Bosch Cordless Leaf Blower ALB 18 LI (1 Battery, 18 Volt System, in Carton Packaging)

Product Information

We put our cordless leaf blowers through their paces by using them to drive and gather a range of leaves on both tarmac driveways and lawn. We test them against a mix of large wet tree leaves, smaller shrub leaves, and dry hornbeam and beech hedge clippings to see how well the blowers cope with different materials, and we record noise levels while operating on the highest and lowest settings. We also evaluate how easy it is to handle and control the blower, and, with the blower/vacuum models, how simple it is to switch between modes. Finally, we test how long the battery lasts from a full recharge, and how long it takes to charge them up again. Bear in mind: you’ll likely have to accept that the leaf blowers won’t shift every single leaf, you will need to rake up the stragglers if they bother you. If you only want a leaf blower for blowing leaves, and want to be able to shift wet leaves from grass, you should look for a maximum air flow speed of around 250 km/h. This will be too powerful for clearing dust/debris from a workshop (it’ll go everywhere!) so make sure there are variable speed settings if you want to use the blower for different jobs. In terms of power, this Bosch leaf blower sits above much of its competitors. With a blow-speed range of 170 – 250 km/h , it’s the most powerful of all the cordless leaf blowers I tested. Its 2.0 Ah battery offered the longest blow time too.

Many other machines, such as the Bosch and the Einhell, give you multiple speeds to choose from. However, this didn’t impact performance in a negative way – this cordless blower has a 241km/h air speed that is enough to shift both dry and wet leaves, even from long grass, which many of the other leaf blowers struggled with. The best cordless leaf blowers you can buy in 2023 1. Bosch AdvancedLeafBlower 36V-750: Best cordless blower overall It should be noted though, that if I needed to clear a large garden this wouldn’t be my tool of choice. Even if I had a larger battery for it, it’s not quite powerful enough to cope with big quantities of leaves.When it comes to price, this blower is very reasonable. The low price reflects the tool’s simplicity – you may only be getting one blow speed, but if this is all you need, then why pay more for a machine with unnecessary settings?

To give a general indication (although this is very broadly speaking) a 2 Ah battery may last for around 10 – 15 minutes, whilst a 5 Ah battery could last for approximately 45 minutes. Still, I appreciated how lightweight (1.73 kg) and manoeuvrable this tool was. It could easily be used with one hand, although I tended to keep both hands on the machine to give me better control. After using the leaf blower to clear my lawn of dry leaves, I was even more impressed – it took far less time than I had anticipated. I then moved on to wet leaves. On my driveway, this leaf blower handled these just as easy as the dry ones; however, it struggled to shift wet leaves that had gotten tangled in long grass. It still got the job done, but it took a little longer. Turns out, the best cordless leaf blowers come in handy for loads of different jobs – not just clearing leaves (although they’re great at that too!). They’re a useful tool to have in the shed, and the fact that they don’t have any cables makes them easy to grab at any time. A leaf blower with an air flow speed of approximately 175 km/h will be powerful enough to remove most leaves from hard surfaces, although it may occasionally struggle with very wet leaves. Cordless leaf blowers with this level of airflow are normally more appropriate for clearing dust, dirt and debris from interior spaces. They’ll also work better for removing leaves from gravel without making the gravel go everywhere.The speed of the air flow varies according to the design of the leaf blower and how well it uses its power. It’s not necessarily as simple as thinking ‘the more powerful the motor, the more powerful the machine’. Unlike some of the other leaf blowers that I tested, which were designed solely for leaves, this one was also created to clear dirt and dust from hard surfaces. Choosing the best leaf blower will depend on what you want to use it for and what tools you already own. The following information should help you work out what to look out for (as well as what to avoid!). The Benefits of Using a Cordless Leaf Blower