Stihl BGA 57

Okay Blower but could be a little more powerful – I purchased the entire STIHL AK 36V battery system with 3 x AK30 batteries and fast charger which includes this BGA 57 leaf blower. This replaced my 7 year old Victa Vforce mower, trimmer, hedger, leaf blower/vac, pole hedger and pole pruner. The first thing to say about the STHIL AK garden tools range and this leaf blower is the build and manufacturing quality is excellent, the best of all the battery gardening equipment I looked at and researched. Ryobi, Victa, etc are poorly made, plastic crap compared to the quality of STHIL.

I also have the STHIL BG 86 CE petrol blower.

This BGA 57 blower is light, very well balanced and easy to use. It is also very quiet compared to other blowers I have owned and especially compared to my petrol blower.

However, I do find this blower underpowered and doesn't quite have the blowing capacity as other battery blowers I have used including my old Victa blower. I live in a bush environment and get a lot of leaves and debris on my lawn and pathways.

I can live with this as I have a petrol blower and mainly use the BGA 57 for a quick clean up and on my upstairs balcony, it is also convenient for my family to use for a quick clean up.

I think in an effort to get extended battery life and quietness this has been at the compromise of the one purpose of a blower, that is to move large amounts of air to do the job of cleaning up lawns and pathways.

Battery life is good.

Despite the above, I would still highly recommend this blower as I think would be okay in most domestic situations.

Better than my petrol Stihl – I haven't had the blower long but find it to be more powerful than my BG66 petrol blower which is impressive. It feels a little lighter but not as evenly balanced so slightly more fatiguing to use. Battery life is very good for my property. I would definitely recommend for larger gardens. I have a 30m gravel driveway, lots of verandah area and pool surround and it does it all effortlessly. I can also blow out the garage without worrying about exhaust fumes. The only reason it doesn't get 5 stars is the speed isn't variable.