The Hum of Battery-Powered Savings

There's some powerful deals 💰At Home Depot, Lowe's, and Ace.

In recent years, there’s been a quiet revolution rumbling in outdoor equipment. It’s not just the sound of leaves being blown away—it’s the sound of gas-powered tools being replaced by their sleeker, quieter, and more eco-friendly counterparts: battery-powered equipment.

Up here in the north, we need to remember to drain the gas out of our machines before winter hits. It’s usually the retirees who remember to do that. So, every spring, all the gas equipment needs a good carburetor cleaning, which is a real pain. I don’t have to worry about that with batteries. And my blower is the only machine I haven’t replaced.

So, grab your gardening gloves and join me as we explore the store and compare battery-powered leaf blowers and how they’re presented at The Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Ace.

When you walk into The Home Depot, you get a one-two punch of Ryobi with an Ad and an End Cap.

This week, The Home Depot is rolling out the green carpet with exclusive discounts on a smorgasbord of battery-powered outdoor equipment. It’s like Black Friday for garden gnomes.

Great deals if you’ve got 1 of those 300 products. I’m going to grab a trimmer.

NICE WORK! The front of the store looks amazing! Vertically blocked brands! Awesome claims!

ONE+ or 40Volt? I have a ONE+ blower for small work. It’s a little better than sweeping.

Milwaukee has some powerful stuff. But that’s a new system for me.

I know a guy who might say “More Yellow!” This is for him.

Let’s look at blowers. Before you shop for a battery-powered blower, consider HOW LONG blowing takes. Then, consider CFM for area and MPH for strength. The Home Depot’s product cards do a decent job of comparing apples to apples.

Up to 35 minutes at 565 CFM. Nope, that might work for a lot without trees.

Wow! 50 minutes at 730 CFM. Why are the 85 other products more important than this one?

Nice DeWalt. No empty squares! Thanks for the charge time.

This is the odd duck. Gray duck? What’s the run time on this one? Love the photo of the blower on the card. Lowe’s does it this way.

This laminated sheet over the logo on the great sign breaks my heart.

We were down this aisle a few weeks ago during Daylawn Savings. It’s easy to shop. All the outdoor power brands have their own bay, and the merchandising is the same except for the colors and claims. It’s a quality aisle.

Lowe’s puts the same features on each card in nearly the same order. The picture of the blower is helpful because there are multiple models in the bay.

Up to 14 minutes at 340 CFM. Perfect for a deck!

Toro has a different order. This bay breaks some of Lowe’s rules. We have a TORO electric mower. This could be a contender if the battery is the same.

Up to 45 minutes at 530 CFM. With a variable boost. There could be a lot of value to be had here.

More run time for 10 less CFM? See how easy it is to compare products at Lowe’s.

Is this most like a gas blower? 800 CFM. At 190 MPH. Wowza! For 75 minutes. Take notice, this is the most expensive blower we’ve seen. It’s got the highest CFM and MPH. The Toro has a longer run time. You get what you pay for.

The pros you see sawing, chopping, and blowing. They use Stihl.

This Ace is a Stihl destination, and a few Aces around here are. There is lots of great stuff here. I’ve got an orange and gray backpack blower. It blows over 650 CFM at over 230 MPH and runs on as much gas as you can pour into it. It wakes the neighbors up, but they tolerate it because I snowblow their sidewalk. A blower with 230 MPH can blow snow—under an inch.

I have to confess, these Stihl signs started it all. No other sign has the “Occasional to Extensive” meter. Blowing force in Newtons? What does that even mean?

While the meter is unique, the rest of the sign is hard to read.

Only 9 Newtons of force here.

Nothing much to see here.

Is that battery $400? After 3 years, will it work? Where will it go when it doesn’t? At least the exhaust from gasoline just blows away 😉

Let the box do the merchadising!

Poor guy on the bottom shelf.

Enough power, or just a light breeze?

First, hats off to The Home Depot. Love the front of the store. Love the change over. You’re totally redeemed from all those bath events.

The Home Depot and Lowe’s make comparing blower features between different brands and models easy. While minutes and runtime are easy to understand, what are the benefits of higher CFM or MPH? There’s no mention of that in-store. While Stihl has the great meter, they mention Newtons, too. Since I am not a physicist, I don’t know how many Newtons I need to lift wet leaves off a three-inch lawn.

Help me buy with benefits. How many CFMs for a city lot? How many MPH for wet leaves or a snow dusting? For now, I’ll keep an eye on that Toro and stick with the gas blower. ROOOOOOAAARRR!

See you at the store!

Still snow. No blow.

The first time I wrote this, all the CFMs said CPM. 😉

Share the Post:

99¢ Duct Tape is Awesome.

Duct tape is only 99¢. Is it Black Friday in March? No, it’s Menards. Thank you, Menards, for saving the day with 99¢ duct tape. Without it, today I would have been writing about Stihl tools at Northern Tool + Equipment. But I’ll save that one. Today, it’s duct tape.

Get Your Daylawn Savings!

This week’s walkabout started with an email from Scotts. I liked how it gave the retailers a nod. Plus, some good old broadcast television is playing on HGTV to increase awareness of the event. Let’s head to Ace, Lowe’s, and The Home Depot to see how Daylawn savings is activated.