Having trees in your yard is sweet and nice. That is, until you have to clean up all the dried leaves off your yard and porches, especially during their shedding season. But then, that is a little price to pay for all the shade and fresh air, right? Nonetheless, you might still want to have the right equipment just to make the task a little easier.
While a leaf blower is a handy tool for keeping your yard tidy from these dried leaves, it could also damage some of the plants around your flower beds and could also be challenging to use around the bushes. In such cases, you might rather use a leaf vacuum to suck in the dried leaves. Leaf vacs are also handy in accessing difficult-to-reach spots such as the spaces between your fence posts.
You could purchase a leaf vacuum with a few taps on your phone. However, you surely would want to make sure that your vacuum sucks… pretty well. As such, we have summarized in this article the top 5 leaf vacuums that were tried and tested to make sure you won’t suck at your final pick.
Best Leaf Vacuums Comparison & Rating
1. WORX WG512 3-in-1 Vacuum/Blower/Mulcher
Power Source | Corded Electric |
Weight | 12 pounds |
Dimensions | 35.5 x 10 x 14 inches |
Style | 12-amp 3-in-1 Vacuum Blower/Mulcher/Vac |
WORX WG512 3-in-1 Vacuum/ Blower/ Mulcher is one tool that should make fall an easier season for you. Its vacuum function sucks really well and could help you round up a variety of leaves including oaks and cedar elms. It vacuums dried leaves into the metal impeller and shredder blade, thus reducing the lineup of trash bags in your yard after clean-up. You would also appreciate its speed adjustment feature so you could adjust the suction necessarily. After all, you surely won’t want your flower bed with a high-speed operation, would you? Further, it is an easy tool to use and maneuver with its 9-pound weight and strap that could be used over your shoulder. This leaf vacuum will indeed help make raking leaves off your yard an easier chore to cross off in your to-do list!
2. Toro 51621 UltraPlus Leaf Blower/Vacuum
Power Source | Corded Electric |
Weight | 8.9 pounds |
Dimensions | 45 x 9 x 14 inches |
Style | 12-amp Blower/Vacuum |
If you want a vacuum that really sucks, you better check out one of Koro’s best performing leaf vacuums, the UltraPlus Leaf Blower Vacuum. It comes with the main tube for dry leaves and a power insert for wet and heavy ones. It has a great sucker that should cover tons of dry leaves in your yard, like maple and oak. It also reduces your leaf debris with its shredder, leaving you with a more manageable amount of trash. It is quite simple to use with its easy-to-adjust knob. Further, If you’re about 6 feet tall, this would be the vacuum for you because the long vacuum tube won’t require you to stoop to do the clean-up. Finally, with a metal impeller and its solid build, you could expect this vacuum to be a reliable leaf raking buddy, especially come fall.
3. BLACK+DECKER BV3600 3-in-1 Electric Leaf Vacuum/Blower/Mulcher
Power Source | Corded Electric |
Weight | 8.1 pounds |
Dimensions | 38 x 9.88 x 20.75 inches |
Style | 12-amp 3-in-1 Electric Leaf Blower/Leaf Vacuum/Mulcher |
Cleaning up dried leaves requires power suckers like BLACK+DECKER’s 3-in-1 Electric Leaf Vacuum, Leaf Blower, Mulcher. It is impressive enough to suck grass clipping, sycamore leaves, and even hard leaves like oaks. It also reduces your trash load because of its mulching power, hence you could expect to use fewer trash bags. While unplugging the device is often a problem with many corded leaf vacuums, this one comes with a built-In cord retainer so the chances of that happening is lower. Further, at 8.1 pounds, it is light enough to use and maneuver around the yard and porch even for a person of average build. This is a leaf vacuum that would last and is very likely to see you through more fall seasons than you imagine it would.
