Backpack vs handheld

[PHS]

In the time you take starting and swinging a backpack on you can pick up a handheld and just go. Will a backpack increase productivity so much that I should consider going out and buying one?

Last year I had to start my business with a BG85 because of a tight budget. Bought a Tanaka bp earlier this year and in one neighborhood where I have 3 large properties that take a full day I save close to an hour with the bigger blower.

I still use the hh with a vacuum attachment for a couple properties or I take the whole nozzle off and it works great in some tight places and doesn't blow all the mulch away.

[ed2hess]

Originally Posted by DenbowLawn

what about the time and wieght difference? In the time you take starting and swinging a backpack on you can pick up a handheld and just go. Will a backpack increase productivity so much that I should consider going out and buying one?

If you have run your business without a backpack so far then don't get one. Yes they are difficult to unlock/unload/relock into the trailers. It is much more convient for the handheld. What I found is the bigger and bigger the blower the more gas we use and we use just about the same amount of time but yes we do a better job. But I doubt the customer cares.

[Scagguy]

I have a handheld blower......it stays in my garage to blow out the occasional leaves that get blown in. That's about all it's good for.

[Tadams]

Originally Posted by DenbowLawn

I read and look at a lot of pics on here and one thing that I don't get is "why do so many people have or push to tell people to get a Backpack blower"?

I have 2 stihl handhelds BG 55 and 85 (85 was free but needed $70 repair) and they work fine. But if a backpack blower is going to be a huge difference then i'll do that. I just don't know if they are worth twice the money of a handheld.

No one can tell you whether you need a BP blower or not but I would recommend that you demo a BP blower on a couple of yards and see what you think. You might be surprised at how easy they are to throw on your back and how easy they are to use when you are walking up a long driveway.

[brucec32]

There are people who think they are productive and working fast and then there are those who really are. My wife thinks she is getting the groceries up in a hurry but meanwhile I've made 2 trips out to the car and back. Same goes with LCO's and lawns. People just work at different paces. One man's fast is another's glacial. One guy is knocking them out on a ZTR while another thinks he's flying through lawns with his 36" gear drive machine.

I can tell a distinct difference in some situations between a 460 model and a 755 model backpack blower in how fast a job gets done. If you can't see how a backpack would be faster then you're probably not into the whole speed thing or you have unusually light clippings and debris to handle. They move more air and move it faster. It's not that complicated. Can you jog with a handheld and still keep the debris ahead of you? If not it's slower.

As for starting up an experienced user hits choke, one pull, then dechokes it and and cranks it and in one motion is slinging on and blowing. What are you saving, 1.5 seconds? You could make an argument for the added weight of a backpack blower that one has to lift over a trailer rail, but then that's way offset by having to lug a blower around in a single hand.

And seeing as one can blow about 5,000 residential lawns with a backpack blower before it even starts wearing out, I'm thinking the $150-$250 price differential is pretty insignificant.

[RLC12065]

when we drive by a guy using a hand held blower we all laugh, do you blow leaves with your hand held blower too? seriously people use hand held blowers? too funny

[Sammy]

I use both. They both have their place.

Only fools laugh about hand held blower's.