Toro 51609 Ultra 12 amp Variable-Speed (up to 235) Electric Blower/Vacuum with Metal Impeller

In the past two decades I've gone though three electric Craftsman leaf blowers. After several years of service, my most recent Craftsman blower finally burned out. I chose the Toro 51609 Ultra Electric Blower/Vacuum because of the great reviews and reasonable cost. First impressions: 1. The Toro is slightly lighter than my old Craftsman. 2. The Toro's metal impeller blade is unusual for electric blowers (they are usually tough plastic). It does of terrific job of snorking up and grinding leaves, dirt, even small twigs and acorns. The suction and blowing power is clearly superior to my old Craftsman. 3. At full blast, the Toro is considerably louder than the Craftsman; enough so that I'm going to start wearing hearing protection. It is still quieter than those darn gasoline blowers, though! 4. Instead of a simple on/off switch, the Toro uses a knob that smoothly goes from "off" to full blast. I prefer a simple on/off or rocker-switch, but no biggie. 5. I almost forgot. You need a good electrical cord to power this 12-amp leaf blower. A standard household extension cord can burn up (literally!) and is a real physical danger; don't cheap out! I use a 100' Yellow Jacket 2888 14/3 Heavy-Duty 13-Amp SJTW Contractor Extension Cord to power this blower and other yard and woodworking tools. Finally, the Toro's cord coiling hooks are useless for a reasonable heavy-duty cord, so I just left them off. All in all, this is a solid five star product. If I ever have a problem, I'll update this review. -------------------- UPDATE: I've been using this leaf blower for over two and a half years and it still works perfectly. Nuff said.

I am very pleased with this electric leaf blower/vacuum unit! I got this primarily to vacuum up all the leaves from our various trees in our small S.F. backyard. The challenge, however, was being able to vacuum the leaves up, while NOT disturbing our existing black and white pebble groundcover. But the worries and concerns were all for not. Thanks to Toro's variable speed control feature, it made for really easy work here. Once I determined the appropriate power to use, the unit methodically and efficiently picked up ONLY all the leaves on top of all the black and white pebbles, totally leaving them again undisturbed!! Yes, VERY NICE INDEED. And, in terms of overall noise, it was very acceptable and NOT loud or painful whatsoever, particularly at the lower power levels! Was able to avoid wearing headphones or earplugs and just work through the effort no problem. Also, after throwing the Toro Catch Bag over my left shoulder (similar to a women's purse), the unit became remarkably light and efficient and very easy to maneuver around the yard. Overall weight of the unit was NEVER an issue. Also, after a bit of practice, I was able to effectively tie down and loop over the extension cord and power outlet, where the cord wasn't in the way or become a safety issue. Again, like everything in life, practice makes PERFECT!! In summary, this is a solid overall performer, made even better, given it's very reasonable asking price. I read all the reviews and based my purchase on them. And now, after having used the unit a few times thus far, I fully concur with everyone else! Highly recommended overall! Haven't had a chance to use the blower function as yet, but I'm sure this aspect works just as well. The Melcher function via the steel drive/cutter is very efficient at cutting down all the leaves to organic nothings!! ha ha.

I got this unit for the dreaded leaf season. My parents live in a heavily wooded area with many different types of trees and since they are getting older I help them out. I can safely say that this thing is fantastic for vacuuming and mulching up the leafs. I would give this unit 5 stars except it burn out on me after 3 months. I definitely did put this unit through some pretty difficult work and would say that for the price it definitely was worth the one leaf season. I can't even begin to explain how much time it saved. The work time was cut in half and my mother was ecstatic about getting some leaf mulch/compost for her garden beds. There might have been even less time spent on this leaf season if I didn't have to follow her around as she decided where she wanted the next bag dumped. That being said this unit did burn out on me. There are two reasons why this unit possibly died on me; the first was the workload and the second was I left it in the garage this winter which may have caused the failure (more on the second reason later). The amount of hours I put on it was probably about 50 hrs. Most of that time it would be on for 8 hours, only turning it off to empty the bag. I was using this unit when the leafs were wet from rains earlier in the week. This definitely caused clogging up around the impeller and was obvious due to the lack of suction near the entrance of the vacuum attachment. I highly recommend using it when the leafs are completely dry of water and when they are dried out/shriveled up, this yields the best results. This unit is capable of handling the leafs when they are not shriveled up and does a very good job mulching them. The metal impeller is phenomenal and would recommend it if you have the possibility of "accidentally" (lazily in my case) sucking up a stick. I was surprised at some of the sticks (branches) this thing was able to mulch up and wasn't bothered hearing the occasional ping of a rock or acorn that got sucked up. The second reason why this unit possibly burned out was because of the winter (this is what I think did it). This past winter where I lived it was unusable cold and brutal. I will admit I left this unit in the garage not realizing exactly how cold it did get in there. The directions do give a temperature range to keep this unit to prevent it from burning out and I well exceeded that limit. I still think this unit was worth the money, because of how much time I was able to save. I will be buying another one next leaf season instead of having to donate the 3 full weekends of manually raking and dragging the leafs off to the woods. I will take much better care of the next and hopefully can have it through a few seasons.

