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Steve
 
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Default Advantage: Lawn Vac vs. Mower?

This time of the year I always get LOTS of leaves on my lawn, as on my
street I have more trees than anyone, and usually spend hours gathering
up leaves as they fall and completely cover my lawn and driveway.

I always see these 4 in 1 lawn vac machines (chipper, shredder, vac,
blower) that claim to clean up lawns. These things appear to look
exactly like lawn mowers, except maybe have bigger bags.

I have a Toro lawn mower and can maybe go 1 minute or less before the
bag is filled with chopped up leaves, and that makes using the mower
impossible to use, unless I just mulch the leaves and not bag it, but
that doesn't make for a very nice looking lawn when the spring comes
around.

Anyone have any experiences with these Lawn Vacs?
Generally around $450-550, are they worth it compared to using a regular
lawn mower?

Aside from buying a tractor, would one of these Lawn Vacs make my job
easier over using a mower?


Thanks for any advice,

Steve
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Joseph Meehan
 
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Default Advantage: Lawn Vac vs. Mower?

"Steve" wrote in message
...
....

I have a Toro lawn mower and can maybe go 1 minute or less before the
bag is filled with chopped up leaves, and that makes using the mower
impossible to use, unless I just mulch the leaves and not bag it, but
that doesn't make for a very nice looking lawn when the spring comes
around.



But come spring when the grass starts to grow, it will grow better
because of the leaves.

--
Joseph E. Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math



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Randd01
 
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Default Advantage: Lawn Vac vs. Mower?

Hi Steve
I'm in the same boat you are tons of oak and maple trees on a half acre lot. I
have owned a Craftmen Vac Shreader, blower for 27 years. It finally got a
little tired and i went a bought the new 6.5 horse Craftman unit. I was a
little skeptical as anything new doesnt seem to be as good as the old. Well. I
can assure you this new unit is twice as good as the old one. I can do my
whole yars in an hour. I do have one advantage though, I don't have to bag the
whole yard only the front. The bad holds a ton of shredded leaves and shreds
at an 8 - 1 ratio. The vac hose is great for the bushes and shrubs and you can
set the main nozzle down so low it will pick up dirt and sand from your
driveway. If I had and complaint about the unit at all it would be that the bag
is kinda heavy when it is full and the gas tank could be a little bigger, both
things that the older unit suffered from also. I would not hesitate to but one
of these units. It is way better then raking or mowing with a bag.
Good Luck,
Rick
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Steve
 
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Default Advantage: Lawn Vac vs. Mower?

In article ,
(Randd01) wrote:

Hi Steve
I'm in the same boat you are tons of oak and maple trees on a half acre lot.
I
have owned a Craftmen Vac Shreader, blower for 27 years. It finally got a
little tired and i went a bought the new 6.5 horse Craftman unit. I was a
little skeptical as anything new doesnt seem to be as good as the old. Well.
I
can assure you this new unit is twice as good as the old one. I can do my
whole yars in an hour. I do have one advantage though, I don't have to bag
the
whole yard only the front. The bad holds a ton of shredded leaves and shreds
at an 8 - 1 ratio. The vac hose is great for the bushes and shrubs and you
can
set the main nozzle down so low it will pick up dirt and sand from your
driveway. If I had and complaint about the unit at all it would be that the
bag
is kinda heavy when it is full and the gas tank could be a little bigger,
both
things that the older unit suffered from also. I would not hesitate to but
one
of these units. It is way better then raking or mowing with a bag.
Good Luck,
Rick



Rick, I need to do only the front as well. 1 little tree in the
backyard, almost no leaves, but plenty in the front.

I appreciate your response, and I'll probably check today's Sunday paper
and see what is available.

Other than a good engine and reliable name brand, is there some special
feature that I should be looking specifically for? I know that after
you own something, you always wish that you bought one with a certain
feature that the other one had.

I'd like to do it right the first time.

Steve
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Randd01
 
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Default Advantage: Lawn Vac vs. Mower?

You don't have much choice when it comes to these units. Troy Bilt was the only
other company that made a 4-1 combo and they are no longer made by Troybuilt.
Troybilt is no mae by MTD which is not the same quality. Troybilt is now sold
at Lowes and looks pretty similer to the Craftman one. They are the same
price. Craftman is havin a sal eon their unit this week $75 off. Id go fo it if
I were you.


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Jay Chan
 
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Default Advantage: Lawn Vac vs. Mower?

I use a push-style lawn-vac machine to clean out the leaves (and also
remove grass clippings after I have mowed the lawn).

Because it cuts the leaves in relatively small pieces before putting
the leaves into the bag, it can pack quite some leaves before the bag
is full. After saying that, I still need to empty the bags at least 7
times whenever I remove one-week-worth of leaves left on my 1/4 acre
property.

This machine is good if you like to compost tree leaves. The leaves
that I left in my compost piles 1 week ago has cooked quite hot even
in this cold weather -- I can see and feel white-hot stream coming out
from the piles when I turn the compost piles.

On the other hand, if you are not into composting, you may not want to
use this machine. You may be better off using a leaf blower. The lawn
vac costs a lot more than a leaf blower. And I am under the impression
that it doesn't vacuum cleaner than a leaf blower can blow either. And
I am 100% sure that it doesn't vacuum grass clippings from my driveway
better than a leaf blower can blow away the grass clippings. In my
opinion, a lawn vac has similar functions as a leaf blower: Both can
clean leaves and grass clippings. The differences a (1) A leaf
blower can clean grass clippings from your driveway better. (2) A lawn
vac can cut leaves into small pieces. Therefore, if cutting leaves
into small pieces is not something that you need, you may be better
off using a leaf blower.

If you have decided to get a lawn vac, you may want to get one with
high suction and self-propelled unit.

- My lawn vac is something like a 4.5-hp. It is OK with sucking
leaves and winged seeds from a hard surface. But it always leaves
winged seeds behind if it is on a grassy surface. I am hoping that a
high suction unit will get everything. (Correct me if I am wrong if
someone has first hand experience with using a high horse power lawn
vac).

- A lawn vac with one large bag of mulched leaves can be quite heavy
(I know that because the one that I have is NOT self-propelled).
Therefore, a self-propelled unit is a good idea.

- The suction head of my lawn vac has one problem: It can easily dig
into the lawn and damage the lawn if I lower the lawn vac close to the
ground. If I don't get it close to the ground, its suction power will
be reduced. It is a catch-22 situation. This problem could have easily
avoided if the suction head is flexible and has a wheel in front of
it; then I can lower the suction head close to the ground while the
head will also has enough clearance from the ground. I don't know if
there is such a lawn vac available in the market. You may want to look
for one that has this feature.

Hope this helps.

Jay Chan
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