4. WORX WG505 3-in-1 Electric Blower/Mulcher/Vacuum
Power Source | Corded Electric |
Weight | 11 pounds |
Dimensions | 20 x 15 x 9 inches3 |
Style | 12-amp 3-in-1 Blower/Mulcher/Vacuum |
WORX offers another leaf raking buddy that really works. WG505 3-in-1 Electric Leaf Vacuum/Blower/Mulcher is a versatile tool that could make clean-up duties during tree shedding seasons more manageable. This product’s leaf vacuum feature works great. The suction is storing enough to suck in dry and wet leaves such as oaks on the ground. This is particularly a handy tool to clear up the fallen leaves on the flower beds and in grassy areas where raking would not work adequately. Further, while we are more than willing to take on the task of converting the blower into leaf vacuum, the ease in switching from one function to another that this tool offers through a simple flip of the switch comes in handy in unclogging the tube when you are using the vac function. You just need to switch to the blower mode to eliminate the clog in the tube and go back to vac function. That should work in most cases and save you from a lot of work having to disassemble the tool.
5. Greenworks 24022 Electric Leaf Vacuum/Blower
Power Source | Corded Electric |
Weight | 9.26 pounds |
Dimensions | 32.72 x 8.66 x 11.38 inches |
Style | 12-amp Leaf Vacuum/Blower |
If you are looking for a leaf vacuum that would reduce your yard clean-up time, you might want to check out Greenworks 24022 Electric Leaf Vacuum/ Blower. The vac tube in this tool is large and nice for sucking leaves like those of oaks and grapes. With its speed control switch, it is also quite a handy tool to use in your flower beds, as well as the rest of your yard. For a small yard and, this is a nice buddy to help you get through the tree shedding seasons. The best thing about it, though, is that this leaf vacuum does not only suck nicely. It is also friendly not only in the environment but also for your wallet.
Best Leaf Vacuums - Buyer's Guide
One of the most important things you should be checking out if you are on the lookout for a powerful vacuum is the amount of air that is moved in a minute. It would therefore be best to look at the leaf vacuum’s airflow in terms of cubic feet per minute (CPM). The more airflow within the leaf vacuum, the better it should be, especially if balanced with the water lift (static pressure).
Another problem that you will be confronted with in cleaning up dried leaves (after the pick-up) is the disposal of all the debris. That should be challenging when your trees are dumping a lot. Hence, you might want to look into a vacuum with a sturdy impeller to mulch your dried leaves into less amount of trash.
The vacuum tube’s length is a vital consideration if you’re the one using it. You wouldn’t want to stoop down just to pick up the dried leaves if you end up with a leaf vacuum which is a little short for you. Similarly, you won’t wish to purchase something which you could hardly carry.
Doing yard clean-up with a leaf vac is not a very simple task, especially if your yard has a lot of space with a lot of dried leaves to pick up. Hence, you better choose a leaf vac that would not add unnecessary weight to you. Remember that when you vac, the weight of the mulch in the collection bag adds up to the weight you’re dealing with. Hence, a lighter but sturdy tool would be a great choice.
Different spaces in your place might need different speeds and a leaf vac that provides these controls would be nice to consider. Further, while you may probably think that all you need at this moment is a leaf vac, it might also be wise to look at tools that offer versatile functions that might help in making your job easier.
Best Leaf Vacuums - FAQs
A leaf vacuum is a powered tool that sucks leaves and smaller yard debris through its intense airflow. The debris will then be deposited in the collection bag attached to the machine. With a mulcher function, the impeller would reduce the debris which could make disposal much more convenient for you.
You often use a leaf blower if you simply want to move the leaves on the side of the pathway (for instance) or pile them up for easier collection. On the other hand, you typically use a vacuum to suck and deposit the leaves/debris into the collection bag. The latter is also a better option for picking leaves in your flowerbed and along flat grassy spaces.
A leaf vacuum creates suction through its intense airflow or the amount of air moved per minute. Hence, looking for a leaf vacuum that sucks pretty well would require looking into the airflow in CPM terms. If the vacuum has more airflow, it should suck better, especially if it is balanced with the water lift (static pressure).
The materials for the collection bag are porous because it is designed to filter the air from the tool. The air carrying the sucked and/or mulched leaves is meant to pass through the collection bag. Hence the bag must have these very tiny pores that would allow the air to pass through while trapping all the debris inside the bag.