I compared a few Blower/Vac combo units before choosing this Toro 51609. Ultimately, I'm very happy with this machine. I researched the following competing models (mainly by reading their Amazon reviews - I do NOT have hands-on experience with these other units): Black & Decker LH5000 12 amp Variable Speed Electric Leaf Hog Blower/Vacuum - seems like a good unit, but more complaints re: motor longevity and quality of leaf bag. WORX TriVac WG500 12 amp All-in-One Electric Blower/Mulcher/Vacuum - looks cool, but expensive, poor quality, terrible reviews. Toro 51599 Ultra 12 amp Variable-Speed Electric Blower/Vacuum with Metal Impeller - well-established, highly-rated unit with >1200 Amazon reviews, 4.5 star average. Was about to buy it, noticed that Toro had just released a newer model... Which led me to the 51609. The only detectable difference seems to be the inclusion of some new blower nozzle attachments (cord wrap, power insert, and concentrator insert). These are all quite handy and work as intended. The cord wrap is perfect for a 50ft extension cord, anything longer exceeds the capacity of the hook and makes the unit really heavy to carry around. The power insert does help with blowing leaves more easily into rows and the concentrator insert is good for clearing stuck on debris. Switching between blower and vac is really easy. One thing I notice is that looser shorts can get sucked up against the intake cover in blower mode, but the opening isn't big enough for anything to get stuck or tangled. The blower speed is adjustable, but for some reason I was expecting more of a range between slow and fast - I think most people will notice that it's more or less two speeds, and the "infinite" adjustability isn't really a major feature. Works very well to mulch leaves, not super fine, but certainly good enough to simplify bagging or accelerate composting. Metal impeller was a big feature for me, should last a very long time. Overall, the differences between the 51609 and 51599 are minimal, but the addition of the two nozzle inserts and cord wrap are nice iterative improvements to an already great yard appliance.

I have a gas blower and it's about 20 years old. Thought I would look for a quality electric blower at a value price. I found it. Did some research and wanted a 12A blower, not a 7A blower. Didn't want to regret getting a blower with less blow. It was easy to assemble and provides some accessories (additional blow tube insert for more condensed blowing, bagger for vacuum mode - not sure I'll use either). I have used twice and let neighbor borrow and really like this blower and its performance. Its relatively light as well. I find myself switching back and forth between hands when using for longer periods of time. I don't see myself needing to vacuum leaves too often if at all. Seems like vacuuming into the small bag attachment would be a royal pain as the bag is not that big. I was also thinking of buying the trash can cover and hose accessory, but seems like overkill and am afraid I would spend more time hassling with this accessory than simply blowing into a pile and raking/grabbing and placing in trash can. If I had to rake once a week for weeks on end I would look for more options/features, but for the couple of weeks that I attack the yard sometimes good and simple wins the race. The variable speed control seems to be a must. While it's not infinite, more of a detent with 4 speeds, it provides enough variance for blowing across wood chips (less than high mode) and back to max when the only thing you can blow is leaves. I wish it had a cord loop for the extension cord so it wouldn't unplug from unit as easy. I simply tie the x-cord in a loop/knot around the short blower cord end to prevent unplugging while in use. You might be able to buy a connector cover that wraps over both when connected. The short cord connector is somewhat large so buy a large connector cover if you go this way. It's also nice to come back in the house after blowing and not reek of gas.

