Stihl SH 56 / SH 56 C-E
Verified11 reviews
formal gardeners friend – This is a champion of a tool, very happy with it indeed. But intended more for formal gardeners. It's essentially the standard (and very good) stihl leaf blower with an inbuilt leaf mulcher. Now there are two major drawbacks, 1. That it's strictly for mulching leaves. Not acorns, not bits of bark, not sticks. It will just jam, possibly break.… Read more
Think of the leaf mulcher as a technical feature.
2. You could stick your hand into the mulcher while the tool was running. This would be a lot like sticking your hand in a blender. Maybe the hatch broke, came open, the mulcher nossel fell off. Maybe your tried to jury rig this with HVAC tube to create a cheaper, lighter version of the industrial model..... then the makeshift tube fell off... and you stuck your hand into it.
Home users would be far better with the electric models that use drill batteries, these being lighter, cheaper, quieter.
Light weight – I just purchased it and happy with the performance it brings I no longer get tired on using this everytime I wanted to blow the dried leaves.
Sh 56 blower vac – Good powerful unit. Easy start and a reasonable weight. Has Mulching blades on vac which helps break.up.leaves and small branches. Could do with a slightly longer tube on vac as taller people have to crouch a bit. Reasonable price for this unit.
it's been a rugged performer – I inherited this machine from my brother's estate in NW Pennsylvania (USA) which is a 3 acre lot with many 100ft deciduous trees (maple, oak, elm, horse chestnut). My brother was very hard on equipment, but this machine survived him and has been a solid performer for 2-3 years here in Michigan (same climate/forest trees). The only reason I… Read more
haven't awarded a 5th star is that I don't have the vac-shredder kit. I'll buy that ($50USD) with the expectation that I'll only use it in Spring to clean out flower beds and mulch the leaves.
Piece of **** – Absolute waste of money! Do not buy! Purchased it to both blow a vac. It’s easier to just rake. Cheap construction, time consuming to change attachments that are crappy plastic. If the stupid thing sucked as well as it ‘sucks’, happy days. But not to be. DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY! Show details
A great blower, a very poor vac - see below – Let me state first that I have great respect and liking for Stihl. I have a Stihl chainsaw. It works flawlessly. However, It bought this blower vac to round up leaves on my 1/2 acre property and free me from my power cable Ryobi vac. It blows beautifully! I used my neighbour's before buying and declared that "I didn't WANT it, I… Read more
NEEDED IT!" Today I used it for the second time in Vac mode. Hopeless! 1. It takes a lot of messing about to reconfigure it, from blower to vac. I mean a LOT of work. 2. Once done it is obvious that this is not ergonomically designed. It can lead to backache. It is so awkward to hold my hand kept wandering close to the exhaust. 3. The impellor blocked several times due to small sticks that jammed between it and the body.
In conclusion: Stihl make REALLY good blowers. But this seems to be a brain fart by a salesperson that was thrown to an engineer and it has not worked. Sorry Stihl, you Stihl have my admiration and loyalty; but don't do it again!
received my stihl – the stihl is very powerful ,it certainly does the job, important to wear googles overalls , using this machine creates a lot of dust. Also wear a mouth and nose mask and a hat. Excellent for making short work of piles of leaves Show details
VERY happy – I got sick and tired of plug in electric blower vacs dying on me and dragging an extension cable around the yard. The SH 56 has liberated me from cables! It's easy to start, light to carry around and easily chews through the mountain of leaves I get every Autumn. Swapping over from blow to suck is a minor inconvenience, but as another review… Read more
notes, it takes less than a minute. The bag quality is good and filters nicely when vacuuming up leaves, it's great not being covered in dust and grit.
Works Well – I bought Stihl as I have several good Stihl products. Works really well in suck and blow mode. My wife uses it every couple of days in both modes and finds it easy to start and to change modes. It does seem a little underpowered at times but, all round does a great job.
Great machine – Initial thoughts are excellent. I can't understand the previous review's comment on the difficult change-over from blower to vac (and back) If you can't change it over in under 1 minute you're doing something very wrong. Strong vac that shredded a huge pile of dried gum leaves in no time, leaving only a finely chopped amount in the bag. Not as… Read more
comfortable as the anti-vibration SH86C, but won't be a problem if you're not using it for long periods regularly. Plenty of power and smooth operation.
I'll post back if any issues arise.
way over priced – This blower is not nearly what I thought it would be. Changing to bagging to blowing is not easy and the power is not nearly what I thought it would be. I went with it due to the Stihl name thinking I would love it. Going back to a cratsman starts easily power, price, changing from bag to blower
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