Over the years, I have resided in a pine forest, where I have been consistently challenged by the copious amount of pine needles that fall and accumulate on my property. In an attempt to mitigate this issue, I have invested in several blowers, beginning with a Makita model which proved to be inadequate for my needs. I subsequently procured an Ego 56v blower, which provided acceptable performance on its turbo setting, leading me to purchase a second unit. However, I have found that the limitation of this model is that the battery only lasts 8 minutes on turbo, rendering it inadequate for effectively addressing the expanse of my property and batteries are crazy expensive. Recently, I acquired a Stihl BR 800 blower, which while an improvement, still falls short in terms of power and is bulky in design. I am currently in search of advice to help me find a solution that will be efficient, effective and help to keep my property free of pine needles.
Ideally, I am seeking a blower that has 30% more power than my current equipment, without incurring exorbitant costs. The Echo PB8010, for example, is excessively priced in Australia, compared to its US counterpart and the Stihl blower over here is only twice the US recommended retail price. The Echo 8010 in the US is cheaper than the Stihl BR800.
Does anyone have any advice?
Sure, a rake works, but a) takes forever, b) scratches the deck and c) damages artificial turf.
Keep your Ego 56V and make your own batteries using RC Li-po bought online for a fraction of the cost?
I opened this thread thinking "surely ??"
What about an air compressor and a nozzle ?. Will lift paint work, and the skin off a custard tart for sure.
Google tells me :
Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine
Red Tree Vole of the Pacific Northwest
Western Capercaillie
all eat pine needles.
Probably doesn't help much.
How far do you need to reach ?
Why not an air compressor, 4 foot lance and retractable air hose ?
Powerful enough to take the paint off your deck.
Edit : jn1 beat me to it.
Is a cheap 2 stroke blower an option?
One of the great benefits of these, so I've been told, are they can be heard from 2 suburbs away.
Blow the needles into a big heap, chuck a bit of petrol on the top and fire it up. The thick grey smoke will be visible up to five suburbs away.
ultimatebackyard.com.au/blower-vacs-and-leaf-blowers/
Select to expand quotemyscreenname said..
One of the great benefits of these, so I've been told, are they can be heard from 2 suburbs away
Couple of weeks ago I drove home and my neighbor was sat outside his house, seemingly perfectly happy enjoying the pleasant evening air.
I thought - "I'll get the bastard". Now, I do quite like my neighbor but I don't let trivialities like that stop me.
So I though I'll get the ride-on mower out and drive around a bit on full throttle, that'll upset him.
Then I figured that might not be noisy enough. So I thought I'll get the 2 stoke blower out and wander around with that.
But then I had a genius idea.
Why don't I use the blower whilst riding around on the mower ? Both on full throttle, maximum noise across all wave lengths. Ain't nobody going to not be pissed at that.
Anyways, it was brilliant idea until the blower shoulder strap got caught around the front wheel, the mower got swung violently to the right, I sprained my wrist trying to hold on to the steering wheel and I crashed into the Jacaranda tree, smashing my forehead on a low branch. Now the blower has a snapped handle, the mower a flat tyre, I've a big bump on my head and my wrist still hurts.
I blame my neighbor for the whole predicament.
I have a 3kw compressor and enough hose to get around the house, BUT it has nowhere near enough air flow to shift the pine needles, I have used it to remove spider webs, bcos the blowers don't really have enough air speed to shift them.@Harrow I use LiPos + zip ties with some Ozito crap, but I would need for each Ego 2 x 7s (which I have) in series and fark around with the balancing leads every charge... this is an almost daily activity, and you can sometimes see the pine needles falling like rain... we're taking 1 or 2 60L bins every week, plus the native frangipani (40m tall with a BILLION yellow flowers), tropical frangipanis and some other native trees that just drop leaves all damn day, so ~1 full green bin every week with greenery.
Chopping is not an option.
Why not to use backpack blower?
This monster could blow your mind!
I have a range of electric power , battery and petrol Makita.
But this backpack I bought specifically for sucking job, not blowing.
When digging 2 to 3 meter deep, 46 cm wide holes in the ground for retaining walls I use my electric auger and the suck dirt into 200l metal drum. Easy pizy.
Eventually I finish with electric blower, sucker monster that you could consider too if you have access to 240v.
The main reason for efficiency here is size of turbine rotor.
Those on backpack and my electric blower sucker ARE HUGE.
That make them almost noise less,
But wind created is hurricane force.
Backpack is very cheap, you could possibly also use on the water yo propel you on windless day like jet engine.
If you got this path, sucking not blowing you could save yourself a lot of time. Because instead of moving dirt from one place to another you have all sucked in. My sucker accept everything from dirt, stones , rocks to leaves and small elephants.
I use 60 l barrel to centrifugal separate dirt from air . Pipe, hose 50 to 100mm.
I need to use double, one inside another plastic barrel becouse sucking force squize them flat.
Then remember the smaller blower sucker is the noiser is too. Like everything in life .
Select to expand quoteFlySurfer said..
I have a 3kw compressor and enough hose to get around the house, BUT it has nowhere near enough air flow to shift the pine needles, I have used it to remove spider webs, bcos the blowers don't really have enough air speed to shift them.@Harrow I use LiPos + zip ties with some Ozito crap, but I would need for each Ego 2 x 7s (which I have) in series and fark around with the balancing leads every charge... this is an almost daily activity, and you can sometimes see the pine needles falling like rain... we're taking 1 or 2 60L bins every week, plus the native frangipani (40m tall with a BILLION yellow flowers), tropical frangipanis and some other native trees that just drop leaves all damn day, so ~1 full green bin every week with greenery.
Chopping is not an option.
Had a similar problem being surrounded by a dozen 20m eucalypts at our old place. After 25 years of daily leaf and gum nut clearing, the only truly effective solution was to move house. 