For 2 years my wife and I raked leaves at our new home, which was a real chore and source of stress/procrastination -- one year we let the snow cover all the leaves in the yard. When spring came, it was even more of a mess to rake up as the leaves were waterlogged, and we had to remove them before they suffocated the new season's grass. I also wanted to compost my leaves. Before I got this, I had purchased an electric leaf mulcher. The mulcher was more effective at, well, mulching... but you had to move the device thing to each pile.. what a pain. This Toro blower/vacuum just blows everything off the yard and into the treeline. When the yard is clear, you can use the vacuum mode to chip away at the "wall of leaves" (places where the leaves would pile up due to small scrub growth). The Tori vacuum does mulch, but without a blade which has plusses and minuses (it really just crushes and shreds the leaves... good for composting but not fine enough to mix directly into garden soil like I was doing with the standalone mulch-only appliance I bought). A word about POWER... I bought the 235mph model. This thing has NO PROBLEM with worst case scenarios like blowing wet leaves off of wet grass. As you can imagine, driveway clearing is fast and easy. The handy dial allows you to control the blower force, which you probably need lower when blowing wet leaves off of mulch. On max speed this thing has no trouble blowing away mulch, actually. Not it's intended use, but I used this to remove some ground moss when the soil was wet. The moss just rolled off the soil and now I have a bare spot to seed (which is good... too much damn moss creeping into the shady part of the yard). NOISE... not too too bad -- it's FAR quieter than my neighbor's gas backpack model. I've used it without ear protection, but really you want some safety/shooter ear covers. What works almost as well are some headphones which completely surround the ear; then you can at least plug it into your phone or MP3 player. As this thing pulls 12 amps, you really want a heavy-duty extension capable of handling the current. Note that if you use a weak extension cord (or one that's too long) you will actually draw MORE amps out of your outlet (I'm simplifying things, but you'll lose power to resistance in the extension, and the motor will struggle to pull the power it needs). When shopping for an extension, be sure to "round up" and buy the beefier cable. I need 125 feet of extension to cover my yard, so I got two 12 gauge extensions here on Amazon (the extensions cost as much as this blower/vacuum, but everything I plug into that extension will potentially last longer). With a beefy extension, I have not tripped the garage circuit yet (being an older home, the garage sadly is equipped with 15A circuits so this is a concern). (and just to add WAY more detail than this review needs... don't go crazy and get the 10 gauge extension Amazon sells... I mean it would work more efficiently, but reeling or coiling it in will be like handling a garden hose filled with sand... a good workout I suppose). If you are 50 foot or less, 16 gauge is a little lighter to carry. OK, enough ADD banter. This is the blower you want. I don't care if you don't have outside outlets - just run it from the garage (I do!). Electric is far cleaner for the environment (which is important to folks with children), and you never have to mix gas/oil or run out of gas. No tuneups.

I have used both the vacuum and blower functions on this unit. Both are quite powerful. The blower works extremely well -- in fact you have to be careful how you aim it. It will quickly clear a patio or driveway of debris. The vacuum is effective but requires a somewhat tedious process of moving across the area in question. If there's lots of debris to deal with, a rake and/or broom would be faster. Indeed, even Toro would say that this unit should not be used to pick up thick layers of leaves or grass clippings. I found that the long nozzle for the vacuum unit periodically needed to be cleaned out, as leaves and debris would accumulate there and impair the suction. The nozzle is longer than my arm, hence I felt comfortable simply poking the debris down into the unit (while running) until the suction pulled the stuck material in through the vacuum head. One thing I noticed right away is that the vacuum pulverizes the debris into a fine dust. The porous bag material exudes this dust as the unit is in use. The bag fills fairly quickly to the point that it is dragging on the ground and must be emptied. This raises further dust. Wearing a respirator seems like a good idea. Changing from the blower mode to the vacuum mode involves detaching a nozzle from either the blowing or sucking end, and swapping in either the vacuum collector bag or a cover plate on the end that is not in use. In other words, the collection bag attaches to the same port that the blower nozzle attaches to, as in both cases the machine is blowing out that port. So you either have the vacuum nozzle + the collection bag attached, or the blower nozzle + a cover plate attached. Whichever pieces are not in use must be stored separately from the unit. This is fine, given that no one would want to be dragging around all the vacuum hardware while using the unit in its blower mode. The construction seems fairly robust, and there is plenty of power. It is not silent in operation, but I would say that it is quieter than the gasoline-powered blower units I hear in use in our neighborhood. All in all I'm happy with this purchase.

