The Best Leaf Blower

The Best Leaf Blower

Any electric leaf blower will get the job done; the true question is whether you value power or portability. Corded blowers have faster windspeed, giving them a slight but noticeable edge in power. A battery-powered leaf blower gives you the freedom to go anywhere without being tied to an extension cord, but they’re also more expensive.

The corded electric Toro 51619 has excellent wind speed — its most powerful gust is stronger than any battery-powered option — and cleared our lawn of leaves and sticks quickly. Even better, its settings are controlled through a dial on the handle, so you can fine-tune the amount of wind power to fit the type of task. Its higher settings blast leaves off a deck in seconds, while its lower settings are gentle enough herd leaves into a pile. The Toro also comes with an optional mulching attachment that vacuums, chops up, and stores yard waste in a linen bag to spread into your garden later.

The EGO LB4801 is twice the price of the Toro, but you won’t have to worry about whether you should have bought the 50- or 100-foot extension cord. Plus, it's still powerful enough to clear a dense pile of leaves out from sidewalk gutter and light enough to carry around your yard. Compared to other battery blowers, the EGO had the best run-time. It lasted 22 minutes on its highest setting while the competition maxed out at 15.

How We Found the Best Leaf Blower

We began by looking at the most popular electric leaf blowers. We looked at top-rated bestsellers from home improvement stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot plus any that earned praise from best-of lists and professional reviews like Consumer Reports. That gave us a list of nearly 100 top-rated leaf blowers. Each of these is more than capable of removing leaves, but the best leaf blower should work for jobs of all sizes, from a quick patio sweep to an entire yard cleanup.

Lawn care experts agree that the best leaf blowers have a good balance of MPH and CFM, but they couldn’t tell us exactly what that balance looked like. With so many well-regarded blowers, we started off by choosing two extremes, one with the highest CFM rating, and one with the highest MPH rating. We also selected six additional machines that had a high proportion of both CFM and MPH. This gave us a solid range of 92 to 250 MPH, and 300 to 600 CFM machines. We wanted to see which could handle chores large and small.

We took our leaf blowers into the field.

Eight leaf blowers, one backyard. We marked a square patch of lawn with twine and tent stakes to mimic a tarp, gathered our leaves, and took aim. We wanted to simulate the two basic functions of a leaf blower, so our test was two-fold. Our top picks needed to be versatile: Strong enough to push dense, heavy piles but precise enough to gather them into one place.

First, we corralled the leaves into the square patch. We tried to keep the settings as high as possible to get done quickly, but found that our blowers were at their most precise on low-medium speeds. Once all our leaves were in the square, we turned up the power setting and looked to see how many sweeps of the nozzle it took to blow them back out again.

We were impressed. Despite their differences in power, all of our leaf blowers handled the test like pros. We struggled with the Worx WG509 Trivac before we realized the giant tube is the vacuum, and the tiny remora-like nozzle underneath is the blower. We still got all the leaves out, but it took a few more passes than the larger Worx WG520.

Each blower got the job done in the same amount of time (give or take a few seconds). This taught us that leaf blowers with a lower CFM still did a great job, so long as it compensated with a high MPH, and vice versa. We saw this with both of our top picks. The EGO was the slowest of the ones we tested (92 MPH), but it had a relatively high CFM (480), sending leaves scurrying away. And even though the Toro has a mediocre CFM (350), it reached the fastest wind speed (250 MPH).

While most of the differences in power were slight, we found that the Worx 520 (110 MPH and 600 CFM) truly blasted through the leaves, but difficult to use. We fought to put leaves into the square without immediately blowing them out again. It was definitely powerful, but its lack of versatility kept it from claiming the top spot.

Testers agreed: The more settings, the better.

Our leaf blowers fell into two categories: ones where you could change the power setting in steps (usually one, two, and three), and those with a continuous dial to have a wide range of power settings. If you agree with the manufacturer on what makes the “low speed” truly low, or the “high speed” truly high, the former are perfect, preset machines. Both the Greenworks Pro and the Worx 520 work this way, but we weren’t thrilled with these presets. We weren't able to fine-tune their settings, which hinders their versatility. The Worx 520’s three settings — let’s call them fast, really fast, and tornado speed — were great when we wanted high power, but made us overshoot our target area, and destroyed carefully gathered leaf piles.

