blower backpack or push?

[bontai_Joe]

For me, it would be which ever hurt my back the least, the push unit would have to have proper height handle bars so I didn't have to bend over, or the backpack unit would have to darn confortable and light weight. Nothing worse than using tools that HURT.

 

[anturing84]

I bought a 208cc Troy-Bilt a few years ago and I just love the darn thing. Gives me enough power to take care of damp areas in a piece of land with lots of trees. I used to have a Billy Goat, but boy it sure did give me a work out with its 90ｰ design. I find the Troy-Bilt to be much easier to handle and just as powerful.

When I was shopping for mine, though, I made sure to read up on a few comparisons and reviews before visiting my local Lowe's.

Well, that's my two cents. Hope it helps!

 

[mercdv]

I don't have a lot of land so keep in mind that I only do my acre and my dad's acre now but have used both types at my old job on a golf course. I'm a mulcher so I just use the backpack blower to blow the leaves out into open areas to be mulched. I find this is enough for me. Most of my friends are mulchers too so they do the same. I only know three people with push blowers and all of them drag it with their tractor to clear large paved areas on their land. That is the same reason I used the push ones at my old job but we used the backpack blowers everywhere else. Occasionally we would use the on a fairway but the was usually only after large windstorms with not much rain. I think the main problem I had with the push type is that pushing them over anything that wasn't paved and uneven got tiring after a day. Keep in mind we did this daily and I'm assuming you will be doing it less often so this might not matter to you. Pulling it with a tractor meant that we were limited to whatever power we set it at until we stopped and readjusted it which in some areas required a lot of adjustment unless you wanted flowerbed mulch all over creation. If you are just blowing large wide open areas (paved or not) a push blower would work well dragged with a tractor/mower. If you have a lot of obstacles and mulched areas, I'd say a powerful backpack blower. When my back acts up, I even mount my blower to my ROPS and drive around blowing the leaves from the comfort of the saddle. I prefer to walk but my bulging disc in my back says otherwise some days.

I guess like everything else you need to look at the totality of your circumstances. Both are good options but each have advantages/disadvantages. Not sure I helped any but thought I'd chime in to offer what little experience I have.

 

[4570Man]

I’ve got limited use with a push blower and I hated the thing. I’d take my backpack blower any time. If your yard is perfectly level it might be a different story. And my backpack blower does a lot of other chores besides blow leaves. The push blower is a one use tool. I’ve got a cyclone rake in my lawn mower and I’m not a fan of it either. I prefer to just mulch them, but you have to stay on top of the work. That’s not a once and done project.

 

[LMychajluk]

I use a Stihl BR600 backpack blower to clean up leaves around ~2 acres on the side of a hill. No problem with wet leaves on the lawn - it'll even dig into the rotting stuff around the trees at the edges of the lawn. The weight of the blower doesn't bother my back much, but at the end of the day, my feet will be killing me (maybe I need better boots). Last fall I tried to do more with the mower. I don't have a bagger, or even the mulch kit for my deck, but I would do a few laps with the discharge pointing 'inward', mulching the leaves until the deck started to clog, then turn around and do a lap throwing the mulched leaves 'outward' for one lap before turning around again and repeating the process. That seemed to do better, but I'll see how much of that was absorbed into the soil when the snow melts.

I don't think that a push blower would be better, because it wouldn't be as maneuverable.

 

[edgarrian]

We live in the middle of a 8 acres wood lot. So the leaves are plentiful. I purchased a commercial grade leaf blower thats a stihl. It does a good job but after two years I'm looking to get a pull behind for massey 1705. Trac Vac makes some nice leaf vacs that a I'm going to look at. It just so happens they are built in Thorntown IN which is about 7 miles from where we live. The back pack blower is a good machine but it is time consuming. We have a fenced in back yard for the dogs and i just blow the leaves into a pile underneath the trees. I don't really like doing that. It would take forever to blow them out of the fenced in yard. I did it once and meh ill save money in fuel over time by getting a leaf vac

 

[dadster4]

A couple years ago I was looking for something to pickup hickory nuts. Bought the Husqvarna backpack and couldn't be happier. I can blow leaves and nuts on 1/4 acre of lawn into two piles in about 45 minutes. Doesn't sound like much, but I had 8 100' trees in that area and 6 more just off the side, up till a few weeks ago when I had three trees cut down that could have hit the house.