Best backpack blowers

SeanKroll

Treehouser
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Oct 13, 2016
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Olympia, WA
What is the best, large backpack blower?

Anyone ever try the double blower, front-and-back, as I've seen in a picture?
 
Our Stihl BR 600 is just fine, runs strong & does everything we need. I assume you saw August's video comparing Husqy & Stihl backpack blowers? Facial distortion tests in the name of science... :D
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I have the br600 and the 580bts. The 580 is by far stronger than the 600 but heavier and thirstier but moves more material.
 
The BR700 is an animal. Would like to try the 800, especially the one with the start while wearing feature.
 
I've got the 560 husky (redmax) and it does me just fine. If I was landscraping I might wanna check out the big Stihl. Anyone have an echo model?
 
I’ve got the Husqvarna 560. Runs everyday without issue. Had it for 3 or 4 years now. Great machine.
 
I've run the Stihl 700. It's almost enough, but I want more out of it. Looking at the new 800 it still might not be enough, but the extra velocity will help a lot. Otherwise the Redmax 8500 is the alternative to the Stihl 700. One has CFM and the other velocity, and they are well matched. I think what I want from a blower is the power to quickly and easily blow sticks out of the grass if there's a chance blowing is faster than raking. The 700 struggled to efficiently blow all sticks out of the grass into piles, but it was close enough to be worth a shot over raking.

I'd get the new 800. There's a huge difference between the 600 and 700, in my opinion it's not worth buying the 600 compared to what a 700 or 8500 can do.

Sometime I'd like to build a 2 tube, 4 fan 170cc 2 stroke blower.
 
I got the echo backpack, bought it because it was 200 bucks cheaper than the Stihl.

I don’t have much love for it to be honest, poor starting, s’ok I guess.
 
The 700's start great. My first experience with 4 mix, or whatever they call it. I guess you do have to adjust the valves, but that's not supposed to be a big deal. The 800 specs are quite a bit more in both volume and velocity. The 700 would blow all the pine needles out of ten inch tall (way overgrown, but that's another story) sod lawn with ease. 8 hp push blowers used to be the standard for fall leaf cleanups around here. I think the 700 is comparable, without all the pushing.
 
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I wonder about a little cart for parking lots, just like a mover's dolly.

Blowing downward at a 35-45 degree angle, to get things to go sideways seems inefficient. Swinging the tube side to side seems inefficient. If you're trying to get everything north, why blow spend time and effort going east and west? In some situations, I try to walk east to west, pointed north, then west to east pointed north. A backpack blower and a handheld/ Kombi blower for the double-up, or one person with Kombi and handheld, and one with the backpack.


Somehow my br600 dissappeared during the storm. I wonder if it was near the truck and picked up by a passerby when I was in the back yard for a few minutes. I normally don't leave things loose and unlocked. Seems weird that I would have left it out, and not packed it, or left it out when I was away from the work area. I know when and where it might have happened.

Yay meth and heroin!!! Lots of shitty people in that area of town...there is a big, sanctioned homeless camp right downtown Olympia by the Gospel Mission and food bank. I feel bad for people who are addicts, but way, way, way, way worse for all the people that are negatively effected by that behavior.
 
I have used the wheeled parking lot blowers. A lot of fun but tough to push around. Can't get corners.
Now if it was self propelled....
 
Sideways swinging helps to keep the air flow direction changing which agitates grass, sticks, and wood chips allowing them to much more quickly break free from the grass and catch the air they need to get blown out. I tried doubling up with a bg50 and 700, the 50 was worthless in comparison. The high compression of the 700 made it a bit annoying to start at times when tired at the end of a job.
 
Somehow my br600 dissappeared during the storm. I wonder if it was near the truck and picked up by a passerby when I was in the back yard for a few minutes.

I had a 372 stolen that way a year ago or so. Cops say that is a method, drive by and scope it out, drive back by and step out of the vehicle grab one high value item and go. AND, in the area I was they were known to be working nicer areas - me being more casual. (Actually I had my tools covered with shade cloth tarps we use to clean up at the end of a job and my ground person moved them off the tools to grab one tool and just left everything uncovered.)
 
I heard about a contractor using his worm drive circular saw. Long extension cord, plug was around the house. Saw stopped he went to check the plug, got back, saw gone

I would support thieves if they went after credit card companies, payday lenders, etc. steal from a working person? Truly a sin (literally, not alternate fact)

I always thought that Redmax made the hardest blowing backpack blower. Never could use one residing on the west coast.

In an alternate world, backpack blowers would be rated to how high and long they could suspend a 6 year old in the air...

I would settle for 'can it blow bricks'?
 
I've got a BR 400 Stihl that looks about as good as new .It's got enough for what I do .Fact I used it about a month ago to blow around 6" of new snow .Started right up even at 10 degrees .
 
I heard about a contractor using his worm drive circular saw. Long extension cord, plug was around the house. Saw stopped he went to check the plug, got back, saw gone

I would support thieves if they went after credit card companies, payday lenders, etc. steal from a working person? Truly a sin (literally, not alternate fact)

I always thought that Redmax made the hardest blowing backpack blower. Never could use one residing on the west coast.

In an alternate world, backpack blowers would be rated to how high and long they could suspend a 6 year old in the air...

I would settle for 'can it blow bricks'?

The golf course has these Toro tow behind deals powered by a 20hp Honda and a massive blower fan and those could move bricks I'm sure. They blow leaves 20', easy, cruising by at 8mph and sound amazing, like a jet.
 
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Biggies

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Pebble beach golf course uses a helicopter often both to dry putting greens and clean debris
 
Very common. That's how all the cherry orchards around here keep their cherries dry so they don't split. Mind boggling to me.
 
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