I tried the all-new Toro leaf blowerthe Toro 60-volt Max 900-CFM 165-MPH leaf blower, to be exactand I was (literally) blown away. This was my first experience with the Toro leaf blower, and I am quite impressed.
I have used dozens of leaf blowers in my day and can confidently say I’ve experienced a wide range of performances from blowers. I started my leaf blower journey with the classic handheld Stihl BG86C blower. Since then, I have personally owned and tested five handheld gas blowers, nine backpack leaf blowers (both battery and gas), three handheld corded electric leaf blowers, and 11 handheld battery-powered blowers.
What Is the Battery-Powered Toro Leaf Blower?
When Toro designed their new battery leaf blower, we were shocked to see how much thought went into the design and the performance. You can easily tell that the team that pulled this blower together included people like me, who have used dozens of blowers and knew that Toro needed to push the envelope to stay competitive in the battery-powered leaf blower space.
I admit that I was skeptical when I first received this blower. Toro, a brand with an amazing reputation for providing some of the most powerful zero-turn mowers, has long been known for its success with golf course management tools and a wide range of commercial products. However, they have only recently begun to dip their toes in the battery-powered space, starting with their classic lawnmowers, which I have come to know and love.
TYLER GRAHAM FOR FAMILY HANDYMANI Tried It
Toro Flex-Force 60-volt Max 900-CFM 165-MPH Battery Handheld Leaf Blower
Toro Leaf Blower Features
The blower boasts a whopping 900 CFM (cubic feet per minute) and 165 MPH air speed, both of which are at the top of the game in the leaf blower world. You can reach the maximum airspeed by using the “Turbo” button, which is meant for temporary blasts of air that help remove wet leaves and grass from surfaces.
This blower also comes with a concentrated nozzle, which helps further focus air and increase overall air speed for targeted clean-up. The Toro battery-powered blower also comes with several easy-to-control measures, including a textured grip, a well-balanced body, variable speed and cruise control so that you don’t tire out your hand, and an aggressive design that helps hold the blower down and forward.
You can use the 60-volt battery on the Toro leaf blower on other 60V Max products from Toro, which saves you money on buying new batteries for these tools in the long run. As Toro continues to build out the 60V Max lineup, this can result in huge savings for the average homeowner who doesn’t have to buy a new battery with each tool.
How I Tested the Toro Leaf Blower
Assembly
The new Toro battery-powered leaf blower was very simple to put together. It comes in two or three pieces that easily snap together. I quickly snapped the nozzle onto the base of the blower and excitedly rushed out the door to start eviscerating leaves.
Job Site Test (Commercial Landscaping)
I used the Toro battery-powered blower on the job site first. Having recently re-started a landscaping company, I had about eight lawns back-to-back on my first day with the Toro blower. I was excited to see how it would perform relative to other handheld battery blowers. My first stop was mowing my friend Chase’s house. He lives in a nice neighborhood with lots that are about acre or less.
This presented the ideal opportunity to see how the Toro blower would perform on a typical lawn. Another positive of using the battery-powered Toro blower is that Chase has two small kids that I knew napped at various points throughout the day. My gas-powered backpack blower could wake the dead with its high noise levels, so having an electric tool was great for making sure I could maneuver around their home without waking the kids.
I will also caution that most handheld battery leaf blowers aren’t used for commercial landscaping purposes. They aren’t designed to last all day, and I knew that going into this round of testing. Other blowers, including electric ones, are designed to go with you on the job site. Toro designed this blower for residential homeowners looking to crush leaves and debris in their backyard, put the battery back on the charger and get on with their life. That doesn’t mean I am not going to push the blower to its limits and use it however I can.
Home Test
I used the Toro on my yard after the first time mowed again after a week straight of rainfall here in middle Tennessee. The grass clippings were still a bit moist. If you have ever used a leaf blower after mowing a moist lawn, you will understand that this situation is headache-inducing. Wet grass sticks to concrete like nothing you have ever seen. In order to get it off, you generally have to either wait until it dries, use a push broom, or have a blower that can somehow lift it off of the concrete.
Most leaf blowers put out about 400-500 CFM. Even some of the most powerful backpack leaf blowers will put out 700 CFM or so of air. At 900 CFM, the Toro 60V Max may be one of the most powerful handheld leaf blowers I have ever seen. The combination of tremendous air volume output with wind speeds of 165 MPH means that very few blowers on the market come close to this amount of power.
So naturally, I had to use this on the famous wet grass clippings to see how it would do. It was an absolute demolition. The leaf blower removed almost every blade of grass from the concrete driveway. I was so impressed that I wanted to ring the doorbell and tell my friend all about it. I have never seen a blower, especially a handheld battery-powered leaf blower, push this much air and perform so well.
Blowing Heavy Debris
I set this blower back in the trailer and moved on to the next house. At the next job, I was looking at a garden bed that had been washed out with water and spread mulch all over the lawn and sidewalk leading up to the front door. The mulch was a shredded hardwood mulch and was mostly dry by this point. Before I mowed the yard, this needed to be cleaned up. It presented a perfect opportunity to give the Toro 60V blower a chance to run wild by blowing mulch in the grass (which is notoriously difficult) and pushing it across a sidewalk.
