Backpack Leaf Blowers

Thinking of buying a backpack garden leaf blower?

This particular powered tool is one of the most useful items of garden machinery you can buy for tacking the job of clearing fallen leaves and twigs in the Autumn and Winter.

As the name suggests this type of leaf blower is carried on the back of the operator usually by way of a harness attatched to a carry support frame.

Backpack leaf blowers are self contained units that run on petrol (usually two stroke engined) and which incorporate a compact engine with a high speed blower unit. Air is propelled out of a flexible blower tube / nozzle at a high rate in the direction required by the operator, clearing fallen leaves rapidly and effortlessly.

All petrol back pack garden leaf blower units feature a throttle (speed) control to vary the amount of air flow being delivered. This is usually a trigger speed control that is mounted on the far end of the blowers nozzle tube.

Types of engines available:

The majority of leaf blowers feature a two stroke compact sized petrol engine. Up until recent years this was the favourite option for both manufacturers as well as users allowing production costs to be kept to a minimum whilst offering good performance, and with little maintenance requirements for the owner.

A stroke engine has far fewer moving parts than a four stroke machine and hence repairs and servicing costs are cheaper.

Four stroke engined backpack leaf blowers are a relatively new introduction as far as leaf blowers go, but they have been developed and introduced to meet emission concerns regarding noise and polution.

A four stroke engined machine is far quieter than a two stroke machine and is therefore better for clearing leaves around hospitals, office buildings, and residential areas where noise is an issue.

One innovative development as far as backback leaf blowers go is the introduction of a completely new design of petrol engine that is ideally suited for this type of  portable power tool. This new type of engine is the 4 mix (four mix) Stihl engine.

Fitted to several models in their range (the BR500, BR550, and BR600 Magnum) this innovative engine runs on a two stroke mixture of petrol with oil but fires on a four stroke cycle as per a normal four stroke petrol engine.

The compact engine allows their relevant models of leaf blower units to be quiet in operation but feature the simplicity of a two stroke engine.

The Stihl BR600 Magnum is also one of the quietest running leaf blowers you can buy incorporating extra sound reduction by way of a special silenced blow nozzle tube.

The 4 mix range of Stihl back pack style units have instantly gained popularity Worldwide by professional users that have a need for a power tool of this type.

Garden contractor workers in particular recognise their good ergonomics, reliability and robustness, and powerful leaf blowing performance.