And they needed to be easy to adjust.

The adjustment controls' style didn’t affect us as much as where on the machine we found them. We liked the Husqvarna, which sets its speed by how tightly you squeeze the handle. To adjust the maximum speed, we clicked the cruise control button partway through pressing down the switch. It was easy to change settings by changing the cruise control level or by keeping it under manual control with our hand — like a gas pedal on a car.

By comparison, we struggled with the Worx 509 Trivac. We could easily toggle between modes, but the button was hard to reach. Instead of being placed at the front of the handle like the EGO, or in the middle of the handle like the Toro, it’s toward the back of the machine. We could change settings, but it required an awkward criss-crossing of arms to do so. Both our right- and left-handed testers had to stop and lift the machine every time they wanted to adjust the power.

Balance and handfeel mattered most.

A handheld leaf blower needs to comfortable, especially if you’re chasing leaves for longer than a few minutes. Comfort didn’t mean lightweight, however. Most of our blowers weighed the same, right around 8 pounds, though testers quickly picked out the Worx 520 as the lightest leaf blower (6.5 lbs).

Balance, or how the weight is distributed in the machine, turned out to be much more important. Out of the box, the Worx 509 Trivac felt like it weighed at least 5 pounds heavier than the Toro, but we were surprised to find it was only a few ounces more. Because more of its weight is toward the nozzle, our hands felt like they were being dragged to the ground.

A good leaf blower will automatically point the nozzle to the ground, just by picking it up. We aren’t usually aiming at ceiling cobwebs, and having the nozzle stay perfectly level means we have to work to push it down toward the leaves. The Greenworks Pro, for example, is just as lightweight as the Ego, but harder to carry due to a nozzle that aims straight ahead rather than down. After a few minutes, we needed to switch hands to avoid wrist strain.

The Ego (left) naturally tilts toward the ground. On the Greenworks Pro (right), we had to angle tilt our wrists forward.

Surprisingly, noise wasn’t an issue.

Leaf blowers have a reputation for being loud, so we were surprised to find that our electric blowers were generally quieter than you’d expect; most weren’t any louder than a hair dryer. The Husqvarna was our loudest test pick, reaching up to 96 decibels on full power. That’s about as loud as the average lawnmower — uncomfortable, but not painful. We particularly liked the low tone of the EGO, which was still loud at 64 decibels, but quiet enough to talk over. Still, you’ll want a pair of earplugs for any jobs longer than a few minutes.

Our Picks for the Best Leaf Blower

Most Powerful

Toro 51619It effortlessly pushes, guides, and mulches leaves. You'll need an extension cord, but the blower is easy to carry.

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Electric corded leaf blowers are usually more powerful, and the Toro Ultra Blower Vac is no exception. It performed well in both power and maneuverability; it quickly shepherded leaves into our target square and cleared them back out in seconds.

And while its 350 CFM wasn’t as high as the EGO’s 480, or the Worx 520’s 600, it had no trouble clearing leaves off the lawn. It packs a wind speed of 250 MPH — faster than any blower we found.

We liked the Toro’s continuous dial for adjusting power settings. It’s easy to reach, so we could adjust the amount of power for each phase of our test. Its lowest setting was not only powerful, but also precise. We could move leaves into our target area without blowing away the ones already in it.

The Toro’s handle design allowed us to change our grip and adjust the nozzle’s angle, while still keeping a firm hand on the blower.

The Toro also comes with two additional nozzles to create even rows and piles, plus a concentrator to focus the wind at stubborn leaves like a power washer. Even without the extra nozzles, we were still impressed with its narrow blade of air. As a result, we had precise, crisp lines of lawn after we ran a pass through the leaf pile.

We liked that the Toro doubles as a vacuum and mulcher, too. After pushing our leaves into a neat pile, we pulled off the nozzle and attached the vacuum tube. It sucks up leaves, twigs, and even pine cones. Then, the spinning blade chops it up and spits out fine, garden-ready mulch.

Most Portable

EGO LB4801This battery-powered blower is ideal for a quick clean-up, but it has the power to tackle larger jobs, too.

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The EGO LB4801 swept the competition in run-time, lasting 22 minutes at maximum wind power — a full 50 percent longer than the competition. Holding the EGO to low power is still plenty fast enough to clear a thinner leaf layer off the lawn, and extends the battery life up to an hour.

