The leaf vacuum is God’s gift to anyone who has a yard with trees. Who loves to rake the leaves anyway when you can just use a machine to suck them in a bag, right? I do not know about you, but I despite raking leaves.
But what is the best leaf vacuum?
I have a big yard, and I have helped many of my friends clean their yards. This has exposed me to many types of blowers and leaf vacuums.
I have tried many leaf vacuums and mulchers, but there is one brand that stands out. As far as I am concerned, the best leaf vacuum is the Greenworks 40V Cordless leaf vacuum.
Today, what I want to do is to share with you my take on this product. After this best leaf vacuum review, I hope you can make a decision if it is time to replace your vacuum with this one, or if it is time to buy one.
Table of Contents
The Vacuum Specifications
Here are the product specifications of the leaf vacuum:
- Has a brushless motor
- 2-hour charger
- 185 mph speed
- The battery is 40V 4.0Ah Li-ion
- 9.9 lbs
- 340 CFM capacity
You have the option to buy the tool only without the battery. But if you buy the package, you will get the following:
- G-MAX 40V Cordless Digipro Blower and Vacuum
- An extra blower tube
- A concentrator tip
- Collection bag
- A vacuum tube
- A 4Ah battery
- battery charger
The package also comes with an owner’s manual. What I like about this walk behind leaf vacuum is that it has two speeds. And when the manufacturer said turbo, it really means turbo. There is also a thumb dial, so you can switch between power options for the blower. The dial allows you to switch between five options.
There is no trigger to squeeze, so your fingers will not get cramped holding on to a trigger to make it work. It just works, is you can use it for extended periods of time without getting fatigued.
I like this feature. As you move along with your work, you want the blower to just do its job. But if you have to squeeze a trigger, it just adds more work to your muscles.
As a double purpose tool, it is up to you if you want to use it as a blower or as a commercial leaf vacuum. It has a belt that you can wrap over your shoulders, and the collection bag sits comfortably at your side. And yes, it has an impeller that mulches the leaves.
What I really love about Greenworks is that you can interchange the batteries between the different products. If you do not have any GreenWorks tool yet, buy the whole package so you also get the battery.
Many tool manufacturers now are moving in this direction. To be honest with you, I no longer want to support manufacturers who sell various batteries for different tools. It is always best to have a one-size fits all batteries from one manufacturer.
It helps you save money, and it definitely allows you to do more work. Just imagine if you have two batteries—you can use the other one as backup. You can interchange them instead of having to buy two batteries for each device.
The Field Test
This is, by far, one of the easiest tools to use. Just insert the battery and turn the dial, and it should work. You also cannot go wrong in inserting the battery. There is only one way to put it in.
Now, I first took it out to blow some leaves. What I have observed is that at a low power setting, the GreenWorks 40V has the power to blow leaves by two feet. I kept using it and found out that I could easily steer the leaves to the direction I wanted.
So far, so good. But will it hold up to other tasks?
I had several blowers in the past. On most occasions, I used those blowers at full power. I realized that all leaf blowers are similar when it comes to this. To get the full benefit of the GreenWorks 40V blower, you also have to use it at full capacity.
This is okay, as it gets the job done. The problem is that it also consumes a lot of power. What happens is that you can only blow leaves for 15 minutes, and then the battery will run out of juice. But if your job does not require the full power, you can extend the operating time to 35 minutes.
Now, your alternative is to get a gas-powered one, but I guarantee you that it is going to be heavier. Add to that the fact the gas-powered motors are also too noisy—you cannot work without disturbing anybody.
The trick I discovered is to use it on normal setting—do not use the turbo option, so the motor does not consume much power.
As far as control is concerned, I loved it. The belt strap made it easier for me to handle the device, and the long blower tube allowed to me reach the leaves I wanted to blow. The motor is powerful enough to produce power that can blow grass and dislodge leaves from there.
From time to time, there is stubborn debris that is stuck, and I have to remove them manually. This isn’t bad if you have to ask me—few blowers have to capacity to blow heavy wet grass like this one.
