Buying a leaf blower can be both an exciting experience and a nightmare, depending on how you tackle the issue. But where do you even begin?
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You may have never heard of specs such as CFM or MPH…. and what even is a blower vac? Furthermore, have you seen the prices on some of these toys? You just want something that can do the job for you, right?
Fear not! We’re here to help you.
This article will tackle buying a leaf blower step by step and give you the best money-saving tips, which can be applied when doing so! Together, we can get you the best deal for your buck!
Let’s start off with the basics!
Extra Tip
1. Preparation Is The Key!
As is the case with basically anything in life, nothing should be rushed. Acting on impulse and leaving yourself no time to rethink, revise and revert your decisions is the best way to make the ultimately most avoidable of mistakes. This applies even to a leaf blower purchase.
Make sure you buy a leaf blower at the right time, right place and before you do so, make sure you know what you’re actually looking for!
Why? Because…
- You probably don’t need the most expensive backpack blower just to clear out your back yard.
- Most likely, the retailer of your choice doesn’t really have all the products for the best prices, just because they said so.
- Maybe a leaf blower costs a bit more in fall, when there are leaves everywhere, rather than in winter, when there are none at all. Don’t forget that you can find a use for it, whatever the season.
Take your time and consider everything before making a rash decision. And don’t forget that there are a lot of different uses for your blower.
2. How Much Power Should You Go For?
In general, the more expensive leaf blowers get, the more power they’ll provide and the better is their overall quality. However, there is obviously no point in buying the most expensive walk-behind blower, just to clear your front yard twice a year! So, how much power do you actually need?
You can take our quiz to help you decide
While it may be tempting to always go for the highest possible specs, most leaf blowers will offer enough power to move around leaves. Any additional power is a matter of convenience, which should be valued based on your property size and budget. To get a better idea of the efficiency of each blower, check out our product pages for videos, where you can see them in action. You can also refer to our article on how to choose a leaf blower to help you decide.
In addition to that, fuel capacity, costs (purchase, running and maintenance) and weight should be considered. All of the mentioned affect the price of a leaf blower, often more so than the power alone.
While one paragraph, nor one article can answer every single person which leaf blower is the best for their needs, our website offers information on both power considerations and about each blower type, with which you can make an informed decision!
Once you have pin-pointed what to look out for, head to our All Blowers section, filter out results accordingly and sort them by price! To help you further, feel free to use our Compare Tool. You’ll find a button on all our product pages.
3. Not All Sellers Are The Same!
We monitor top online sellers
Even though manufacturers suggest recommended prices for their products and often sell them on their very own sites for the “lowest prices”, you would be surprised that there are in fact much better deals across the internet.
Whenever you’re buying a new device, you should make use of price comparison sites (such as our own).
To save even more money, you may also go along with a very different kind of vendor, a second-hand reseller. We highly recommend eBay (opens in a new tab) for this purpose, as it is the most convenient.
However, if you are a true secondhand connoisseur, pack up your lunch and head out to garage sales in your neighborhood, check out newspaper ads, or Craigslist. These options offer a hand-on experience with both your seller and the device.
4. Be Alert Of The Pricing!
We offer price alert and tracking features
When buying anything through the internet, you may be surprised to find that prices fluctuate over time by several percent, regardless of any seasonal sales!
Just because you can’t afford you dream blower now, doesn’t mean that this will be the case in a week or a month.
For this reason, we recommend using price alerts, sometimes called watchdogs, for the devices on your wish list. Simply select a target price and wait for a notification whenever the price drops!
5. Free Money!
If you ain’t in the 1%, you sure all remember your parents cutting out coupons from the newspaper – they’ll often give you a great deal in a grocery store and nowadays, quite more frequently, coupons for specialized stores will give you a great deal on a leaf blower!
And while the cutting-out part can be somewhat off-putting, it can be avoided altogether! Did you know that there are now coupons on the internet as well? They are often given out in promotion deals to various influencers or sites.
And you don’t even have to bother searching for them too hard, since websites such as CNN (opens in a new tab), Groupon (opens in a new tab) or Coupons (opens in a new tab) have already done it for you.
6. Refurbished Leaf Blowers
You may be familiar with the practice of refurbishing (also called renewing or reconditioning) from the housing or the automotive industry. But did you know that any used product can be refurbished by a professional unless it’s damaged beyond repair?
Although it doesn’t make much sense to refurbish super cheap items, since it would cost more to do so than to repurchase them, the same is not true for all outdoor power tools. Buying a refurbished blower can save you a good chunk of money and also promotes sustainable use of our natural resources. But how should you go about it?
When buying a reconditioned product, you rely on the skill of the craftsman who renewed it. Therefore, take care where you buy from! The most popular and reliable online stores which offer this service are Amazon and eBay (opens in a new tab).
Their products are usually tagged with the term “Reconditioned”, “Refurbished”, or “Renewed” and are noticeably cheaper than their new counterparts. They do, however, come with several caveats. Their warranty is usually much shorter, the product might not come in its original package and the package may include compatible, but not original accessories.
For Amazon Renewed products (opens in a new tab), the warranty period is shortened to just 90 days. On the other hand, the products are professionally renewed and tested, at least 80% of the original battery capacity is guaranteed and the item should arrive without any or with just minor cosmetic imperfections.
Under the aforementioned conditions, you should expect to save 10-20 % of the original cost.
Wrapping Up on Ways to Find an Inexpensive Blower
The above-mentioned tips are some of the easiest ways to save some money when buying a leaf blower. Possibly the 6 commandments for anybody in search of a new one! Use them, mix them, and share them to your advantage!
However, don’t go overboard. At some point, there is a rock bottom price, below which you simply can’t get any reasonable blower. Make sure you don’t go crazy from all that saving and if not sure with the quality, wait a while and save-up for a more decent option. Your lawn will thank you for it in the long run.
And you? Do you have any tips to get a cheap blower? Let us know in the comments below!
What are the Cheapest Leaf Blowers?
Below is a list of the least expensive blowers we cover on our website, by type.
| Model | Price | CFM | MPH | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest Cordless Blower | Craftsman CMCBL710D1 | $62 | 200 | 90 |
| Cheapest Corded Blower | Sun Joe SBJ597E | $22 | 260 | 155 |
| Cheapest Gas Blower | Homelite UT09526 | $59.9 | 400 | 150 |
| Cheapest Handheld Blower | Sun Joe SBJ597E | $22 | 260 | 155 |
| Cheapest Backpack Blower | Ryobi RY38BP | $195.49 | 760 | 175 |
| Cheapest Walk-Behind Blower | Sun Joe SBJ806E | $54.59 | 600 | 165 |
| Cheapest Blower Vac | Portland 62337 | $44.99 | 375 | 230 |
