Black and Decker BEBL185 Axial Garden Blower

There are three main types of leaf blowers – Petrol, corded electric and cordless electric. As a general rule, Petrol blowers offer the most power at the expense of being heavier and noisier and than their electric counterparts, and typically come at a higher price.

Electric blowers are much quieter and more suitable for residential areas, and are usually powered by either lithium ion battery packs, or mains electricity.

Corded variants are cheaper to manufacture as they don’t require batteries or chargers, though their obvious limitation is the length of cord they are attached to.

Cordless variants offer much more freedom, though the amount of time they can be used for is dependent on the charge in their batteries. Higher amp-hour (ah) batteries will offer the most runtime, while higher voltage machines will provide more power.

Leaf blowers can also be effective at clearing snow, dust and dirt; however please bear in mind they are not designed to shift piles of wet leaves and much better results can be obtained by waiting for these to dry out first.