Black and Decker...It'll Blow Your Skirt Up
Written: Dec 13 '00 (Updated Jan 18 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Light weight
Cons: Plastic fan
The Bottom Line: This system is good for a home owner, but not for commercial use.
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| slick4591's Full Review: Black & Decker Vac 'N' Mulch Blower/Vac System |
It’s fall in Texas and the large pecan tree in the front yard is shedding it’s leaves. This time of year is the one I dread most because I know what is going to be brought up. “Honey, the yard is piling up with leaves.” “Yes Dear, I know. Kind of pretty don’t you think?” “Ahem!” “Yes dear, I’ll get right on it.”
This year I was more prepared for those leaves than last because I made a visit to my favorite men's store back in August. Yep, you guessed it, Home Depot to pick out a leaf blower. Never using one of these gadgets before I had no idea what to look for. All I knew was to turn it on, point it, and blow stuff around. Sounds like a lot of fun doesn’t it?
I had a variety of blowers to choose from and decided on the Black and Decker Super Blower/Vac Plus. This model was the only one that did both blowing and vacuuming so my decision was not a complicated one. The sale price of $69.92 wasn’t bad either. I was equally impressed with the name Leaf Hog that is printed on it, which makes it sound a little better than the machine actually is. With top wind speeds at the 200 mph mark I figured I could rid the yard of leaves in no time.
I also liked the idea that it will convert from a blower to a vacuum by pressing a release button then snapping the other attachment into place. This button is built into the handle so you can use your thumb to press the button and the free hand to complete the conversion. Thus making the change very simple. My only aversion at this point was it is 120v electrically powered and I knew having to drag an extension cord around would be a pain. In most cases an extension cord with 14 gauge wire and regular household current will be perfect.
As a blower the over all length is 42” and as a vacuum it hits the 48” mark. Both conversions seem to be pretty well balanced and with the front “T” shaped handle it is easy to maneuver. It is lightweight and no problem for my wife or teenage kids to use. This blower/vac has a single on/off switch, which is in easy reach for your thumb. It also has variable air speeds so you can adjust it to suit your application.
The vacuuming attachment has a collection bag which has a shoulder strap attached and you simply place the strap over one shoulder and the bag is out of your way. When the bag is full you release it from the device by turning a collar. You can then empty it by unzipping the rear of the bag into your collection area.
Until that Sunday my wife urged me to remove the leaves, I had only used it to blow off the carport and it made very short work of that. Cleaning leaves from the lawn was going to be another story. I quickly found that the 4” size leaves in the grass make things a little more difficult to blow around. If you have wood chips in your flower beds you have to be pretty careful, or else be prepared to add some more work by having to pick those chips out of the grass.
While blowing the leaves I had a flashback to my younger days of walking through a department store and seeing the beach balls suspended in the air by vacuum cleaners exhaust. Ok, I’ve got a “souped-up” version of one of those here in my hand. I wonder… Well, you can blow that ball up in the air, but don’t plan on keeping it there. And my neighbors are still wondering just what in the heck I was doing.
I did pretty well the first pass over the yard. I had the leaves sort of in a pile so I decided to go back for the few that were left. That’s when my mother-in-law drives up on her way to a church function. Now, Laverne is a seventy-two year old lady who dresses for a church function like she is going to a ball. She got out of the car and saw the pecans were now visible, she bent over and started picking them up. Ok, here I am with this blower running it’s 200 mph and she is bending over wearing a dress. Nah, I didn’t, but it sure was tempting.
I’ve finished my second pass and have done as well as I can with the blower so I placed the vacuum attachment on and started this operation. I was pretty amazed with the ability of this little machine. It handled the leaves and small twigs with ease and mulched them in the process. It took me about 25 minutes to fill one and a half trash bags with debris. The only problem I encountered was after emptying each full bag. When I turned the vacuum on, dust blew out of the bag and covered me. My solution to this was holding the unit out at arm length and while walking backwards I turned it on to keep out of the dust. I know I looked a little funny, but my neighbors are used to me.
This was my first real test with this blower/vac and I am satisfied with the results. I do have a concern that the plastic fan blade will break if I accidentally pick up a rock or other hard object while vacuuming. It also looks like I will get to use this blower/vac again very soon as the rest of the leaves from that tree are on the ground. The next time there will be no beach balls, but if Laverne bends over again I’ll have to update this review.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
slick4591
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Member: Dennis Hughes
Location: Farmersville,Texas
Reviews written: 40
Trusted by: 133 members
About Me:
BBQ and fine dining caterer.
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