Purchased two of these units. They are replacements for two earlier Toro leaf blowers. Unfortunately Toro seems to design these units to make them impossible to service. When the bearings (ACTUALLY BUSHINGS NOT BEARINGS) start to dry and get loose, there is no way to get inside to clean and lubricate them, as least no way I was able to find after hours of trying. Consider these to be throw away units when trouble starts. Compared to the older blowers these have some good points and some bad points. The good: 1. The tubes, both outlet side and the inlet side seem to be better designed and allow for better air flow. Leaves move faster and blow farther when blowing them and are easier to pick up when bagging them. 2. The cloth bag is larger which allows longer collection before needing to empty. 3. Variable speed allows one to tune air flow to the job, although I find I spend most all of my time either OFF or all the way up. 4. The 51609 has a metal impeller (51599 is some sort of plastic) and is designed better than the old units. I have yet to clog the new ones while the old ones clogged fairly frequently if the leaves were damp or tough. The bad: 1. In suction mode, the power cord comes out the front of the unit and always seems to be in my way. 2. The bigger bag is heavier when full. 3. The bigger bag is a real pain when trying to navigate a 3 foot stairwell. It always seems to be in my way. 4. The old units had a velcro strap at the top of the bag. It heald and sealed tight. The new units have a plastic snap on fitting but the bag is fastened with a nylon zip tie sewn into the top of the bag. It leaks (on both my units) and I find myself almost covered with leaf dust which blows out of the top of the bag. Duct tape is a poor solution but it helps. These are fairly inexpensive but I really wish the bag fit as well as the old ones.

Beware, this is a USA product not designed for the UK market. It appears to work off 120v not our 240v. It is a nicely made machine but sadly I have had to return it. Why Amazon are selling it through Amazon UK I am not sure.

This Toro is fantastic. I deliberated for a long time about whether to get this or go for a cordless option. I have to say that I'm glad I went this route. Now, I won't knock the product because its corded, because to be honest its a pain in the butt with having to move the cord around different things. However the reason I bought this unit is simple, it simply works as advertised. Its powerful, versatile given its also a mulcher with a metal impeller which means that nothing will cause this thing to jam. Also, the fact that its metal means you can expect durability. As a blower, with 350 CFM I toss bunches of wet leaves with ease. [...] Pros: Powerful Durable Metal Impeller Versatile Cons: Corded

Great power, just as advertised. Delivered in about 7-days so that eas alright.

The Toro blower is VERY powerful. Thank heavens for the variable speed control. It's excellent to clear long driveways and behind bushes, and around chairs on the deck and front porch. It does a great job on Maple Tree keys, which are hard to sweep or rake. We found it's hard to get leaves into a reasonable pile though, because you can easily blow the pile all over the place. Maybe practice will improve our skill at this. We just got them 'sort of' in the same area, and raked them into a better pile. We also found the component parts hard to separate from the machine, but it may be that they're just new. The 2nd time we used it was easier. The vacuum is less powerful, than the blower [as advertised] but works fairly well to clean up the pile and mulch it into a container. [get a Toro 51500 Universal Leaf Collector with 8-ft hose if you have lots of leaves]. The mulch bag that comes with it is fine for small amounts when you want to walk around with it, but not easy to hold the whole thing to unzip the bag and get it into a container by myself [a 67 year old woman]. The previously mentioned 51500 helps there though. Overall, if I have to clean up the leaves, it's better than the old way. I appreciate that mulched leaves take up fewer containers too.

This is the last leaf blower you would ever need. I have a large yard out at my cabin with allot of poplar and birch trees and I typically rake up about 40 giant bags of leaves every spring. Last year I spent 4 days raking, this year using this I was able to do the yard in 4-5 hours. This thing blows wet or dry leaves and I rarely ever had to put it to full power. Would buy this again in a heartbeat!