Best leaf blower

The best leaf blower will make tackling large mounds of leaves in your garden a breeze. Here's our top pick for all gardens and budgets.

best leaf blowers: BOSCH ALS 2500 ELECTRIC GARDEN BLOWER AND VACUUM
(Image credit: BOSCH)

Looking for the best leaf blowers? Autumn is a beautiful time of year in the garden, but in large gardens with lots of trees, it can also mean hard work dealing with all the wet leaves. Leaf blowers are particularly useful if your mobility is limited, or if the sheer scale of your garden makes sweeping or raking impractical. 

And thanks to innovation, some models, particularly electric cordless ones, are now much quieter than older petrol leaf blowers. 

To ensure your garden has the best chances of growing back lush and green as the weather becomes warmer, keeping it free of leaves and the subsequent moss and weeds throughout the autumn and winter seasons is essential. 

Keep your plot neat and tidy with these best leaf blowers. If you need more help deciding on which one to get, check out our curation of favourites. 

Leaf blower

Dewalt DCM572 Flexvolt Blower

Specifications

Best for: Efficiency
Cordless: Yes
Weight: 3.33kg
Maximum speed: 195 km/h

Reasons to buy

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Best overall

This Dewalt offering is more than good enough for those with an average-sized back garden and, depending on how efficient your leaf blowing skills are, those with bigger gardens too. It runs on powerful batteries that are interchangeable with other smaller power tools in the Dewalt range, and the 195 km/h speed motor should enable you to do some ample leaf shifting in a short space of time. One of the lighter weight models on our list, it should be easy on the arms, and thanks to the electric motor, shouldn’t be too strenuous on the ears, either. 

McCulloch GB 355 BP Petrol Backpack Blower

Specifications

Best for: Performance
Cordless: Yes
Weight: 9.16kg
Maximum speed: 355 km/h

Reasons to buy

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Best for big gardens

If your back garden extends across several acres, rather than several metres, this petrol leaf blower from McCulloch could be a better option. With its petrol engine, you can use it for extensive periods of time, and with the ability to reach blowing speeds of up to 355 km/h, it’ll make quick work of excessive leaf coverage. Although heavy, its backpack design allows you to distribute the weight of it around your body, rather than it being focussed on the arms and wrists, which means you can wear it for longer without feeling like your arms are going to drop off. Result!

Leaf blowers

Ryobi OBL1820S Cordless Bare Leaf Blower

Specifications

Best for: Budget buy
Cordless: Yes
Weight: 2.21kg
Maximum speed: 241km/h

Reasons to buy

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Best budget

The ideal buy for those that already have the compatible interchangeable batteries as you'll be able to cut out any unnecessary expenses, this leaf blower is super lightweight, so there’s no need for a backpack or a shoulder strap. This one is just a leaf blower, so would be ideal for those with smaller gardens who won't be using it for a long amount of time. You will, however, need a decent pair of gardening gloves to pick up the pile of leaves once you’re done. While it doesn’t have the fastest blow speed, it’s certainly quicker than our top battery-powered leaf blower. However, there’s no suggested charge time, as it’ll completely depend on the batteries that you have.

How to buy the best leaf blower

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Leaf blowers come in all shapes and sizes. There are smaller ones for those with little outdoor space and large ones for clearing acres of land. For smaller plots, battery-powered leaf blowers are easier and more convenient to use, although wired models can offer more suction power. Petrol-run leaf blowers will give you long lasting power, but they can be heavy, noisy and smelly. 

Some leaf blowers allow you to blow leaves into one large pile; others will suck up the leaves too so that you can easily deposit them into your compost. These, however, can become heavy to use over long periods of use, and it can be fiddly to transition between sucking and blowing modes. 

From the top of the range to budget friendly, we’ve scoured our favourite leaf blowers. 

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