Who Prefers Walk-Behind Blowers To Backpacks?

[groundsguy1970]

Now that I have my w/b blower I'll NEVER use a backpack again! What a waste of time and noisy too! I just love my Billygoat!:D

[Cutter1]

Really??? I only use my WB blowers if absolutely necessary. I prefer to use a good back pack blower than those anyday. Too big and hard to maneuver in tight places. I have three shindaiwa backpacks. Two 630's and one 480. They get used all day long in leaves. The walkbehind blowers hardly get used.

[MATTHEW]

You need BOTH. My little wonder can clear light leaves and those pesky little twigs in nothing flat. But if I get near the beds with it the mulch will end up in the neighbors lawn. (how can you get into beds with a WB?)

[gogetter]

groundsguy, are we just talking leaf season, right?
Surely you can't use the w/b all season.

This is my first year and I only have 1 h/h and 1 b/p, but with leaf season I see now that I need a w/b too! Will have to wait 'til next fall though.

[mdb landscaping]

i use both. the walk behind little wonder for the major amount of leaves, and the backpack to clean out the beds and crevices.

[gene gls]

I have been burned by gas so I'm not keen on strapping an engin to my back, but. There is a time and place for each type of blower thats on the market. I tried out my buddy's new Shindowa b/p and will have to brake down and get one next year. It will be a lot more productive in certin areas than hand helds and a lot easier to manuver on slopes than the big push blower.

Gene

[dlandscaping]

small tiny yards a walk behind blower is useless and i perfer the backpacks, however the back packs get heavy after a few hours and make your back hott. i like to use my billygoat the most but only on flat yards. the perfect combination is backpacks and a walkbehind because the backpacks get small areas, beds, in between cars etc and when the pile gets so many ft high then use the back packs to push the pile over and continue with the walkbehind.

ps i was using the new billygoat with 10hsp briggs at dusk the other nite and it had been on for almost and hr non stop and the muffler was bright red but only down near the fan housing, the top half of the muffler was fine. has anyone else noticed this or should i bring it back to my dealer? and no there were no leaves on the muffler.

[TLS]

Yep, they do get RED HOT. Your mowers will do the same if they're working hard. Just so happens that WB blowers are always under a pretty good size load. My old '68 Cub cadet with a one holer Kohler used to glow cherry red when at night blowing snow!

[Cutter1]

I did change my wheels on the front of my wb blowers. I put the bigger tire with the castor on it. Makes it easier to manuever. Its an extra $100 for it, but I think its worth it. I still prefer backpacks. :)

[groundsguy1970]

I have to agree that you can't get into everywhere,but for open areas or parking lots? Forget it! I don't even carry my backpack anymore.:cool:

The only bad thing is that sometimes I'll nail someone with a wind blast in high traffic areas!;)

[plymouthvaliant73]

I like the backpack but it's weird - I get motion sickness from 'em!

[little green guy]

Both are invalubale, usually when where doing leaves well get two guys on push blowers and two guys with backpacks in the begining and after the beds are done one guy will usually jump on the mower and start pushing the large amounts of leaves. I don't see how you could do leaves with out either one.

[Green Care]

We use 6 b/p blowers only.

[LAWNGODFATHER]

No push blowers here. Too heavy. My Red Max EB7000 will keep up with most push blowers,

[Turfdude]

Lawngodfather is right to a point...

The Redmax 6200's & 7000's work great for beds and some turf areas, but when the piles of leaves get too heavy an high, put one operator on a little wonder 8 HP I/C split stream p/b while another guy simultaneously skims across the top of the windrow ofleaves and the next thing ya know... there is an audience of "hawks" at their windows looking on at total amazement o what is getting accomplished in such a short period of time!!

Bythe way, when the 6200's came out a few years ago, I told my dealer to advertise thm as "AIR CANNONS". They have almost the testoterone of a 5HP p/b.

[EJK2352]

I need them both. They each have a place on my trailer.:) ;) :) ED

[LAWNGODFATHER]

We just blow bed out with the blowers. The rest of the moving of leaves , is done with Peco Vac's on Lazers.

[crs]

Turfdude,

Those "air cannons" are rated at 4hp @6500(?) rpm. So they come pretty close to the 5hp push blower.

I had told myself I was going to buy a push blower this year but I decided on another Redmax instead. I do mostly residentials so it is just more controlable.

[Albemarle Lawn]

A few days ago I saw a PTO blower on a Stener or Toro at a golf course. We were driving by so I didn't get a make.

Then, I saw a John Deere machine with a front mounted PTO blower, that looked like a front mount, and it had a plastic enclose cab. Same idea as a push blower but a heck of a lot more horsepower, CFM, and rough-terrain ability.

Anyone heard of these?

Ken

[scottt]

I am going to school and one of my professors is a golf course superintendent. Just yesterday we had class at his course. I saw one of those blowers you're talking about. He said almost all golf courses use them and they mount on the front of fairway mowers. He uses them to clear the fairways of leaves and twigs.

[BufalinoLand]

I use the infamous EB 6200 for just about everything. This year I just went out and purchased a Little Wonder with a 8h Briggs Intec on her. WOW. IT does alot if youre in the open. I agree with everyone that these 2 blowers complement one another