BV4000 Leaf Hog Leaf Blowers ("Hand-Held Lawn Vacuums")

BV4000 Leaf Hog leaf blowers (I like to think of them as "hand-held lawn vacuums") have a blow speed of up to 230 MPH, which will make the stubbornest leaf in your yard tremble. That, plus easy assembly, earns them a thumbs up. My one complaint concerns the cord retainer on these leaf blowers, a built-in feature just behind the prongs where you plug in the extension cord. There's just one groove here in which a cord may rest, and it's not expandable. My cord is too thick for it, and I fear I may be damaging my cord by forcing it in.

Pros

Cons

I admit it: I'm not a "gadget guy." Not only that, but when I try out new leaf blowers ("hand-held lawn vacuums"), I don't feel like studying their manuals first to put the darn things together. My attitude is that I shouldn't have to go through that much trouble before the true work even begins! Leaf blowers that are hard to assemble send me scurrying for my rake.

All of which makes me a tough critic of leaf blowers. Their assembly must be reasonably intuitive. Also, switching from leaf blower mode to lawn vacuum mode shouldn't require an Act of Congress. Along with blowing / sucking power (which is excellent for these leaf blowers / lawn vacuums), those are the features that make or break leaf blowers for me.

Black & Decker's BV4000 Leaf Hog leaf blowers pass the test. For, although I did have to peek at the manual a few times, assembly and mode-changing were pretty straightforward. For those of you as gadget-challenged as I am, note that you'll get nowhere until you locate the release button at the front of the powerhead. Depressing that release button is what allows you to (dis)assemble. Further note that the release button won't work unless you set the ON/OFF switch to OFF.

I have also reviewed a prior model of these leaf blowers, the BV2500. The blow speed (power) of the BV2500 is 200 MPH, and it weighs 8.1 lbs. The BV4000 Leaf Hog leaf blowers have a blow speed of 230 MPH but still weigh only 8.1 lbs. That's what I call "progress."