Dealmonger: Toro Rake And Vacuum $50
By Stephen Cooke
I traded in my gas-powered leaf muncher for this Toro garden vacuum last year, and I couldn’t be happier with its performance — what I’m not happy about is that I didn’t get it for $50 at Home Depot. The Toro Rake and Vacuum, a 3-in-1 blower, vacuum, and leaf mulcher, easily moves debris and wet leaves, with two speed settings and a top air speed of 210 MPH. You can attach the vacuum, blower, and leaf-bag attachments without any tools, and it comes with a two-year warranty.
Rake and Vac [Toro]
Rake and Vac [Home Depot]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:31 am
I’ve got the previous model of this, and it works great. Wife runs it while I rake up piles of leaves, she moves along and muches them up. You can also buy an attachment that has a hose that goes straight into a leaf bag or can.
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:34 am
I’ve had an older version of this blower/vac and a newer craftsman gas blower/vac. I can’t say that I agree with you, I switched from electric to gas and I won’t go back. Even if you have a long enough cord, to go all the way around most houses involves walking back to the outlet unplugging the cord and plugging it in elsewhere. Don’t even try to blow the grass off the street back into your lawn if you have any trees. (being consciencous of algae growth in lakes which is way more of a problem where I am that a little exhaust) You’ll have to weave back and forth through them just to blow in a straight line. Not to mention the cord hanging up on everything.
In the case of blower/vacs noise isn’t really an issue, because usually the sound of the air is louder that the engine. Gas weed wackers on the other hand are a lot louder then their corded brethren.
Unrelated to the gas vs electric issue the mechanism to clip the blower wand on the Toro broke and I ended up duct-taping it on. I don’t know if Toro has fixed this or not.
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:07 am
Wow Ben, I have the same model as John does and I have never had the problems you described. Plugging in the cord around isn’t that big of a deal to me (and I’ve got a nice sized lot I work on) and never had any problem moving grass around.
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:02 pm
The Toro site has a link to Amazon, where they have the Toro Rake and Vac (51574) for $49.87.
May 23rd, 2008 at 7:39 pm
That’s a steal… I have this as well and, like Keith, I’ve never had the issues that Ben mentions.
The one issue I do have is that getting the mulching bag off is a major PITA. There’s no way I can get it off with gloves on, and I generally end up wrestling the thing on the ground using my hands and feet to convince it to come off.
I considered getting the hose/bucket thing, but last time I looked at HD it was ~$50 by itself…
May 24th, 2008 at 11:04 am
I tried the Black and Decker version of this a while back. It lasted 20 min until the plastic mulch blade became dull and then broke. Took it back, and did not try another brand because it seems all of them were all plastic at Lowe’s. Sound’s like this toro is better quality? thinking about using my mulching mower next year.
May 24th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I bought the Toro a year or so ago and am pleased with its durability. I also put it to work after the drywall sanders did their thing while my basement was being finished. I opened the back door and the casement windows near the front of the house and blew all the drywall dust out the back door. I will admit it looked like the Dust Bowl of the Dirty Thirties in my back yard, but it got rid of the dust completely.
May 26th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
I was looking at these, at Home Depot, the other day, and noticed that these things could be converted into a centrifugal-force cannon…just run the thing upside-down, and drop a handfull of marbles or bbs into the intake…I don’t have one of these, so I haven’t tried it myself…
May 27th, 2008 at 10:36 am
While being a decent workhorse for the price, I’ve had the plastic impeller shatter [under normal use] as well as the small safety ‘engage clip’ on the impeller guard break off [use a screw, not glue as a replacement if this happens to you]. I sent a few letters to Toro but got no response, which is what pissed me off the most.
June 20th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Yes! It is a decent workhorse for the price IMO. I was impressed with
the power immediately. I purchased mine a little over a year ago and
haven’t had any problems so far with it. The cord hasn’t been an issue,
that is, until we purchased our first home this past year. Now, with only
two (2) exterior outlets I find myself considering a gas powered model
as soon as this one bites the dust… or in the event that something bad,
say like it being left in the driveway and I “accidentally” back over it!
Hmmm, Davo, the centrifugal-force cannon IS tempting, LOL. I wonder
how much gravel it would take???