~$300 backpack blower for homeowner, 3/4 acre

[Dave88LX]

Originally Posted by Darryl G

Nice try on the work thing but you took the wrong angle...it's a "quality of life" thing...so you can spend more time with her and the kids. Hey it worked for me when I wanted a $20,000 tractor, lol.

P.S. - And your yard will probably improve now that you can keep it free of debris....seriously.

I'm glad you mentioned that. I did take that angle too (I took a lot of angles). I threw in the "I know that the yard isn't really important to you, but it's really important to me, and important that our [two] kids have a nice, safe, clean yard to play in outside, so I need to keep it maintained."

This past year I have been finding black widows out the wazoo. My fault because I haven't gotten an exterminator, nor have I been doing a proper job of getting all the areas cleaned up where they can hide out (time thing). This year is going to be different. (I hope)

I hope it improves, I bet you are right. It's in SERIOUS need of a total overhaul, starting with a good flattening (already graded, just needs the ruts gone etc.) I'm hoping this spring I can tackle that.

Just need to get this big honey-do list on the inside of the house done.

[Dave88LX]

Originally Posted by Will P.C.

Thanks for the link, Dave. I used whatever they had at Home Depot which I was not pleased with. My neighbor did his the same time as me and has already re done it twice, but his garage gets 10X more traffic than mine. Same stuff from Home Depot. I also have about 1/4 of the specks as you.

Yeah I would not use the stuff from Home Depot. IIRC, not 100% solids. What happens when the other junk evaporates, is that tiny minuscule bubbles make their way to the surface while the stuff dries out, and you are left with a less-than-best result. The specks were bought by-the-pound. You can choose whatever color epoxy and specks you want, as well as how much fleck you want, up to fully covered/point of rejection. Then you put the topcoat down over it. Good stuff.

[kawasaki guy]

don't forget to run 89 octane or higher. and always use 50:1. Great looking machine! But, I have a really powerful Kawasaki for now...

[Nutsedge]

Nice choice/blower, congrats! You should be very happy with that unit, I mean it is a commercial piece of equipment. I would have done the same thing. The wife will always try to low ball the amount of money she says she wont complain about you spending on the piece of equipment. Then you can either try to convince her that if you cant get what you really need/want then its practically not worth buying anything OR go the route you went and I like to take (after many attempts to get her to "understand" why I need the pro model!). Hows that saying go..."its better to ask for forgiveness than to beg for permission..."?

BTW, did you even check out craigslist?

[Dave88LX]

Yep, I did check out Craigslist too, didn't find anything that was a great deal or anything, at least that I thought of.

[Nutsedge]

Have you had the chance to blast the leaves in your yard to the next dimension yet?
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[Dave88LX]

Not yet. By the time I got my older one in bed it was almost 9 PM. Raining today, so I'm not sure how that's going to turn out.

I'm at work now, daydreaming of blasting away leaves.

[Darryl G]

Rain is no problem with a blower like that...seriously. When it's wet/raining is when I tend to do my own leaves. But that's with the 580, not that dinky little 570 you have.

[Nutsedge]

Ummmm. sounds like the PERFECT time to do a test blast!

When I finally got home from picking up my Honda HRX217HXA, which was about a 14 hour round trip it was too late to mow. But I sure as hell sharpened the (you know what) out of the blades, changed all the fluids, adjusted the cables and shined her up. It rained from about 6pm that night till 7am the next day, I think we got 2"-3" so needless to say in the morning the (it was still drizzling) the yard was pretty much a soggy marsh. IMO, that was the best time to put the HRX through its paces. Nothing like 12" tall, wet super healthy bluegrass/fescue to test the new old girl out. It was glorious!

[Ridin' Green]

Darryl is just mean. He was raised by wolves when he was little (really pissy wolves).

At least your little 570 will scour the ground when the leaves are wet without leaving most of them left behind like the huge 580 does.