The Best Leaf Blowers

Most people don't need more blower than this. The LB6504 hits 650 CFM and 180 MPH in turbo, which puts it level with the 27cc gas handhelds people have been buying for years. On a quarter-acre lot with a couple of oaks, that's enough to windrow leaves toward the curb in a few passes instead of a dozen. Owners coming off gas units consistently say they don't miss the engine.

The variable-speed trigger is the part you'll use more than turbo. It dials from about 225 to 500 CFM, so you can ease off near a flower bed or a pile of mulch instead of redecorating it. There's a lock-on dial too, which matters more than it sounds — holding a trigger at half-pull for twenty minutes is its own kind of tired. Set it and let your hand relax.

Runtime is up to 90 minutes on the included 5.0Ah pack, and that number is real at moderate speed. Turbo eats through it much faster. Practically, you get a full property done at mixed speeds, or a driveway and patio done fast. Owners who clear an acre routinely buy a second battery, which is the honest answer for bigger lots.

Then there's the maintenance you never do. No fuel mixing, no stale gas in spring, no carburetor to clean, no spark plug gap. It starts on a trigger pull in January. If your last blower spent more time at the small-engine shop than in your hands, that alone is worth the switch.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It's heavy. At roughly 13 pounds with the battery, the weight lands on your wrist and forearm, and owners bring this up more than any other complaint — several buy an aftershoulder strap in the first week. If you have wrist or elbow trouble, hold one before committing, or skip to a backpack.

A small but real share of owners report units that quit within the first weeks. Most get a straightforward replacement, but it's worth registering the purchase and not letting the return window lapse before your first big cleanup.

And it won't do what a commercial gas backpack does. Deeply matted wet leaves in turf need more sustained force than this can supply. It'll move them eventually; a 580BTS moves them in one pass.

The spec that separates this from the EGO isn't the extra CFM — it's the 74 dB rating. That's roughly conversation-level, and far below the 95-plus dB of a gas unit. If you want the driveway done before work without a neighbor complaint, that's the number that matters. Owners still describe it as noisy, so don't expect silence; expect not-a-lawnmower.

The brushless motor is doing real work here. Greenworks rates it for about 30% more torque and 50% longer life than a brushed motor, and it runs about 80 minutes on the included 4.0Ah pack. Cruise control locks the speed so you're not squeezing a trigger the whole time. On a long session, that's the difference between finishing and quitting early.

The catch is the platform. Greenworks 80V has fewer tools hanging off it than EGO 56V or Milwaukee M18, so you're buying into a smaller ecosystem. If you already own batteries in another system, that math usually beats a 120 CFM advantage. Nobody's yard gets meaningfully cleaner because of the difference between 650 and 770.

On paper it's the lightest handheld here, but that's the bare tool. With the 80V pack attached it feels substantial, and owners say so plainly. It's a two-hands-eventually blower like the rest of them.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Owners repeatedly flag battery drain at high speed. Run it flat out on a patio and driveway and you'll be recharging afterward — the 80-minute figure assumes a moderate load, not turbo.

The small tool lineup is a genuine long-term cost. A battery platform pays you back through the other tools it powers, and this one has less to power than its rivals.

Nothing cordless here comes close on sustained force. At 1,000 CFM and 47 N, the 580BTS moves piles that the EGO and the Milwaukee have to work at in several passes. On a property with mature oaks and maples dropping for six weeks straight, that gap compounds into hours. Owners describe cutting cleanup time by two-thirds coming from a handheld.

The harness is a bigger deal than the engine spec. It's ventilated with a padded hip belt, so the 34 pounds rides on your hips and shoulders rather than your spine. That's what makes four- and eight-hour days survivable. Weight distribution is the whole reason backpacks exist, and this one is done properly.

It also refuels in a minute. For crews, unlimited runtime isn't a luxury — it's the reason gas is still in the truck. A jerry can in the bed beats waiting on a charger, every time, on every job.

There's a legal question you have to answer before buying. Dozens of California cities restrict residential gas blower use, and similar rules are moving in other states. Check your municipality's ordinance first. That's not a hypothetical — it can make this unit unusable at the address you bought it for.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It's loud enough to require hearing protection, full stop. Gas backpacks in this class run around 100 dB, and that's not a level you tolerate unprotected for a workday.

It needs annual service: spark plug, air filter, fuel filter, carburetor check. If you don't want to learn that or pay a dealer for it, buy cordless.

Owners occasionally report assembly headaches — wrong or ill-fitting handle mounts, a blower tube that takes real force to lock. Inspect the parts against the manual before you assemble, because the warranty path can mean a trip to a service center.

Husqvarna covers this blower under its standard consumer warranty; confirm the current term and any commercial-use limits with the dealer before you buy.

If you already have M18 packs, this is the least expensive way into a real backpack blower. The tool runs on any M18 REDLITHIUM batteries and takes up to four at once. Drill batteries, saw batteries, whatever's on the shelf — they all work here. Owners running four high-capacity packs report roughly half an hour of continuous high-speed work before swapping.

62 dB(A) is the quietest figure in this guide, and it changes when you can work. That's normal indoor conversation volume. You can clear a driveway at seven in the morning in a tight neighborhood without anyone's window rattling, which no gas backpack lets you do at any hour.

The POWERSTATE motor reaches full throttle in under a second, and that responsiveness matters around landscaping. You can pulse it near a bed, back off before you blast the mulch, and get back on the throttle for the lawn. Slow-spooling blowers make that kind of work fiddly.

155 MPH is the honest limitation. It's fine for dry leaves and light damp coverage on pavement. Compacted wet debris ground into turf wants more speed than this makes, and you'll notice on a bad week in November.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Buying in cold is expensive. You need two batteries minimum before it does anything, and high-capacity packs aren't cheap — factor that in and it stops being the budget option.

Big batteries make it heavy. Owners note that the large packs needed for real runtime add noticeable weight to an already 27-pound tool, which partly undoes the comfort advantage.

A few buyers have received units missing small hardware. Inventory the box against the parts list before your first session.

Air speed is where this earns its place. At 215 MPH it's within a few MPH of the Husqvarna, which means it does the hard job — lifting wet, matted leaves off pavement — nearly as well. It gives up air volume, not speed. For a half-acre lot that's a trade most people would take.

The tube-mounted throttle is a small thing you'll appreciate every day. Your control hand stays on the tube, so you're steering and modulating with the same grip instead of reaching back. Owners running it commercially describe it as intuitive after a few minutes.

It has a long service reputation with landscaping crews, and owner feedback backs that up — people report years of daily use with only routine maintenance. That's the kind of durability you can't infer from a spec sheet, and it's the main reason this beats a cheaper big-box gas unit.

Assembly and starting take a little patience. Owners generally say it fires on the second or third pull once it's set up, but the printed instructions come in for regular criticism. Budget twenty minutes and a video for the first day.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It's a 2-stroke engine, with everything that implies: mixed fuel, annual filter and plug service, and stale-gas problems if you park it wet over winter.

It's loud. Hearing protection isn't optional, and it's subject to the same municipal gas restrictions as the Husqvarna.

At 22-plus pounds it's a genuine backpack load, and the harness isn't as elaborate as the Husqvarna's ventilated setup. Fine for a few hours, less pleasant for eight.