Stihl BR700 Leaf Blower

[Phishin]

Purchased one of these last night: Stihl BR700

All I gotta say is: WOW!!! This thing is ridiculously powerful!!! I had Stihl's most powerful handheld blower for 2-3 years and it would still take me FOREVER (5-6 hours) to do my 0.3 acre yard.
I'm actually excited for the darn leaves to fall.....

Gotta love power!! It appears that the BR700 is the same engine as the BR600, but they increased the impeller size and increased the hose size to give a HUGE 28% increase of CFM's over the older 600 model.

 

[propuckstopper]

Originally Posted By: Phishin
Purchased one of these last night: Stihl BR700

All I gotta say is: WOW!!! This thing is ridiculously powerful!!! I had Stihl's most powerful handheld blower for 2-3 years and it would still take me FOREVER (5-6 hours) to do my 0.3 acre yard.
I'm actually excited for the darn leaves to fall.....

Gotta love power!! It appears that the BR700 is the same engine as the BR600, but they increased the impeller size and increased the hose size to give a HUGE 28% increase of CFM's over the older 600 model.


I have the older 600 backpack model, plus a handheld for the cabin.

The 600 is so much better than the handheld, it is unbelievable.

However, the 600 backpack requires more of a "commitment" to use. The handheld is much easier to use for quick jobs. When I need to do a big job, the backpack is always the go to unit.

 

[MCompact]

I have the BR600 as well. It makes extremely short work of my leaf removal.

 

[Uregina09]

Very nice. I really enjoy my Husqvarna 580BTS. Looks like the Stihl and the Husky have similar specs, but this model Stihl wasn't available when I purchased mine earlier this year. I also prefer the Husky 2-stroke engine but I'm sure the Stihl is a great machine too.

 

[JTK]

Yep. You get what you pay for with gas leaf blowers. The higher dollar ones are so much better than Homelite, Weed Eater, etc.

Still though, no way I'd spend 5-6hrs blowing leaves around my yard when I can mulch them into powder in a fraction of that time. Worst case I'll blow the mulched leaves into a row and deal with them from there.

 

[Balrog006]

Originally Posted By: JTK
Yep. You get what you pay for with gas leaf blowers. The higher dollar ones are so much better than Homelite, Weed Eater, etc.

Still though, no way I'd spend 5-6hrs blowing leaves around my yard when I can mulch them into powder in a fraction of that time. Worst case I'll blow the mulched leaves into a row and deal with them from there.


If the OP is blowing for 5-6 hours on 0.3 AC he has some serious leaves. Too many I'd wager to mulch effectively without burying his grass and choking it to death.

I have a Stihl BR600 and it takes me some time to blow my yard clear of leaves, but I have just over 1AC and I'm surrounded by thick woods of maple, oak, aspen, poplar, sassafras among others-I'm cleaning up leaves from Labor Day to the 4th of July with the oaks

 

[JTK]

Balrog, there's times my front lawn looks orange/brown from all the mulched leaves on it after I mulch them in the fall. Lawn still grows faster than I like 6-7mo out of the year. I know it's not the best for it, but it's green and grows. I'm totally surrounded by hard and soft wood trees as well. Man do I hate the poplars/GIANT cotton woods.

 

[Kawiguy454]

If you like to mulch and your lawn starts to choke either buy or make a lawn aerator and drag it behind a riding mower. I made one with a cyl concrete form, some steel rebar, black pipe and some welding. Basically a concrete cylinder with steel rods sticking out a couple of inches all around and the black pipe is the axle going forward to the tow pin. It punctures below the mulch and gets air down there to encourage bio breakdown. That and feed a quart of beer to 2 gallons of water onto the lawn will kick it into overdrive. Not too practical on a big yard.

 

[steve20]

Phishin--very nice unit--the specs tab reveals almost 1 hp / cu.in. Enjoy the time you will save by using it
Steve

 

[Phishin]

Originally Posted By: steve20
Phishin--very nice unit--the specs tab reveals almost 1 hp / cu.in. Enjoy the time you will save by using it
Steve


Thanks Steve. My life has gotten very busy lately. My weekends are nearly always booked solid, as my son races BMX on a National level. My "free time" is G-O-N-E.

I wouldn't trade it for anything.