I would not buy it.

Consider this one instead:

http://www.amazon.com/Makita-BUB182Z-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Cordless/dp/B001UQ6WKU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1302039092&sr=1-2-catcorr

Ni-cad batteries do not have enough power and they do not last long.

You need one with lithium-ion batteries. Buy an extra battery so that you can continue working when one battery is exhausted.

A lot more money, but it would be a waste spending less.

dcarch

Wow, that other one is a lot more, with the battery sold separately. Made me wonder what does and does not come with the one at Aldi. I will give it a lot more thought. Thanks for your advice.

Thanks DC! That is the same item that was causing me to go to Aldi today. I'll checkout the suggested brand.

Cathy, have you used it yet? I'd love to hear details of what it can do.

Me too.....that other one posted by DC comes to $222 after you have bought a battery and the charger.
The one at aldi's is about 1/5 the cost.....and sounds perfect for the frequent deck sweep.
Linda C

CC, I charged the battery right away (8 hours) so I could report back. Granted, it's not a replacement for my heavy-duty Toro but it did the job I was aiming for.

I "swept" the porch easily then I tried it in the garage where lots of leaves had entered; worked well there too. In fact, it maybe better for the garage as it doesn't disturb all the garage crap like my heavy-duty one. All the leaves from the garage were then on the driveway; I blew the leaves off the drive way--a little slower but still did the job.

Thanks very much, Cathy. Do you have any opinion about how would it would work on rough surfaces, where small leaves and needles offer more resistance?

Aldi takes things back, no questions asked, so if you wanted to try it, I wouldn't hesitate. I've returned several items in the past without any hassle whatsoever.

Well, I went and bought it. Thanks for the heads up on charging time. That's something I might not have thought about. Tomorrow it's going to be 80 degrees and I will be outside giving it a trial run.

The Makita is expensive. I bought it because:

1. Where I store it in the living room near the front entry, I don't have a lot of space. Makita is much smaller and just a little more than half the weight, yet it has more power than most other cordless blowers.

2. Makita uses lithium-ion battery, which does not need to be always hooked up to the charger. Ni-cad batteries can self-discharge, and need to be on constant charge. Lithium-ion batteries are much better than ni-cad batteries. That's why all laptops, cell phones and electric cars use them.

3. There is an attachment to use the Makita blower as a cordless vacuum. It is a very powerful cordless vacuum.

Speaking of charging time for nicad batteries, it may be a good idea to run the battery almost completely down before charging again to avoid what is known as the "memory" problem which can reduce the battery's capacity significantly.

dcarch

Oh, tha Makita works as a vacuum? That would have tempted me greatly, but still not enough to spend so much money. I just assumed that no lightweight blower could do that.
Thanks for the tip on letting the battery run all the way down. Didn't people once say that about laptops? Maybe years ago some of them didn't have lithium batteries. Or do lithium batteries also have the memory problem?

Yes, it is important to be aware of the characteristics of nicad batteries.

Nicad cells are 1.2 volts each, to make up 18v, you need 15 individual cells, if one of the cells goes bad, the entire pack will not work.

Li-ion cells are 3.3 to 3.7 volt each, to make up to 18v, only 5 cells will be needed. In a Makita battery pack, they use 5 pairs of paralleled cells for more power, therefore chances for a bad cell is much less than that of nicad packs.

Li-ion charging time is about an hour, vs. nicad, which is more than 8 hours. That's why I suggest getting a spare battery so that you can get your cleaning task done, not half way done.

Here is a video (not my video) showing how small the Makita is.

Makita 1

Here is my video showing my cordless blower used in my shop for vacuuming. I didn't have to buy a bag for vacuuming. An old sock works fine for me.

Makita 2

dcarch

Thanks, dcarch, for the movie!