Now, onto the cordless leaf vacuum. It was designed to suck light and dry material. It is great for mulching, but not after a rain. You must only use the vacuum on dry leaves. If not, I strongly recommend that you turn it into turbo mode to give it more power.
But why? If it were up to me, I will only move leaves once they are dry.
The Battery
Let us have a little chit chat about the battery. This one uses a standard battery that you can use with other GreenWorks tools. If you already have a GreenWorks 40V battery, then you may seriously consider buying the blower only.
The battery, to be specific, is 40V Li-Ion. Now, there are two battery power capacity types that you can choose from at 40V. The first one is the 4.0Ah, and the second one is the 2.5Ah. You are lucky if you can find a 2.0Ah variant.
Before using the blower, you have to charge the battery in full. This can take anywhere between 40 to 70 minutes. The manual will tell you how to determine if the battery is fully charged. Do this so the battery is properly primed. Failing to do so can affect the longevity of your battery.
Now, lithium-ion batteries are great. They have been around since 1985, and more and more companies are using them now for electronic products. Even the aerospace industry is using it now.
Here are the advantages of using a lithium battery.
- High-density; can carry high power capacity
- Does not need a long time for priming; you only need one regular charging cycle
- Does not discharge a lot; the low discharge means you can use more power
- No need to discharge; no maintenance necessary
And here are the limitations:
- Requires special protection to be able to maintain high voltage
- Uses specialty cells so you can use it in high-powered tools
- Will age even if not in use; time will come when it expires
Lithium batteries are more expensive to produce. What this means is that they are also expensive to buy. To make sure that your battery lasts long, store it in a cool, dry place. If you could, store it at 40% charge to reduce the aging.
The Blower
As I mentioned earlier, the blower packs a power. This one has an axial fan, and the photo from the manual makes it look like an airplane engine. Now, I wanted to dig deeper, but I did not want to dismantle the whole thing. The last thing I wanted was to break it and lose the warranty.
The blower truly produces a lot of wind power, especially so at high speeds. I did not expect it to have this power because it is battery-operated. What I really like is that it has a variable speed trigger. I did some experiments, and I was able to make small adjustments. It managed to find the sweet spot for the perfect air volume and airspeed to do my yard work.
I also realized that GreenWorks put a lot of work to produce balance. As I held the blower, it hung to the ground in the position I wanted it to be, making it easier to use. The blower was made to slant forward, thus preventing fatigue and stress.
I also tested the blower performance at different speed levels. I can tell you that the handling remained balanced despite the different speeds. I cruised along my yard and saw that it could push small leaves even at the low setting.
And the best part?
It did not disturb the gravel. What I am trying to say is that it produces enough power to push leaves aside, but not too powerful to disturb your gravel. If you want, you can increase the airspeed to blow sticks.
Now, I tested it on the maximum speed, and it moved leaves that were stuck in the bushes. Despite all the power, it felt light on my hands.
The Warranty
The warranty is for four years. The coverage is for factory defects, and you can get a sweet deal for parts if you can prove that it is a bad product. The battery also has a warranty for two years.
The 2-Piece Blower
I don’t think I mentioned that this one has two blower pieces. It is a little weird, but I realized that it was designed this way to make it easy to control. Most vacuums you buy today have a one-piece blower. They are usually bulky, which makes them heavier and inconvenient to use. Not this blower, though. With this, blowing and vacuuming leaves becomes an activity that you will look forward to.
Conclusion: Is the Greenworks 40V Cordless The Best Leaf Vacuum?
I would say without a doubt that the GreenWorks 40V is, hands down, the best leaf blower/vacuum. It is a great partner to your robotic lawn mower.
Now, it certainly cannot replace gas-powered and electrical blowers that have the capacity to produce 1,400 ccs of power.
But for a battery-operated one, I have no complaints. What I can say is that this can help you accomplish about two-thirds of the job that you would have accomplished with a gas-powered blower.
Not bad, right? And since it is battery-operated, it does not produce too much noise. I also like it that you do not have to worry about sparkplugs and all that. It is convenient and easy to use.
I highly recommend the GreenWorks 40V. It is a sturdy tool that is reliable. It is a great addition to your tools, plus you can swap batteries with other GreenWorks devices if you already have any.