I don't usually slam products, but I am shocked and appalled by the design and quality my new leaf vac, a Homelite electric blower/vac. I have already complained about the totally unergonomic design. Now, a couple new problems have cropped up.
After the major winds of last week, there was a vast quantity of leaves that needed to be shredded.
When I first started shredding leaves this season, I was putting them in the leaf mold bin, but with this amount of leaves, the bin quickly filled. The beds are mulched with shredded leaves after the ground freezes, and some shredded leaves are saved to used as summer mulch, so the shredded leaves need to be stored in leaf bags, at least for a few months. That's when I discovered the second design flaw of the Homelite leaf blower/vac.
How on earth could the machine's bag possibly fit into the opening of the leaf bag? I would love to meet the designer of this thing to ask what they were smoking that day, because it's got to be powerful stuff.
By contrast, the old, defunct leaf blower/vac was a marvel of good design.
See how the Black & Decker machine's bag is designed to fit into the leaf bag? Plus, with that design, you don't have to worry about remembering to zip the bag back up or about the zipper getting stuck or broken, as was the problem with my first leaf blower/vac.
Vacuuming up these leaves was a real challenge, because the Homelite leaf blower/vac kept cutting out. The cord needed to be jiggled to get it to work. I've had this unit for only a couple of months. While it did a good job on the leaves when it was working, it was a struggle to keep it going.
So why didn't I just buy another Black & Decker after the old one died (it lasted several years)? I had intended to buy a leaf shredder instead, because I end up picking so many leaves out of the plants by hand. But then, in the store, I was seduced by the Homelite's claim of light weight. Sure, the entire unit is lightweight, but you are carrying all that weight in your biceps, wrists and forearms, instead of it being more evenly distributed to the back and shoulders as well. I'm seriously thinking of taking the Homelite back to the store and requesting a refund.