# Corded vs cordless blower



## Diane (Jul 27, 2020)

Hi, 
Need to get a blower and like all reviews, I'm seeing so many contradictions - some people say this product is powerful, others say it's weak. Hard to understand but it makes it difficult to make a decision. 
I want to spend on lower side - but rather pay but more than get piece of junk. Read somewhere that corded usually has more power. Don't know if it's true but I don't really mind corded (I think) bc property is small - only if it's much better and much less money. 
Can you recommend something for me. This is not for heavy duty leaves, it's for clearing grass after cuttings, some garbage, etc. Leaves are minimal in fall. But I do want good and strong power. 
Thanks in advance!!


----------



## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

I would say to go with either gas or battery. I started out with a corded blower because I didn't think it would bother me, but it gets old real fast having to manage the extension cord and roll it back up every time.

As for what brand, I have the Milwaukee blower as I was already on that battery platform. I like it for light duty work, but it's definitely underpowered compared to a gas blower.


----------



## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

I would definitely go cordless.


----------



## Sinclair (Jul 25, 2017)

Cordless everything.

Gas or battery should be the only question.


----------



## PodScot (Mar 18, 2021)

Do you have any other battery tools? If not it's going to be way more than corded because you obviously need a battery too. Currently I have an old Ryobi gas blower I got for free that wasn't running. Typical carburetor problems, cost $9 for a new carb and runs great. I also have a plug in Toro that seems like it has more balls than the gas blower. As much as I want a Milwaukee for quick stuff like blowing grass after a mow I think I'd buy another gas due to all the leaves I have to deal with. 10-15 minutes on a battery isn't going to be very helpful in that situation. If you're not going to buy a good cordless one I'd say go for the Toro plug in if cords don't bother you or go gas.


----------



## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

I feel like the OEMs missed the boat on something here. Corded blowers are generally much weaker than battery units, let alone gas, and yet they have access to mains power.

Huh?


----------



## Diane (Jul 27, 2020)

MasterMech said:


> I feel like the OEMs missed the boat on something here. Corded blowers are generally much weaker than battery units, let alone gas, and yet they have access to mains power.
> 
> Huh?


Is that really true? Somehow I got the impression that corded have more mph than battery.


----------



## Diane (Jul 27, 2020)

The reason I wrote I probably won't care about corded is because even though it's a light pain (I know because I have green works dethatcher), this photo is literally my whole lawn. Sum total of like 400 square foot. Do you still think I'll go crazy from the cord?


----------



## Diane (Jul 27, 2020)

PodScot said:


> Do you have any other battery tools? If not it's going to be way more than corded because you obviously need a battery too. Currently I have an old Ryobi gas blower I got for free that wasn't running. Typical carburetor problems, cost $9 for a new carb and runs great. I also have a plug in Toro that seems like it has more balls than the gas blower. As much as I want a Milwaukee for quick stuff like blowing grass after a mow I think I'd buy another gas due to all the leaves I have to deal with. 10-15 minutes on a battery isn't going to be very helpful in that situation. If you're not going to buy a good cordless one I'd say go for the Toro plug in if cords don't bother you or go gas.


Yes I have a worx trimmer and I also have 2 batteries from Black and decker screw drivers. Are those the same?


----------



## PodScot (Mar 18, 2021)

Worx trimmer battery should work but you would have to confirm since I know nothing about worx. The B&D batteries are most likely too small to run a blower for more than a few minutes.

For 400 sq ft I can't see a cord being too much of a pain. When I first moved into my current house with a 10k yard I used a corded blower for a while. Biggest pain was dealing with a 100' cord.


----------



## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

I used a corded snow blower for 2 years and at first a pain you do eventually figure out a pattern. And I got pretty good at it. For a smaller lawn I also don't think a corded would be a big deal. But, cordless is nice and if you part of a system, be it Worx or B&D, I would strongly consider that. Your battery should last long enough to blow off clippings after a mow.


----------



## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

Diane said:


> The reason I wrote I probably won't care about corded is because even though it's a light pain (I know because I have green works dethatcher), this photo is literally my whole lawn. Sum total of like 400 square foot. Do you still think I'll go crazy from the cord?


Unless price is an issue I would still lean cordless. It's just nice not to be limited by an extension cord. I thought a 100' cord would be fine for my lawn, but inevitably wind would blow some clippings out of my range and I'd have to get the broom.

Also, and someone with more knowledge on the subject please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it's CFM that matters when comparing blowers, not MPH.


----------



## ionicatoms (Mar 8, 2020)

BU Bear said:


> I believe it's CFM that matters when comparing blowers, not MPH.


I agree.


----------



## NeVs (Aug 17, 2018)

Anyone with an extension cord needs to know this method for wrapping them up. Never have a tangle again.


