Leaf blowers/vacs - worth having? There's one in Aldi...

[unlucky83]

Have two house gardens to maintain at the moment...(one needs finishing renovating)
One neighbour's huge sycamore drops most of its leaves in our garden - lawn and path ....
New house -neighbour's enormous beech tree also drops leaves all over our gravel (12 m across about 15m) driveway - they also blow into the garage too - but eventually will get a guard thing for bottom of door ...also that house has a big, very overgrown back garden with lots of trees - some which of which aren't evergreen...(Previous elderly owner of new house had a leaf blower - stupidly I didn't buy it for peanuts with other stuff when I could...)
After surviving cleaning up leaves in both houses last year...I really think one might be a good idea ...
Aldi had one today for £29.99 - really tempted... are they worth having? And especially has anyone tried Aldi garden power tools - or even this leaf blower?
(really tempted to buy a chain saw really - for both the beech and sycamore )

Also Aldi had a shredder - had one years ago (a ? devil - got it second hand) - it was a bit rubbish- kept blocking - quicker to nip branches by hand! and really really noisy) -
but actually getting rid of the garden waste at new house is a bit of nightmare (lots of shrubs and trees to trim back - spend ages chopping into smaller bits to take up less space in wheelie bin/trailer) - have they improved in recent years? - it is described as quiet...
Any advice ????

[unlucky83]

Whoops that drive way is 4 m across (12ft!!!) - I know the width (for lorry access etc) but can't estimate distance in ft - so was doing both

[cantspel]

I cant vouch for aldi as i we dont have no nearby but i do have a garden vac which is a life saver as my house has oak trees all down one side of it. My vac is a flymo and i bought it second hand on ebay for £20. Makes short work of what was a very time consuming job. The only thing is the bag fills up quickly so i carry a backup black sack. i save the leaves away for leaf mould so it isn't a problem for me.

I also have a shredder. Mine came from screwfix and i think it was about £100 and is ideal for shredding waste for the compost bins. It does clog up if i try shredding too much green so i just dry everything out before i put it through.

I am a sucker for garden power tools and they do make life easier if you want to compost garden waste.

[Rhubarbgarden]

I love my leaf blower/vac. It isn't really up to the job now though - moved to the country with a bigger garden and lots of huge mature trees, so I'm thinking of upgrading to a more powerful one. My existing one is a Toro, which was fine for a good-sized London garden although it clogs up a lot if the leaves are damp.

Interesting irrelevant fact: I once 'modelled' leaf blowers for Gardening Which magazine. I don't know if it's still my legs that you get to see on their website though - I no longer subscribe!

[unlucky83]

Thanks -looks like I'll be off to spend some more money... at £30 I did think it had to be worth trying ...(it has a mulching function too so might hold more leaves?)
Shredder still in two minds ...the old one (but it was a cheaper make) blocking up used to drive me insane - every two thin twigs - ahhhhhh

And drying out in this weather might be a problem - got keen yesterday trimming back -lovely sunshine -loads of branches on the lawn - decide to cut (over long) grass later in day when it had dried as much as it is going too - only for it suddenly cloud over and chuck it down nonstop for hours...Grrrr...

[digerd]

The mulching ones are better than just a blower as they hoover up the leaves. Just blowing them to a different area doesn't make sense to me.

Beware though as mine puffs out dust from the bag right in my face causing me to cough and splutter so don't use it.

[unlucky83]

Popped into a different (closer) Aldi today - and they've sold out - now I've convinced myself I NEED one ...ahhh
Might go back to the other Aldi tomorrow ...or get the leaf rake out!!!