Yard Vacuums

[3 Pound Tomato]

I wonder if anyone has experience with yard vacuums. They suck up leaves and small sticks and have a chipper for limbs. How well do they work? What are the best brands to buy?

[opabinia51]

I used to use a contraption like that when I was on ground maintenance at a local government institution and it worked really well for mulching up all the sticks, leaves and other such stuff. Though, it would also suck up rocks (this was a gas powered unit) which would reak havoc on the blades.

Anyway, speeds the compost process along and no need to run over the stuff with the mower.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Can't say I have experience but will be shopping for one this year. Opa my friend says the small chipper/vaccums burn out pretty quickly. Any experience there?

HG

[3 Pound Tomato]

I thought about the rock issue. I'm sure that would be hard on the unit. It would sure be helpful with the leaves in fall. I had my eye on one from Sears.

[opabinia51]

The one that we had was a few years old and yes, it was a major pain in the rear end because it was difficult (at the best of times to start) and would short out all the time. Though, it was older.

When it was working, it worked really well though. I don't know how often a new one would short out, never used a new one. I should think that they would be fine but, I don't know.

Oh, and rocks weren't to bad, the really large ones wouldn't make it to the blades, the small ones would definately dull the blades and could potentially break something but, luckily that never happened to us, thankfully.

[3 Pound Tomato]

This is the one I was thinking of buying:

https://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_SessionID=@@@@1175378273.1144107660@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdaddhgifdhmicegecegjdghldghf.0&tab=des&pid=07177055000&vertical=LAWN&ihtoken=1


Anyone ever have one of these?

[TexasBill]

I have used a pull-behind power vac from cyclone for two yars now with good results. I also have a Briggs chipper and mulcher that is on wheels but not a pull behind. The briggs will chip up to 3 inches (its a 7HP) and mulches leaves ok into a bag which I have to undo and dump into the mulch bed. The Cyclone covers the acreage well and attaches to my 15.5 hp huffy tractor and mower. It has a 5 HP engine that powers the vac and blower on the trailer. Nice part of the design is that the unit folds up for storage. Rocks do not seem to be a problem if you use comon sense. If you would not go over it with the mower, don't try it with the vac. Good luck