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The Black & Decker Leaf Hog Electric Leaf Blower Really Blows!

23 February 2010 235 Comments

B&D LH4500If you’re in the market for an electric leaf blower, do we have the blower for you! In our continuing series of reviews on Black & Decker lawn care products, we’ve moved on to the LH4500 12 Amp Electric Leaf Hog. This review was actually inspired by one of our previous reviews on the Black & Decker Lawncare Center set.

The lawncare center set includes an 18-Volt, cordless “blower.” We felt that product itself was wholly inadequate for real leaf work but, in its defense, it isn’t advertised for that purpose. It is actually an “electric broom” designed for light blowing to clean up lose debris and dirt. Great for getting the sawdust out of your garage or blowing lose dirt and leaves off your patio, for example, but definitely not the right tool for real autumn cleanup.

Still, our testing of that product had us wondering what Black & Decker could produce in the legitimate electric leaf blower realm so we decided to check out the LH4500. Here’s what we concluded.

Black & Decker LH4500 Leaf Hog Electric Leaf Blower

Now, you already know that we’re big fans of cordless equipment and the Leaf Hog doesn’t fit that billing. It is an electric leaf blower, yes, but it isn’t a cordless leaf blower and, from our experience, that’s actually a good thing.

Finding a cordless leaf blower that does more than an anemic job of disturbing damp or packed leaf debris is a real challenge. There may be one out there and, if we find it, we’ll review it. For now, though, accept that generating enough air to really get those leaves off your lawn and into a pile for bagging is something that requires substantial power and that means either gas or a cord.

The good news is that the Leaf Hog really delivers in the power department. Its 12 Amp, 2-speed motor churns out enough juice to really round up the debris you want gone. Sporting 240 MPH blow speed and 385 CFM (cubic feet/minute) air volume, it’ll take a darned determined leaf to avoid getting swept away.

Fair warning, though, just because this thing is electric doesn’t mean it is quiet. It isn’t quite as loud as a gas-powered leaf blower, but it still puts out more than enough volume to merit the use of ear protection and warrants consideration of your neighbor’s sleeping schedule.

LH4500 useIt’s a Leaf Vacuum Mulcher Too!

What’s great about this lawn care tool is that it converts from an electric leaf blower to a leaf vacuum in no time flat. And the great news about that is that this little gem is also a mulcher! That’s right, it offers internal metal blades (an improvement over the plastic impeller in past models) that ravenously chew through leaves, small twigs and grass clippings and deposits all of the above neatly in a shoulder mounted bag.

Black & Decker boasts that their Leaf Hog will grind 16 bags worth of loose material into one! Full disclosure – we didn’t have 16 bags worth of debris to test and support that claim but what we did grind up certainly implied they aren’t kidding. And what to do with all that ground up material? You can use it all as mulch in your flower beds or compost piles saving you money in your gardening efforts!

Finally, we really love the price on this item. You can purchase it through our links for around $69 from Amazon. The LH4500 Leaf Hog comes with the Electric Leaf Blower Vacuum, tube with Black & Decker’s LeafBlaster nozzle, vacuum attachment with tube, leaf bag with zipper, adjustable shoulder strap and air concentrator. The bag is a tad on the flimsy side so if you plan on heavy use, you might want to consider ordering a spare replacement collection bag (will run you around $20USD).

The best endorsement we can give this electric leaf blower is this… our reviewer is keeping his and if you want it, you’ll have to pry it from his cold, dead fingers. Now that’s love!

Leaf Hog Configured to Vacuum

Leaf Hog Configured to Vacuum

The Leaf Hog Eats Leaves and Twigs!

The Leaf Hog Eats Leaves and Twigs!

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