THE NEW TROY BILT JET™ LEAF BLOWER — AND IT’S A GIVEAWAY!

 ++++++++AND THE WINNER IS….ANONYMOUSE!

Please contact me via email at mmattus@charter.net and I can connect you with the folks at Troy Bilt for delivery. Thanks to everyone who entered!+++++++

The leaves are falling, the pine needles are pouring down, and yes…it is fall across most of the country. Thanks to the great folks at Troy Bilt, we tested a new product called the Jet™, a super-strong leaf blower that really gives those professional back-pack leaf blowers a run for their money.  I know, because we bought one of those back pack models from another manufacturer for over $350 – we loved it, but it’s heavy, cumbersome and honestly just a little too professional for us guys who honestly, rarely use a leaf blower except when the leaves are falling. Which means that we rarely use it when we cut the grass, or even weekly like our noisy neighbors. We come from the camp that believes that leaf blowers are not everyday tools. Lawns and gardens should be raked by hand, it’s better for the plants, and better for the people.

But there are times when a leaf blower is very useful – like when the leaves are falling – and with two acres of leaves and pine needles, and only a couple of hours a week available for raking in the fall and early spring, a leaf blower is necessary for a few weeks out of the year.

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As far a leaf blowers go, this new Jet™ is really attractive, and right away, it captures your attention because does not look like a leaf blower.  Obviously, it’s a real game changer in product design as its appearance and performance impressed us – an believe me, we are not easy to please. Sure, Troy Bilt gave us a free model to test, and one to give away, but I am never going to compromise my integrity by giving something a great review just because I want free product. I don’t need free product, and as many of you know, I rarely do giveaways – I need to believe in the brand and the product.

The Jet uses a 50/50 gas/oil mix, just like chainsaws, which some users might think is a disadvantage, and yes, this does make the tool less convenient then let’s say a pure gas powered product or a battery/electric product, but we’ve tested and have owned all of those other types, and to be honest, nothing blows like a gas powered engine. Nothing. Not even close. I see no reason to buy a battery powered leaf blower – they are a waste of money, but with this guy, straight off, it started up, and although a little noisy, this is to be expected with a powerful engine.

We decided to test it on our pine needle covered rock garden, and walk. Our tall white pines drop needles as soon as the weather turns cold, and although it may seem like something easy to blow with a blower, they are difficult because they are long-needles and duel needles, which means that they get caught on every twig, rock or plant. Even a rake is difficult to use. Sure, a walk is easy-peasy for any leaf blower, but it rained the night before which can make these long needles even more difficult to blow.

The Jet handled the flat walk with no problem, but I expected that, but I didn’t expect it to be able to blow the entire walk in one treatment – no picking up piles half way though. The second test included our dry river bed, with Japanese river rocks, which can catch lots of debris in the fall. No problem. The third test focused on removing needles from dwarf shrubs such as Daphne and the crevice garden – the Jet handled this project easily, but it might have been a little too powerful, as it also blew out the gravel and stones, meaning that we needed to replace the gravel. Not a big deal, I would rather have power.

Our only complaint was that the product only had one handle, it seems like a second handle or a shoulder strap would help, as it can get too heavy for one hand, and we are tough guys. Noisy? Sure, but again, noise means power, and there are times when each of use gardeners need power.

Troy Bilt is letting me give away a brand new Jet™ leaf blower so you know the rules, please join this blog on Facebook, Google + or Follow it – and leave a comment ( again, your comment will be numbered, with duplicated eliminated, and using a randomizer program, a winner will be selected at 10:00 PM this Sunday) so if you would like to win a new leaf blower, please leave a short comment – it’s as simple as that!

Good Luck!