We liked the EGO’s continuous dial, which sits at the front of the handle. When we needed to get the last leaves into our target square, a simple adjustment scaled down the power. And when we wanted to get an extra burst, we could activate the turbo button with a press of our thumb to free leaves that had been wedged into a corner.

The Greenworks was a close competitor, but we preferred the EGO’s lightweight and well-balanced body. It naturally tilts downward, towards the leaves. The Greenworks is just as portable, but its weight is concentrate towards the back of the machine. We had to awkwardly tilt our wrists to position the blower toward the ground. The EGO was easy to hold over the entire testing session, no hand switching required.

The EGO's turbo button and speed dial (left) are within easy reach when you're holding it. The Ryobi (right) requires you to squeeze a trigger and maintain your grip to control speed.

Other Leaf Blowers to Consider

Worx WG520Powerful, but not as versatile as our other picks.

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If you just need to push leaves and grass clippings off the sidewalk or patio, the Worx WG520 is a powerful option. It clocks in at 110 MPH, and blasts out at 600 CFM — enabling it to blow larger piles of leaves around than even most gas leaf blowers.

With great power comes more noise, and less maneuverability. We had one of the hardest times corralling the leaves into a tight space. As soon as we brought the Worx WG520 in close, our leaf pile burst, and we were left with a scattered blanket of leaves all over again.

We weren’t huge fans of the Worx’s adjustable dial, either. Even though there are technically three settings, it’s easy to slip past one and onto the next. And there isn’t much of a distinction between speed 1 and speed 3 — one is fast, and the other is extremely fast. That’s likely due to its design: It’s the closest to a straight cylinder. The air passes immediately through the engine back out the nozzle.

Ultimately, the Worx WG520 will shave a few minutes off of easy chores, but it just isn’t as versatile as the Toro.

Even though it’s just for decoration, the Worx 520’s visible turbine look as fast as it acts.

Greenworks PRO GBL80300It’s good for small projects, but you’ll want to invest in an extra battery for big ones.

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Buy on Amazon

The Greenworks Pro GBL80300 came last in our run-time test, managing just 15 minutes to the EGO’s 22 minutes, but it was by far our most powerful battery blower.

It makes short work of fall- and spring-time lawn care, with a fast wind speed (125 MPH) and a powerful wind volume (500 CFM). We had a Goldilocks moment in the leaf roundup; its medium setting sent leaves flying, and its low setting was a bit too slow to beat the competition. Still, its high speed was impressive, blowing away our leaf pile in moments.

It has a slightly squishy grip that’s comfortable to hold. However, it naturally aims straight ahead when your hand is in a resting position, rather than at the leaves on the ground. We prefer the EGO for a larger yard, because of its longer run-time, but if you only need a to blow leaves off your deck or driveway, you’ll save a minute or two with the Greenworks.

The Greenworks Pro's grip is comfortable, but the lack of an angled opening means putting more strain on your wrist as you point it toward the ground.

Did You Know?

Mulching is good for your lawn

Letting leaves decompose where they fall allows most of the nutrients trees and shrubs take out of the earth to break down into the topsoil. But if you don't want to let a layer of dead leaves rot on the lawn, you can mulch the leaves back into your lawn and garden.

Our top pick, the Toro 51619, comes with a vacuum and mulching attachment, but you can also use a lawnmower. Just raise the height of the lawnmower base, and run over the leaves until you reach the desired level of chop. Then, take your mulch and work it into your garden beds. You can also sprinkle it over your lawn or wherever your yard might appreciate some extra plant food.

Batteries aren't just for leaf blowers.

Usually the most expensive part of a battery-powered leaf blower is the battery itself. The good news is that electric lawn equipment is becoming more popular, and the technology is continuing to improve. Companies offering battery-powered yard equipment typically have multiple tools that can use the same battery. You can find battery-powered hedge trimmers, string trimmers, chainsaws, and lawnmowers.

Both the EGO and the Greenworks Pro leaf blowers use batteries interchangeable with their other products, and if you already have a battery, you can buy the leaf blower shell without one. So if you’ve invested in an EGO lawn mower, you’ll already have a strong battery by the time you add the leaf blower to your garage.

The Best Leaf Blower: Summed Up