The blower accomplished both of these. Moving mulch across concrete was a breeze, and I was shocked to see how easily it lifted the mulch out of the thick, long grass and placed it back into the garden bed.
I moved onto the third house of the day, which was just like the first one. The grass was slightly dryer, and the clippings blasted back into the grass easily. At this point, I was texting my wife, telling her I couldn’t believe it.
As a second reminder, this blower was not designed for professional landscapers in the same way that gas-powered leaf blowers are. Those can run all day because you can keep buying and pouring gas into the blower for as long as you need. Toro’s new blower obviously requires you to recharge the batteries.
Long-Term Performance
In my personal use of this blower around my house, which seems to be more and more neglected the more I work on other people’s lawns, I continued to be impressed with the Toro leaf blower. In the course of my normal weekly lawn maintenance, I found the blower to have consistent, extremely powerful performance.
One downside I noticed relatively early is that when you use the turbo button off and on, there is a noticeable drain on the battery life. I expected extremely high power to reduce battery life, but I was a bit disappointed to see how quickly it reduced battery life. Without using the turbo button, I still had more than enough battery life to care for my yard (and then some).
As the weeks passed and leaves began falling from the trees, I retested the Toro battery blower once more. Leaves were absolutely light work for this blower. The blower is an absolute bully for drying leaves, easily launching them across my yard. The turbo button was unnecessary, but I had to use it for the sake of science. It was total and absolute destruction of the leaves.
Pros:
- Extremely high power with 900 CFM
- Ergonomic grip with easy maneuvering
- 60V Max battery system used across Toro’s 60V lineup
- Finger-saving cruise control function
- Much quieter than gas blowers
- Turbo button to toggle maximum speed
Cons:
- Battery life drains with Turbo usage
- Fewer tools in Toro’s battery lineup than some other brands
Why You Should Trust Us
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, I have personally tested dozens, if not hundreds, of leaf blowers, including backpack blowers, corded electric blowers, cordless blowers and gas-powered handheld blowers.
As a landscaper, I developed a unique love for lawn tools after using them every day for years. Now, I spend my days testing lawnmowers, string trimmers, leaf blowers and more. Much of my time is spent using new leaf blowers and comparing them to see which one reigns supreme.
FAQ
How long does a Toro leaf blower last?
The Toro leaf blower advertises a run time of 120 minutesbut this is generally on a low-speed setting under ideal conditions. In my experience, the blower can run for about an hour for typical use around the house, where you may maximize the power for a longer time. Introducing the turbo button drops the run time to about 30 minutes.
How do you use the Toro battery-powered leaf blower?
The Toro battery leaf blower can be easily controlled using the variable speed trigger, which changes the amount of power coming from the battery. It also has a cruise control function that holds a certain speed in place, allowing your hand to relax and hold the blowerno more cramping.
This is a handheld leaf blower, meaning you simply pull the trigger and point it at whatever debris you want to blow away.
What Other Reviewers Had to Say
While the Toro 60V Max Battery-Powered Blower is still relatively new, the few who have used it have agreed with meit rocks. One reviewer at Lowe’s felt similarly, calling the blower a “powerhouse” with “the size and weight of the blower working perfectly to balance the blower when used in turbo mode.” Another reviewer at Lowe’s had the same experience as me, using this blower on “1/2 acre of concrete around their farm” and mentioned that the blower “gets rid of those pesky leaves and grass clippings.”
Toro Battery-Powered Leaf Blower vs. Ryobi Battery-Powered Leaf Blower
I’ve had the distinct privilege of using the Toro and Ryobi battery-powered leaf blowers. The Ryobi battery-powered leaf blower is a great blower. Ryobi’s new Whisper series produces quiet, powerful tools that can be found at The Home Depot for a great price. Ryobi’s Whisper series blower was the cat’s meow when it was released. It had one of the highest CFM and MPH ranges on the market and was advertised as the quietest blower.
Times have changed in the last two years. There are a number of other blowers in a similar power range that also exhibit quiet run times. The Toro battery blower simply outguns the Ryobi blower. I have used both side-by-side, and the Toro is the better blower.
Final Verdict
I can confidently say that this is hands down the best combination of price, power and performance on the market. I am excited that Toro will continue to build out their electric lineup with the 60V Max batteries so that I can achieve better cost efficiency in the future. I also think Toro can keep refining their battery technology so that the batteries last longer.
All in all, this blower has set a new standard for power in handheld electric blowers.
Where to Buy the Toro Battery-Powered Leaf Blower
TYLER GRAHAM FOR FAMILY HANDYMANI Tried It
Toro Flex-Force 60-volt Max 900-CFM 165-MPH Battery Handheld Leaf Blower
You can grab the Toro battery-powered blower from Lowe’s with the battery for just under $350, and you can use the battery with other Toro lawn tools.
The post I Tried the New Battery-Powered Toro Leaf Blower, and Here’s How It Went appeared first on Family Handyman.
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