Saturday, October 10, 2015

Fall Cleanup with the Ryobi Jet Fan Blower and HedgeSweep Hedge Trimmer



our backyard this past Spring

I've had my eye on the Ryobi 40 volt Jet Fan Blower and the 40 volt HedgeSweep hedge trimmer for a long time. Mr. DIY has an awesome gas blower, but I'm not strong enough to pull the string to get it started. There are so many times I wanted to blow the leaves and dirt off the porch, deck or our 2 patios or even the garage, but I had to wait for Mr. DIY to do it.

We also have a corded electric hedge trimmer that's really dull and I end up having to trim all 50+ shrubs by hand. This year with being sick and not having all of my energy back, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to do the shrubs by hand

I finally told Mr. DIY to stop off at Home Depot and pick up both the blower and the hedge trimmer.



Aren't they pretty?


The Ryobi website says this about  the blower:
The RYOBI 40V Jet Fan Blower features Gas-Like Power™ without the hassle of gas and oil. The unique jet fan design of the RYOBI Cordless 40V Li-ion Blower optimizes air flow to produce 155 MPH and 300CFM of power. The Jet Fan Blower powers through wet and dry leaves and debris, making it ideal for lawns and hard surfaces. Featuring a variable speed trigger for air speed control and an overall sleek design with a soft grip handle for user comfort, the RYOBI 40V Jet Fan Blower will tackle any clearing job with ease.The entire RYOBI 40V family runs off of the same 40V lithium-ion battery platform. The RYOBI 40V Jet Fan is backed by a RYOBI 5 year warranty.

The Ryobi website describes the HedgeSweep hedge trimmer like this:
RYOBI introduces the first line of cordless tools with Gas-Like Power™. Avoid the hassle of gas, oil or extension cords with the RYOBI 40V Hedge Trimmer. Featuring two 24 in. dual-action blades for reduced vibration, a HedgeSweep™ debris shield to help clear branches and growth as you trim, and a wrap-around handle for greater user control; your hedges and shrubs will remain in the best shape all season. This unit provides Gas-Like Power™ while running longer than a 2-cycle hedge trimmer. The entire RYOBI 40V family runs off of the same 40V lithium-ion battery platform. The RYOBI 40V-X HedgeSweep is also covered by a RYOBI 5 year warranty. 



The battery is pretty heavy and slides onto the blower or the hedge trimmer and clicks in.


The battery slides onto the charger the same way.






The led charge gauge lets you know when the battery is charged.


Here's my review of the  40 volt blower:
The RYOBI 40 volt blower works great and is easy to use. The blower isn't too heavy for me and I'm pretty weak. It easily blew lots of leaves off of our driveway, deck and patio. I do like that the air intake is at the rear of the blower, which allows the user to hold it with either the right or left hand. Our gas blower has the air intake on one side and I have to hold the heavy blower in one hand and that arm gets really tired.


I also used the blower with full on power on the somewhat wet leaves on the lawn. It had rained for 2 weeks and the yard was really a mess. The lawn and flowerbeds in our backyard are larger than your average lawn and flower beds and we have a lot of trees. It usually takes Mr. DIY 3 full hours to blow all the leaves in the front and backyards in the Fall and a gas blower is necessary to do this job. When I blew the leaves off of the lawn using the 40 volt blower, I used full power with very few breaks and the battery only lasted for a little longer than 20 minutes.


from the Ryobi website:

Even though the blower's battery wouldn't last long enough to blow all the leaves on our lawn and flower beds, it's still a great blower for me to use on all of the other areas such as our porches, deck, driveway, walkways and patios. The blower is easy to use - all you do is pull the trigger on the handle. Having no cord makes it easy to maneuver.


Now for the HedgeSweep hedge trimmer.
I LOVE this tool.
Why did I wait so long to get it?
It has a 24 inch dual action hardened steel blade. There is also a safety switch on top, so you don't accidentally turn the hedge trimmer on. Still, to be on the safe side, I take the battery off when I'm finished using it and slide the plastic sheath over the blade.


The HedgeSweep debris shield is
awesome. The HedgeSweep bar on top sweeps away the branches you just cut. With regular hedge trimmers, you end up recutting the branches you already cut because they stay on top of the shrub until you pull the branches off by hand. Because of  this, the HedgeSweep debris shield saves you time and effort.

Here's the video from the Ryobi website and yes, the HedgeSweep cuts this easily!
 
Here are a few examples of how well the HedgeSweep worked...
Our gardenia bushes didn't get trimmed last year and were overgrown.



I trimmed all 3 back in 20 minutes. As you can see, I only counted trimming time and not the amount of time it took to pick up the debris. It would have taken me a lot longer using our corded electric hedge trimmer or with our manual hedge trimmer.


Our holly bush by the downstairs patio didn't get trimmed this Spring and was so overgrown with the 2 weeks of rain we had recently. I was going to have Mr. DIY cut this down completely and let it grow back from the ground next Spring, because these holly bushes are so difficult to trim. The branches always seem to get caught up in the trimmers because they are too thick.

I cut the holly bush back hard. It will look great again in the Spring with new growth. This bush took me only 12 minutes to trim back like this. I'm sure it would have taken me twice as long with either of my old hedge trimmers.


All of our Cleyera are all overgrown with the recent rain.  The branches of these shrubs are really easy to trim and with the HedgeSweep, it took me about 5 minutes to get it looking...


...like this.

I trimmed up 6 more shrubs after the ones shown above and the battery still had plenty of power. I used it for about 50 minutes (run time) on one fully charged battery before I stopped.  I pooped out before the battery did.
The Ryobi website says the battery will last 90 minutes and I'm going to have to test that when I trim the rest of the shrubs. I still have plenty to do!

I'm so glad we finally have these two gardening tools. 
It takes a lot of effort to keep our yard looking good and having the right tools can make things so much easier. 

You can read more about the Ryobi Jet Fan Blower and the Ryobi HedgeSweep hedge trimmer HERE

You can read about how I really like the Ryobi Pole Saw HERE.

Pam

PS: We purchased these tools ourselves and Ryobi did not compensate me in any way. 

5 comments:

  1. RYOBI 40V Jet Fan Blower work well in my garden, I like it

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great reviews. Thanks for useful informations.

    ReplyDelete
  3. RYOBI 40V Jet Fan leaf blowers saves me so much time. I am no longer bored with the job of cleaning the garden again

    ReplyDelete

Leave a comment and let me know you stopped by! If you are not on blogger, leave me your email or some other way of getting in touch with you in the comment. That way I can reply to your question or comment.