Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This unit is more powerful than expected and much easier to use than my old gas powered one due to lighter weight. I'm comparing this item with a TroyBilt 205 MPH 2 cycle gas powered blower/vac purchased in 2004. After 14 seasons, the TroyBilt gave up the ghost while I was using it to blow debris off our driveway. What to do? Recently I began converting from gas power tools to electric/rechargeable. About 3 years ago, bought a Greenworks electric chain saw with 2 amp hour battery. It was sufficient for my needs. I then bought a Greenworks light duty line trimmer sans battery and used the battery from the chain saw. That also was light weight and sufficiently powerful to do light trimming. We have a .81 acre lot so most of the lawn cutting is done with a garden tractor. Still, I need a push mower to mow around beds and in tight spots. My gas powered mower died. I ended up with an EGO self propelled mower with 7.5 amp 56 volt battery from Home Depot for $499... great price. Now back to the blower vac. I considered a very light duty Greenworks blower (only) for $30 that could use my 2 amp hour battery but that model was either unavailable or had spotty reviews. The above Greenworks unit had consistently good reviews on multiple sites, even though as a vacuum, it may not be the best. Ordered it from Amazon and had it in 2 days. Assembly was easy. The controls take some getting used to or experimentation as they are not accurately described in the manual. Play with it! You can figure it out! As a generic blower, this unit has more power than I expected. Although only rated at 185 MPH, it seems to have more power than the 205 MPH TroyBilt. Perhaps the impeller on the TroyBilt had deteriorated? Anyway, it works real good for blowing away grass clippings, leaves, etc. The push button start is great compared to a pull start. The lighter weight makes it easier to operate. I have run it for quite some time on the highest setting and have not had to recharge the battery thus far I tried the unit as a vac. It is easier to assemble / reconfigure than the TroyBilt. Physically and not unlike the TroyBilt, using it as a vac is a bit awkward. However, it seemed to work pretty well. There is a crevice outside our family room that attracts and holds onto leaves This unit got them out very quickly. Not sure it's going to pick up or mulch big piles of leaves in the Fall, not did I expect it to. UPDATE - Works well as a vacuum! I was really surprised. Over the summer, we had a lot of professional gardening work done including installation of 15 yards of mulch. Therefore, I really wanted to remove most of the leaves and debris this Fall. I had read that this machine didn't work well as a vac but I gave it a try and was pleasantly surprised. First, it was a lot lighter and therefore easier to use for long periods of time. Second, I found the vacuuming and mulching to be very effective. It was easy to set the speed to a point where it picked up the leaves and left the mulch in place. The leaves and sticks were mulched down to where I didn't fill up as many bags or waste cans as before. I did not have any issues with the machine clogging.... and I really force fed it a lot of leaves in tight places. Running on medium speed, perhaps dialed back a bit, it ran long enough for me to do most of our 2000 sq. foot ranch with beds all around it. All things considered, I am satisfied with this item and would recommend it to anyone, as long as it's not expected to do heavy duty mulching.