looks like you made up your mind already, but if not, I agree with the other posters. The cyclone rake is well designed and made and greatly reduced my fall leaf clean up - 2 acres of trees. Mine is 5 years old and came with the 7" hose and a Tecumseh engine. They're now all 8" hose and Briggs Vanguard engines - nice improvements. On the hose, I've never had a problem with the stock hose material and I suck up acorns, hickory nuts, sticks of all sorts, rocks, and small brush. Only time it clogs is if a stick get stuck sideways, which is seldom.
I bought the 17" extension for doing beds, etc. I have some landscaped natural areas I can't get into with the tractor, so I use my back back blower to blow everything into a pile, then lay the hose extension down at the edge of the pile and use a rake to keep feeding material into the hose. Works great.
Oh, they are loud and can be dusty if the material being vac'd is dry. If the leaves are real wet, they won't mulch as much since the wetness seems to make them slide past the impeller more easily.
