leaf blower or mulcher?

1FinickyOne · July 16, 2020

We have 3 rai of land and a lot of leaves... what is the best/easiest way to deal with this?

is there a leaf blower that is rechargeable battery operated or anything that might have a mulching feature? And where to buy?

I think the electric ones might not work for us... a bit too far at some spots to be convenient.

sometimewoodworker · July 16, 2020

2 minutes ago, kenk24 said:

is there a leaf blower that is rechargeable battery operated or anything that might have a mulching feature? And where to buy?

With your area don’t bother with electric blowers. Backpack blowers with a petrol engine will be far more powerful cheaper in the long run and effective.

1FinickyOne · July 16, 2020

1 hour ago, sometimewoodworker said:

With your area don’t bother with electric blowers. Backpack blowers with a petrol engine will be far more powerful cheaper in the long run and effective.

great, where do I get one - any brand recommendation? any with mulching features?

Thanks

bankruatsteve · July 16, 2020

Not recommending... but I suppose you know how Thai's deal with it. And I think it is becoming (already?) illegal. On the other hand, I can't even imaging blowing 3 rai of leaves. I think you might be into tractor territory.

1FinickyOne · July 16, 2020

22 minutes ago, bankruatsteve said:

Not recommending... but I suppose you know how Thai's deal with it. And I think it is becoming (already?) illegal. On the other hand, I can't even imaging blowing 3 rai of leaves. I think you might be into tractor territory.

the garden is not a full 3 rai... there is a house, a carport, a driveway and a 1 rai pond... it is currently being raked by hand and I thought a leaf blower might come in handy...

Trillian · July 16, 2020

We're faced with a similar problem and have been looking around to see what's available.

There's a black and yellow electric leaf mulcher which is on sale in lots of places for around 6k, it just wouldn't handle the volume either you or I have in mind.

We have a blower which works well on concrete but much less well when blowing leaves across grass or open ground, I think you will be disappointed. On the occasions we have been able to use the blower effectively we're still faced with having to break them down into a usable mulch, just dumping them onto the garden and digging them in manes they take a long time to break down.

The farming guys recommend either a hammer mill or a mulching machine/chipper, good quality ones are expensive at around 50k (and up). There are several Thai models to be had but whether or not they are reliable, robust and have hardened blades is another story,

We're currently waiting for the next agricultural fair to be advertised, they generally have lots of people selling this type of gear. I'll look forward to see what others recommend here.

innosiem · July 16, 2020

i got a milwaukee leaf blower
works great
but it is expensive and batteries are also expensive
you can buy at hardware house
blower itself is 5k
then you need batteries which range from 2k-8k each
not so bad if you have or plan to buy other milwaukee tools

Edited July 16, 2020 by innosiem

Trillian · July 16, 2020

We bought a similar product from Greenworks, battery included for 6.5k, sturdy kit but not really effective for us.

innosiem · July 17, 2020

14 hours ago, Trillian said:

We bought a similar product from Greenworks, battery included for 6.5k, sturdy kit but not really effective for us.

maybe its what you paid for
by stated specs the milwaukee has 25% more power
Greenworks is 560m3/h vs milwaukee 420 CFM (713.5m3/h)

personally, i would also expect the Thai brands specs to be best case
where as milwaukee use more reliable motors
as the brand aims at professional use

i doubt i would buy any greenworks products myself
never knew the name until you mentioned and i looked at website
only to see its the bright green brand i walk past when in stores

1FinickyOne · July 17, 2020

16 hours ago, Trillian said:

We bought a similar product from Greenworks, battery included for 6.5k, sturdy kit but not really effective for us.

Thanks for reply - - what makes it not effective? We have a fair amount of grass w/a few big trees that drop a lot of leaves...

Trillian · July 17, 2020

1 hour ago, innosiem said:

maybe its what you paid for
by stated specs the milwaukee has 25% more power
Greenworks is 560m3/h vs milwaukee 420 CFM (713.5m3/h)

personally, i would also expect the Thai brands specs to be best case
where as milwaukee use more reliable motors
as the brand aims at professional use

i doubt i would buy any greenworks products myself
never knew the name until you mentioned and i looked at website
only to see its the bright green brand i walk past when in stores

Perhaps you can share the reply.

I'd not heard of Greenworks before until I started to research leaf blowers a couple of years ago, at that time they were the only imported battery operated product I could find in Thailand and they had a good reputation.

In reading product comparison they all rated performance on flat concrete path surfaces and across grass,the smoother the surface the easier it is to move the debris. At the time Greenworks came out on top so that's why I bought the unit.

We have about one rai of garden that include around thirty mature trees, dealing with leaf fall is seriously hard work. And since the leaves fall onto grass rather than on concrete, clearing them becomes an issue since the GW unit is underpowered for that sort of job. There's then the issue of what to do with the leaves once you've piled them, this is where the mulcher is essential for us since we can't burn in our location.

Bosch used to make a blower/vac/mulcher which looked ideal but they stopped selling it around the time I wanted to buy.

1FinickyOne · July 17, 2020

4 minutes ago, Trillian said:

I'd not heard of Greenworks before until I started to research leaf blowers a couple of years ago

We don't really have thick grass... we keep it short... but if you had it to do again, what would you buy?

Trillian · July 17, 2020

14 minutes ago, kenk24 said:

We don't really have thick grass... we keep it short... but if you had it to do again, what would you buy?

Probably a shiny new rake and I'd invest the money I saved into a mulcher to deal with the leaves I'd collected.

But if I had deep pockets and I wanted an easy life I'd probably go with the most powerful battery operated blower I could find. I personally don't like the hassle of having yet another petrol driven device in the garden because they need to be maintained.

BTW we keep our (malay) grass short also.

kamalabob2 · July 17, 2020

I own two Milwaukee Garden Blowers as in the bottom photo. One for each house. My wife loves this product. I also own a CM95 mulcher that is keystart with a Briggs & Stratton 13.5hp 4 stroke petrol engine. I see 18 volt Makita Garden Blowers and the 36 volt Makita DUB8361 and DUB8362 garden blower in Thailand. If you already own the Makita batteries check out the Makita garden tools. The Makita 36 volt grass trimmer is a fantastic machine. Milwaukee now has more 18 volt garden tools in Thailand. I would pass on Greenworks. Check the ratings on Consumer Reports. The price of Greenworks Garden Tools in Thailand is not a value proposition. Truyard, Milwaukee and Makita can provide very good after the sales service in Thailand in my personal experience. Milwaukee 18 volt large AH batteries and smart chargers can cost less than comparable Makita batteries and chargers in Buriram Thailand.