----------



## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

Diane said:


> MasterMech said:
> 
> 
> > I feel like the OEMs missed the boat on something here. Corded blowers are generally much weaker than battery units, let alone gas, and yet they have access to mains power.
> ...


Your question sent me back to the internets to peek at the newest models. In the past, I've found most electrics to be lacking in power to do much more than blow off grass clippings from the sidewalk. Now, turbine style blowers powered by mains power have started to pop up on the market. Some of the newer corded electric turbine style units do in fact keep up with their cordless and gas siblings and boast far better numbers than the traditional "fan" style blowers.

With blowers, the numbers can be misleading. MPH by itself really tells very little about how powerful the blower is. You can simply narrow the nozzle and increase the MPH with no other changes to the unit. Likewise, to increase the CFM, a larger exhaust tube is all that's required, but this comes at the expense of velocity (MPH). The trick is to maintain high velocity AND volume, and for this, you need a more powerful motor, a more efficient turbine/fan, or both. Stihl and EGo started using Newtons (a measure of force, like lbs) in their specifications, and while this is far better than just posting the CFM/MPH, as a lone specification it still doesn't tell the whole story. For different applications, you need specific working characteristics of the machine. These little blowers do a great job of moving leaves and grass clippings with a 200MPH stream, but would do poorly in powering a sailboat. Yet, a 10MPH breeze will move the boat just fine while doing little for our yard cleanup. Volume is great for moving large piles of material, like leaves. But velocity matters too, especially in stripping mulch out of grass and persuading sticky/moist grass clippings to let go of concrete driveways (you cool-season guys know what I'm talking about!).

Back to comparing blowers, a 160MPH 650CFM blower (EGo LB6504) is going to feel like a monster next to something like a 260MPH 340CFM unit. (Toro 51619). The EGo also gives the option to run a tapered nozzle for a 20MPH boost which is just dandy for clearing large smooth surfaces of things like grass clippings. If you want to kick it up a notch in corded blowers, and go with something like the Toro F700, 140MPH/725CFM, keep in mind that 12 amp draw is going to require a very heavy duty extension cord plugged into a dedicated 15+ amp circuit. The cost of the cord is roughly $35 for 50ft and $60 for 100ft if you don't already have one. Still, for $120, you've got a setup that's very capable, quiet, with unlimited runtime (assuming you can cover the electric bill :lol and zero battery/engine maintenance. That's pretty attractive assuming you don't mind the cord.


----------



## PodScot (Mar 18, 2021)

Well said!


----------



## DallasZoysia (Apr 21, 2021)

For that size of a lawn, I think corded is doable. I used this corded Worx before and at 600 CFM it is plenty powerful. Be aware that you want to use the highest gauge and shortest extension possible to achieve the max power for your area.

I personally despise dragging out cords and find myself using my EGO cordless blower in places I never would've dragged out a cord - blowing out gutters, driveways, garage, etc. It is far and away my most used power tool.

Edit: Just realized I hadn't read MasterMech's essay above. That guy knows his stuff, listen to him! :lol:


----------



## ADanto6840 (Apr 1, 2021)

FWIW -- and I'll note that I'm a big Ryobi fan/collector/invested in their ecosystem for sure -- but I'd HIGHLY recommend their blowers. I own two of them, their 18V "Brushless Jet Fan" blower & their "whisper quiet" 40V blower (is 525CFM IIRC).

When looking at blowers in general, you want to look at CFM/air movement measurement. The MPH measurement is not really generally an accurate or useful metric for apples-to-apples comparison (because the airflow *speed* varies based on orifice size & air volume) -- but CFM (air volume) IS the metric that can be compared accurately between models & brands.

Both of the models I mentioned above from Ryobi are great IMO; I primarily use the 18V for fanning the flames in the fire pit or occasional small cleanup work (blowing out the garage, cleaning up foam peanuts that spilled, etc). The 40V "Whisper Quiet" version is easily ~2-3X more powerful (based on 'feel' at least) and it runs pretty damn long on a 4AH battery -- you probably could blow your yard out 5X over [or more] on a single charge. The extra power means the 40V takes 1/2 the time or less vs the 18V model.

If you aren't invested in the platform yet, then it's more questionable -- though you can probably get the Ryobi 40V blower with a battery/charger on your local OfferUp for under $100 if I had to guess. Maybe closer to $50, even -- on my local OfferUp they're under $50 without a battery, and batteries on OfferUp go for $50-ish.

Anyways, I'm definitely biased -- heavily invested in (and love) my Ryobi tools, even if they are 'cheap/homeowner' grade, they get the job done for me time & time again, though I'm also just a homeowner (and tinkerer), but I digress.


