The bane of most Aussie backyards is cleaning up the mess that nature makes – not to mention the mess that we create!

The venerated blower helps greatly but actually only displaces the leaves and twigs.
The blower/vac combo can get rid of nature’s debris permanently and does it more effectively with an integrated mulcher.

Enter the newly announced EGO POWER+ 3 in 1 Leaf Blower, Vacuum and Mulcher!

 

 

With serendipitous timing, EGO sent us this unit, within weeks of my big blower from another brand had given up the ghost.

I had been checking out various blower/vac combos, but as far as raw power goes, not much can come close to the 56V brushless grunt of the EGO power tools.

Over the years we’ve reviewed many of their products, so I had high expectations of this BVM unit. (BVM: my acronym for the Blower/Vacuum/Mulcher mouthful).

First Impressions

1. It’s BIG, really BIG.
And heavy as in 4.2 kg heavy.
In vacuum mode it’ll be 5.8 kg.
Add the weight of a full 40L leaf bag, full of leaves and dirt and you get the picture.

And that’s without a battery.
They recommend a 7.5Ah battery (at nearly 3 kg) so I’ll probably attach a smaller one.

The unit comes with a strap which helps shoulder the load (literally).
I think my New Year’s resolution for doing some weightlifting is going to be realised!

2. It’s impressive. This beast means business!
Everybody that sees the blower shows the same “WOW” expression.
The Vac/Mulch kit is even more bulky in black, having a large stovepipe and the large leaf collection bag.

3. The blower starts up like a jet engine, gently spooling up to max volume of 850 cubic metres per hour, pushing the air out at 64m/s.
Jet engines work on the action/reaction principle and this blower will give you some pushback as well.

4. My last first impression is always the same when reviewing EGO products: what a superb quality!

 

 

Features and Assembly

So, this is not your father’s blower/vac.
And nothing like my first dual use tool.

The unit is either a Blower or a Vacuum/Mulcher.
There is a bit of changeover required – not more than half a minute – from one mode to the other.
It’s quick enough to do but in practice you’ll probably use it mainly as a blower, which gets rid of leaves much quicker, and occasionally you might change to the vacuum mode.

Putting the unit together is easy.
Even without the manual you can figure it out.
I like it that knobs or levers that you have to manipulate, are always brightly green coloured.

 

 

Testing the Blower

There’s no On/Off switch.
Once the battery is inserted, the unit is live.
The trigger has the full range of power, from a gentle breeze to standing behind a jetfighter about to take off. The sound is pretty similar.

The sound levels are not specified but we measured it at 93dB at operator level and 73 at 7m distance.

There is a speed dial, from min to max, much like a cruise control.
Meaning can take your finger off the trigger.

Even though this blower vac is not the most powerful one in EGO’s blower range, and even though it doesn’t have a “beast” mode, there’s plenty of grunt.

I reckon I could blow the fish out of the pond – not that I would ever try, of course!

 

 

Testing the Vacuum/Mulcher

Gum leaves are no match for the mulcher machine.
They get sucked up easily and the metal mulch blade will snippet them nicely with a 16:1 ratio.
Larger leaves can present some problems and might get stuck across the mouth of the vacuum tube.

See the results below.
Not all leaves get mulched as you’ll see in the video below.
Even a parrot feather came out unscathed…

If you’re manoeuvring around tight spaces, (like around gas bottles or heat pumps where leaves just love to collect), the big bag gets in the way.
It sits right next to the vac tube and is quite stiff when blown up during the vacuuming.
That’s where a quick blow will help out (see also my video).

You’ll also notice that small gravel stones can inadvertently be sucked up as well. The manual warns against that as it might damage the fan wheel.

 

 

Endurance

Normally, I can clean up around the house, garden, patio, and carport quite quickly. 10 minutes will do the job.
A 5Ah battery is fine for that. The 7.5Ah battery will last around 20 minutes.

When vacuuming, the bag will hold 40 litres of mulch.
The zipper discharges that quickly, so that’s no barrier to long spells of vacuuming.

 

 

Conclusion

Being a fan of the EGOsystem doesn’t mean that they never bring out a tool that sucks – in a good way.
The EGO POWER+ 3 in 1 Leaf Blower Vacuum Mulcher sucks and blasts like the best of them.

And the best feature of this EGO tool is no muss, no fuss with fuel and oil. No smell and no excessive noise.
And no maintenance to speak of.

It’s one thing to make a fine blower but to create a tool that works powerful in the either direction and snips the leaves and twigs for easy disposal, takes a good design and expertise.

You won’t be disappointed if you choose this unit.
The price is also very reasonable at AUD449. That is tool only.

Warranty is excellent at 5 years.
Most likely, you’ll never use that.

I own more than a dozen EGO tools and give them a hard time on our property, and they never failed over many years.
Occasionally a battery might not charge but that’s it.

Check it out on this product page.

But before you do, have a look at this short video that shows you this EGO Blower Vac at work at my place.

DRN thanks EGO Australia for making this tool available for review.