Garden Vacs

[stairpost]

Hi AOSers,

Does anyone use a garden vacuum? (successfully?)

We picked one up up from Argos for about £40 (user reviews were very positive) but it is pretty much useless, won't even pick up dry cut grass cuttings, it definitely won't pick up the small bits of conifer clippings that we actually wanted it for.

My concern is that we might just have gone too cheap and bought a naff one, does anyone know if an effective garden vac is out there without spending hundreds?

Cheers

Rich.

[CageyH]

Yes, but not for conifer clippings. Mine is petrol though and copes with wet leaves.

[stairpost]

Yes, but not for conifer clippings. Mine is petrol though and copes with wet leaves.

Petrol eh? I'll look into that thanks.

Although if it doesn't do conifer clippings I may be on to a loser.

The big bits of clippings are easy to pick up, but the really small bits just sit on the slate chips and take an eternity to pick up by hand.

[CageyH]

I don't have any conifers to try it out on, but I do have a lot of oaks.
Electric just isn't practical for me, as I have a reasonable size garden.

[Markiii]

how about a brush?

[stairpost]

how about a brush?

Tried that, and a light wire rake. It's plum slate chips, so it just moves everything around.

[Magna Audio]

I've had 3 over the years - all electric.
The first one (god rest it's soul), was a Black and Decker and worked pretty well. It would suck wet leaves, and hedge trimmed conifer clippings pretty well.
Used each autumn for about 8 years. Downside - not wheel so hard to control near the ground.
One day it inadvertently sucked up a 2l coke bottle (just fitted up the pipe perfectly so it went up at some velocity!) and proceeded to eat it / grind it to a pulp (as it did with the leaves etc) until it stopped sucking, all in seconds before I could switch off. Motor was fine but it has jammed and melted the blade / fan very badly so it just spun around on the motor shaft - RIP.

The 2nd one was a Flymo - well known make I thought... - utter crap, skin off rice pudding etc... It was also too short for my 6'3" frame. Got rid of after 1st season!

Current one is cheapy from B&Q, a Mountfield has wheel (good feature) and goes long enough for me - In it's 3rd or 4th season and is quite capable of picking up bamboo, large oak tree and other leaves and also light conifer clippings.
It mulches the leaves etc and this is excellent for composting. No thoughts to change.

Those reviews from well known sales sites are usually done after first switch on and do not represent a products true performance often I feel.

Hope that helps.

[Markiii]

Unfortunately anything powerful enough for the conifer bits wil likely take the chippings as well

[Covenant]

I sent back a Flymo that was utter bilge. Got a Einhell one as a replacement. Its cheap and basic-just a plastic tube and a motor. Works fine but can get clogged up easily as the tube is fairly narrow. Pleased with it.

[DSJR]

I think ours is a B&D. Copes fine with leaves from our fig trees and the 'wall' of bamboo we inherited, once clipped. Small stones get the plastic 'blade' though.

[stairpost]

Thanks for all the input.

I'm not sure whether to try another one or not. It sounds like there are a couple of good experiences at the reasonably priced end of the range so maybe I was just unlucky.

The stones are light but the small clippings must weigh a lot less so I'm hoping that with a good machine and a bit of practice I can get the cuttings up and leave the stones in place.

I really enjoy the gardening and have put a lot of elbow grease into getting it looking good, but you know that one job that you just think is a pain in the arse and would happily find something that plugs in and will do it for you? mine's the small conifer trimmings.

[Reffc]

We use an American made Shopvac "Super" vac. Does the garage, sucks up spills (wet and dry vac), does the garden too although limited by the bore which is about 40 or 50mm. Has no problem at all with dry conifer clippings if they're small enough. Has a reverse blow function so acts as a leaf blower too. Tough, rugged and reliable, we've had a fair few trouble free years regular use out of ours. Use it for the car as well. About £70 from memory so not that expensive. Looked at cheap electric ones from Argos and the DIY stores but they were all crap.

[stairpost]

We use an American made Shopvac "Super" vac. Does the garage, sucks up spills (wet and dry vac), does the garden too although limited by the bore which is about 40 or 50mm. Has no problem at all with dry conifer clippings if they're small enough. Has a reverse blow function so acts as a leaf blower too. Tough, rugged and reliable, we've had a fair few trouble free years regular use out of ours. Use it for the car as well. About £70 from memory so not that expensive. Looked at cheap electric ones from Argos and the DIY stores but they were all crap.

Interesting, I might try the Henry out, it's only the really small bits I have left to get up.