Best Leaf Blowers of 2022

The experts at Consumer Reports look for leaf blowers that are quick, thorough, and quiet. The best leaf blowers should also be easy to handle and use, and prove reliable season after season. Here’s more on what our picks have in common:

• They’re fast at moving leaves. The best blowers in our tests clear a large swath of grass in under a minute.
• They’re good at loosening embedded leaves from the lawn. Even with a leaf blower that’s quick to move most leaves, you’ll notice a few stragglers. We look for machines that don’t require you to break out a rake to clean up.
• They’re easy to handle. We consider weight, the placement of the controls, and ease of starting, to find models that start and run effortlessly. We also favor models that are light and easy enough to use, so you won’t end up with sore arms.
• They’re not too loud. We test sound both at the ear of the operator and from 50 feet, to simulate how loud each blower might be for you and your neighbors. The best models keep volume below 65 decibels, while the worst exceed 85 decibels. At 85 decibels, you’ll need ear protection to avoid hearing damage even from very brief use. At lower decibel levels, hearing protection is often still a good idea, especially if you’re using a leaf blower for a long stretch of time.
• They’re reliable. We survey thousands of CR members each year to provide brand-level reliability and owner satisfaction scores to zero in on leaf blowers that will continue to work well long after their first autumn.

CR’s test engineers rope off a standardized swath of grass, and dump bags of leaves inside the boundary, ensuring we use the same quantity of leaves for each test. When testing backpack blowers and wheeled blowers, we use a larger area, because both of those tools are built for larger yards and professional landscaping crews.

We time how long each blower takes to clear the pile, and whether the tool moves every last leaf—some leaf blowers struggle by the time we get to the bottom of the pile, where leaves can become embedded in the grass. Only certain technicians, who use similar technique with each model, perform this test.

We also note how hard it is to maneuver each leaf blower, how heavy it feels, and how intuitive the controls are to use.

Some years we go through 2,500 pounds of leaves in the process. And because we can’t rely on that quantity to fall on our Yonkers, N.Y., campus each autumn, we often start collecting and storing fallen foliage a year in advance.

Handheld leaf blowers are best for smaller properties without a ton of leafy trees. To pick the best handheld models, we tend to favor lighter models over heavier ones (if all other factors are equal) because weight has a noticeable effect on ease of use and maneuverability.

Backpack leaf blowers are helpful for larger properties with more trees, including those with hilly yards. Beyond the main criteria we test for (sweeping, loosening, handling, noise), we also take special note of how easy and comfortable these models are to strap on, and how easy they are to maneuver, once they’re mounted to your back.

Designed for folks with enormous, mostly level yards, wheeled blowers are exclusively powered by gasoline. Here, testers favor those that not only clear lawns well, but those that do so while also being easy to turn and maneuver.