Anyone here have experience with different brands of lawn vacuums?
After 3 years of living with the fall deluge from our beautiful trees
(1.2 acre lot, half of it deep woods), I really want to get a lawn
vacuum to help deal with it. Especially something that can deal with
sycamore leaves and honey-locust seed pods.

Lowes has a Troy-Bilt that looks nice. The Troy-Bilt is 24" with a
1.5" chipper/shredder attachment, plus has a detachable hose for
sucking up stuff. They want $499 for it. I lust after the Bearcat that
we saw at a home show last year, but for $4900 it better not just
shred leaves - it should also run by itself and serve me drinks as I
lounge in my beautiful leaf-free yard.

The chipper feature is nice, but I'm sure that we shouldn't
concentrate on that feature. If we really want to chip stuff, we'd
rent a big unit to do that. I see the chipper is just a handy thing to
handle the sticks that accumulate. Should we concentrate on
horsepower, or will 5.5 HP be plenty to handle most everything? Any
other particular features we should look for?

We have a true mulching mower, so bagging with a bagless mower is an
impossibility unless my DH wants to get some welding tools and cut a
hole in it :-)

Sharon

I never liked vacums because they pick up to much. I prefer leaving
bugs and other critters alone and not bag them up. Have you considered
a lawn sweeper. They will grab leaves and other large items and still
leave the bugs and small items.

(Sharon Bond) wrote in message . com...
Anyone here have experience with different brands of lawn vacuums?
After 3 years of living with the fall deluge from our beautiful trees
(1.2 acre lot, half of it deep woods), I really want to get a lawn
vacuum to help deal with it. Especially something that can deal with
sycamore leaves and honey-locust seed pods.

(Sharon Bond) wrote in message . com...
Anyone here have experience with different brands of lawn vacuums?
After 3 years of living with the fall deluge from our beautiful trees
(1.2 acre lot, half of it deep woods), I really want to get a lawn
vacuum to help deal with it. Especially something that can deal with
sycamore leaves and honey-locust seed pods.

(Gary) wrote in message om...
I never liked vacums because they pick up to much. I prefer leaving
bugs and other critters alone and not bag them up. Have you considered
a lawn sweeper. They will grab leaves and other large items and still
leave the bugs and small items.

Can't consider them because they are not available around here. In
fact, lawn vacuums are just starting to make appearances at lawn
equipment places. I would love to just be able to rake - I think it
helps the lawn to get rid of some of the dead grass. But we pretty
much have to rake the whole yard every day just to keep up with it and
we just don't have the time (actual open yard space is about 0.25 acre
and gets dumped on by our trees, the neighbors' trees, the metropark
woods that are across the street, etc.)

Sharon

Yes. Billy Goat has worked great for me for about 10 years. Get at
least a 5HP unit. If the front is cast metal or steel, that helps
balance it when the bag is full. If it's plastic, get a self-propelled
(also good for a hilly terrain). I'm looking for a new one, so I'm
checking into the MerryMac and Troy-Bilt units, which also shred and
chip small limbs (I have lots of those with 4 or 5 oak trees in my
yard). You'll need gas powered, walk-behind. Forget the arm-carried
small units.

Guy Owen

(Sharon Bond) wrote in message . com...
(Sharon Bond) wrote in message . com...
Anyone here have experience with different brands of lawn vacuums?
After 3 years of living with the fall deluge from our beautiful trees
(1.2 acre lot, half of it deep woods), I really want to get a lawn
vacuum to help deal with it. Especially something that can deal with
sycamore leaves and honey-locust seed pods.

(Gary) wrote in message om...
I never liked vacums because they pick up to much. I prefer leaving
bugs and other critters alone and not bag them up. Have you considered
a lawn sweeper. They will grab leaves and other large items and still
leave the bugs and small items.

Can't consider them because they are not available around here. In
fact, lawn vacuums are just starting to make appearances at lawn
equipment places. I would love to just be able to rake - I think it
helps the lawn to get rid of some of the dead grass. But we pretty
much have to rake the whole yard every day just to keep up with it and
we just don't have the time (actual open yard space is about 0.25 acre
and gets dumped on by our trees, the neighbors' trees, the metropark
woods that are across the street, etc.)

Sharon