Sthil BR350 Wow, wish I had purchased this years ago.

[lhfarm]

I've spent several years trying to figure out how to clean leaves out of the ditches on my 1400' gravel drive. I've tried a tow behind wheeled blower and a hand held blower. Did I mention that the drive is through the woods and rises 250' above the country road? I've used my hand held Stihl blower the past few years. It took me at least 2 fuel refills and 60-90 minutes depending on how heavy the leaf coverage was on that trip.

I saw a review of leaf blowers and they suggested a backpack model for large areas. I am an all-Stihl garage, so thought I should just stick with the brand. Picked the blower up at my local hardware store (20 miles away) and gave it a try this afternoon. I cleared the drive in under 30 minutes and still had half a tank of fuel left. The 20LB backpack felt comfortable and even though I'm left-handed, the blower tube and throttle control was easy to use.

Told my wife this is the best $380 I've spent in a long time.

 

[JohnfromPA]

I consider my backpack blower one of the best things I've ever bought. Even though I don't have a big property I get buried with oak leaves because I back up to a golf course. When they built the golf course and the houses, they decided to create a treeline of oaks as a border between the houses and the golf course. Plus, my neighbor has two oaks which dump a bunch of leaves on me as well.

 

[hslogger]

I did residential tree work on and off for many years and the larger commercial grade Stihl backpack blowers are THE BEST. Keep your fuel current and clean, the air filter Cleannnn and you will never regret the purchase price. The key, if in a neighboring proximity is not to annoy the **** out your neighbors with non stop usage.

 

[Cub 7274]

I have the BR550 and it is an awesome tool also

 

[XSKIER]

Yes stihl backpack blowers really blow. I also use a SH 86 C-E for the tight spots. It'll turn a mountain of leaves in to a five gallon bucket of mulch.

 

[newbury]

I just joined the Stihl backpack blower camp. I've the top two Toro electric blowers and they are great but cord limited.
I've got about 100 yards of heavily treed (and leaved) driveway.
I bought a used BR400 it looks like it will do the job well.

SWMBO can handle the Toro, but not the Stihl.

 

[oldballs]

So what do you all do with the leaves when they are finally blown up into a pile?

 

[murphy1244]

So what do you all do with the leaves when they are finally blown up into a pile?

Blow them onto a Tarp and drag them to where you want to go.

 

[s219]

Stihl makes a great blower, as does Echo. I haven't seen any other brands that can compare to these two. Depending on the year and each company's R&D cycle, one may have a better model than the other, but you really can't go wrong with either. Home Depot sells 3-4 models of the Echo blowers.

 

[Old Red]

I have the Stihl BR 600 Magnum Leaf blower. One of my most used pieces of lawn equipment. I fought leaves with a small still handheld and was shocked at the power and amount of material that can be moved with a big backpack blower. One of the best $500 I ever spent.