Ego Back Pack Blower LB6004E

Blown away, backpack and huge power makes a BIG difference to the bigger yards – As part of my 2021 swap out of everything petrol for everything battery, I had to ditch my long-time Ryobi blower/vacuum. That had served me really well for quite a few years, never had it serviced once and it was very versatile being both blower and vacuum. But, there were things which I knew had to change 1) holding the thing and swinging it around wears your wrist down and you have to constantly swap arms to lug it around for extended periods. Not to mention your shoulders as you hung the entire unit out on your arm when making it go into odd places. 2) The exhaust on the Ryobi basically funneled the fumes back into your face, so you started feeling a bit sickly after a couple hours of this. 3) Mixing the fuel was boring and you had to do it more than once each session given a big property and constant use.

So, with those in mind I once again looked into the Brands I had (trying to keep away from brand sprawl for batteries sake) and reviewed each I found. EGO reviews from elsewhere told me that this was worth a try. By now I had AEG, Ryobi, Worx, Makita and other EGO stuff.

I opted for the backpack and not another hand-held because of the size of this property as I have (2 acres). it has a LOT of native trees constantly dropping their leaves and bark plus seasonal exotic trees dumping their piles as well. It's here that the backpack makes a huge difference to your day. The entire unit is comfortable enough (padding and straps) and the hand held part is very light . It has a wide enough berth to use it like a monster broom and articulated enough to jam into many spaces without putting yourself in awkward positions that do your back in. It's not heavy enough to make you feel burdened in my view. Mind you i'm fit and strong for the most part so I can't vouch for everyone.

It has awesome power. By default it's all trigger driven on a comfortable pistol grip that can be positioned all over the place. I actually leave it unlocked so it moves where my hand feels like it wants to go. There's a Boost / overdrive button to give you a very nice kick along for those leaf piles that are wet or you're just wanting to get everything out of the way FAST. I also tend to use that a fair bit. One other dial lets you keep the power running without a trigger too. I also took this up a ladder and onto a roof to blow all the leaves off. This was surprisingly good because without it being on a backpack, you would typically man-handle the thing dangerously to a vertical challenge like the roof or employ some kind of help. Once on the roof, the long nozzle allowed me to (more safely) blow stuff away from far reaching areas (with boost). I like this a lot.

Doing nearly everything a blower needs to do... works really well. No smell, no maintenance, hang it up on a wall, less noisy (though it can squeal a bit on full-blower). Larger battery (eg 7.5 amp) lasts for about the advertised 40-45 mins. This isn't enough for my place so I have another EGO battery standing by for the overflow when I need it. The hint here is.. get a second battery even if it's a smaller 2.5amp one.

Issues : First one I took possession of was Dead on Arrival (DOA). TotalTools instantly swapped it out no worries though. I woudn't read too much into that unless a lot of other reviews claim it's the same. The only things I found I couldn't do.. were reaching over something to blow stuff away from an internal area with a fence in front of it or angle it up and over your head to blow stuff OFF a low roof / shelves / top of water tank. Not a killer, but means I have to think of something else for those bits now. For some, it may not make it viable to use though. Hence I leave a star off for that lack of versatility. OTherwise it'd be a 5'ver.

A great addition to the tool shed in the end, excellent for large properties with a constant need for clean up.