----------



## Diane (Jul 27, 2020)

You guys are the best. I had no idea about all this info. I may already have an extension cord. I def know I have these. Does this look ok for the use?


----------



## Diane (Jul 27, 2020)

Diane said:


> You guys are the best. I had no idea about all this info. I may already have an extension cord. I def know I have these. Does this look ok for the use?


----------



## PodScot (Mar 18, 2021)

Judging by that $15 price, no. You should ideally use a 12 gauge over 50' or 14 gauge if it's under 50'.


----------



## ColeLawn (Nov 11, 2020)

Cordless or gas. I wouldn't even consider corded tools at this point. Even my pneumatic tools are being kicked out of the toolbox.


----------



## pseudodennis (Apr 19, 2021)

Everyone seems to like the cordless tools, and the newer higher volt batteries definitely seem to be a huge improvement. However, as a non-professional only using the tools a few times a year, to me going all-corded has been great. No brand lock-in, no messing around with half-charged batteries, and the price of a good 100' 10-gauge extension cord is about the cost of two batteries, but *should* last forever. (Until it gets in the way of my sawzall...)

The highest CFM-rated leaf blower I could find (gas or electric) was the corded Worx Turbine 800 (https://www.worx.com/turbine-800-electric-leaf-blower.html) and I've been nothing but impressed with that. However, I think they got higher CFM ratings by making the nozzle wider, so the force is less directed. And it's super lightweight, but that's the tradeoff to dragging a cord through the yard.

Also! If you are allowed to burn (or are nice to your neighbors) a leaf-blower is amazing for getting fires going.


----------



## johnklein25 (Apr 22, 2021)

I'm voting cordless.... BUT am curious if any of the cordless models have variable speed yet? I have a cordless stihl and I like it but would like it a lot more if it had variable speed so I could blow stuff out of corners at lower air speeds so it doesn't blow back in my face!

Also, thinking ahead, I'm considering a cordless snow blower..... having a cordless set up where the battery powers a cordless snow blower and a leaf blower might be really cool. The original poster's lawn and sidewalks are small, but if Diane had a cordless snow blower and could handle some of the neighbors side walks in just a few minutes while taking care of hers she might get some return favors!


----------



## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

johnklein25 said:


> I'm voting cordless.... BUT am curious if any of the cordless models have variable speed yet? I have a cordless stihl and I like it but would like it a lot more if it had variable speed so I could blow stuff out of corners at lower air speeds so it doesn't blow back in my face!
> 
> Also, thinking ahead, I'm considering a cordless snow blower..... having a cordless set up where the battery powers a cordless snow blower and a leaf blower might be really cool. The original poster's lawn and sidewalks are small, but if Diane had a cordless snow blower and could handle some of the neighbors side walks in just a few minutes while taking care of hers she might get some return favors!


Yes, EGo offers variable speed cordless, I think a few of the Stihls are as well. Which model Stihl do you have (out of curiosity)?


----------



## johnklein25 (Apr 22, 2021)

I'm using a Stihl BGA 56 cordless blower it is a fixed speed blower that I use mostly for patio, driveway and sidewalk, it's light enough for my better half to use and does a decent job. I have A BUNCH of leaves in the fall, so I also have a Stihl gas BG86 hand held... for a backpack blower I have a PB580T. Fall 2020 was my first season with the backpack blower and I didn't enjoy using it as much as I thought I would, and it seemed a bit like overkill. I will give it one more season and see if I feel any differently and if not, it'll go up for sale.


----------



## StormTrooper86 (Feb 3, 2019)

Cordless all the way. I have the Ego 530 CFM blower and love it!


----------



## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

I have both a Stihl backpack blower and a Stihl handheld gas blower.

I also have two corded electric blowers. Both Black & Deckers, one was a "Leaf Hog" I bought on close out at Lowe's to vacuum & shred leaves and another I bought to blow out my garage bays.

I have never tried cordless blowers. I have too many already!

For a small yard I would just go corded and get a quality 12 gauge outdoor cord to run it. The thicker gauge cord is actually easier for me to manage. Buy a cord reel to wind up and store the cord.

My corded Leaf Hog shreds leaves into a zipper bag and makes nice mulch, or reduces the volume of leaf debris to make it easy to bag and dispose. You need a mask, though - it's dusty and moldy work.

My neighbors bought Ego cordless mowers and blowers. The mowers were both returned. Both said batteries would diminish in power over a short time period. Both still own blowers, but they want Stihl gas now....

I own cordless power tools (DeWalt) that I like, but for heavy duty work, I also own DeWalt corded tools. Both come in handy; but sometimes you need more power....

If I could only own one, Stihl gas handheld would be my go to pick.


----------

