Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

My basic Dewalt 20V battery leaf blower works great for me. I was going to minmax it into an Ego or Dewalt 60V but I bought the lesser model because it was on a great sale, and I've found it plenty powerful. The dynamic of moving air around is one of diminishing returns, so I suspect doubling or tripling the input power wouldn't actually add that much.

> the next time you have a plumbing issue, go to Home Depot, and attempt to repair it using lead-free parts

I'm scratching my head as to what you're referencing here. If you're just pointing out that "lead free" brass has a slight amount of lead in it, at least that's an amount which has been deemed safe for drinking water. If you're saying that doing residential plumbing actually requires using parts that haven't been approved for potable water, I don't know that you can be helped.




Your DeWalt has a battery life of 15ish minutes on the high end according to the manufacturer. Then you need to charge for 90 minutes or have another $140 battery on hand.

What works great for you doesn't sound like a great solution for an operation that needs to run motorized equipment for hours per day.


That spec seems in line with my experience, but you don't run the thing full bore continuously. I generally run around 1/2-3/4 power and burst when I need more power to get something unstuck. It's nonlinear, so the battery lasts much longer this way.

I'd say the main sticking point is this culture of defaulting to leaf blowers to the exclusion of other tools. I've seen professional landscapers collect an entire parcel's worth of leaves into one big pile by blowing. But they're more appropriate for getting stuff out of beds and initial coalescing, and then going after each of those piles with the next collection step (I've yet to see a landscaper blow the leaves all the way to the dump).

FWIW the real price of Dewalt 6Ah batteries is more like $70-80. Rotating through 3-4 on a job is straightforward. The point is that lower externality options are most certainly available and practical, regardless of costing a little more to purchase.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: