Blow me down!
There can be no better
garden tool to have at this time of year than a leaf blower – well,
maybe a device that directs trees into shedding their leaves over the
neighbours garden instead. But until that day, we'll stick with the
blower, and we've been testing a mighty powerful one recently. We
review the STIHL BGA 56 Cordless Leaf Blower.
STIHL are a pretty
unique manufacturer of power tools, in that their power systems are
universal. That means that the battery used to power one thing can be
swapped out to power another, so you'll always have a power pack
charged and ready, no matter what job you need to do. And our job?
Blowing the crap out of leaves.
The STIHL BGA 56
Cordless Leaf Blower is a one-handed cordless and compact blower that
is far more powerful than we first gave it credit. Because look at
it; it's small(ish) and light. The plastic nozzle is also adjustable,
allowing shorter or younger people to wield the blower without having
it scrape along the ground. The only controls on the whole device is
a trigger-like button on the handle, and so once the battery is
charged and slid into the back, it's ready to rock. Or rather blow.
We decided to use it to clear the front lawn of the massive amount of
leaves that covered it (while the kids tidied up inside). The force
of the air is quite remarkable, and even when holding the end of the
nozzle a couple of feet from the leaves, they still were carried
quite a bit. Holding it mere inches from them however, and boy do
they scatter. We managed to clear a decent sized lawn – choked with
damp leaves – in under ten minutes. From experience, that would
have been about an hour of raking. Score.
The STIHL BGA 56 Cordless Leaf Blower comes either with a battery and charger, or on it's own. If you already have compatible STIHL power packs, you're laughing, as the individual unit is significantly cheaper. Still, if you don't, the charger juiced up the battery in under an hour, and despite us working for a solid chunk of the afternoon, it has yet to deplete.
This is a hugely handy bit of kit, but STIHL's use of removable, universally compatible batteries makes it exceptionally convenient as well. Looks good, too. The neighbours will be jealous!
£199 (£109 for just
the blower)
Visit
www.stihl.co.uk
