I nominate my electric leaf blower/vacuum. Only got it for the sucking up part, not blowing. Bought about 2 years ago and said no more tedious leaf raking for me. Could be that I've got over 50 years of raking experience, but it took me twice as long as raking since it's basically like vacuuming your yard with a shop vac. But wait, I said. I live in a one level ranch with a very low pitch roof. Instead of using my used 3" paint brush and hand scooping the leaves out of the gutter, I'll just suck them up. Again it took longer (dragging the thing on the roof), the sucking tube was too wide to fit down in the gutter, and when I did maple seedlings this spring, it would chop up the leafy part but couldn't digest the seeds and they'd fall back into the gutter. But wait, I said. My pool area is completely fenced in with grass on 2 sides and a bunch of the wife's flowers, ground cover, and other obstacles. Well, anytime a leaf gets stuck in concrete cracks, or the ground, or a bush, this thing can't suck it up. Plus it was sucking up the ground cover and getting jammed-up. So next spring I think I'll be making a donation to good-will. Exit rant: I have about ten small trees, none over 12' tall. 90% of my leaves come from the neighbor's 100'+ trees on both sides of my property.