
The Devil's Hair Dryer: The Case Against Leaf Blowers - bilifuduo
http://www.citylab.com/navigator/2016/11/the-case-against-neighbors-with-leaf-blowers/506324/?utm_source=SFFB
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iamthebest
God I hate leaf blowers.

Interestingly when I went to Beijing recently I was pleasantly surprised at
the absence of noisy gardening machines. The streets were much cleaner there
and the landscaping noticeably better. I think I want to move there now.

Coming back to the US I feel like this is a poor third-world country now.

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douche
I absolutely hate raking leaves, but I just don't get leaf-blowers. I always
imagine this situation playing out: two suburban warriors, lined up toe-to-toe
across from each other on opposite sides of their property line, furiously
blasting away with their leaf blowers, trying to push a single oak leaf over
the line in a pathetic form of tug-of-war.

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lsllc
Have you tried mulching the leaves on your lawn? ... collect up your leaves
and spread them out on your lawn(s). A couple of passes at right-angles with a
mulching mower (not bagging obviously) and the leaves are obliterated and your
lawn is put to bed for the winter. Supposedly the leaf litter & grass
clippings rot down together to properly feed the lawn.

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douche
Out of laziness, that is pretty much exactly what I do. I just run the things
over with the lawnmower, fall and spring. I'm of the school of thought that if
you don't have more than two unregistered vehicles on cinderblocks in your
yard[1], you're doing a good job of beautifying it, though.

[1] Actual town ordinance where I grew up... If you had three, you had to put
up a fence.

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Tempest1981
How long until improved battery technology makes electric units comparable to
gas-powered units? That would reduce the noise and air pollution. Not the
dust, of course.

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lsllc
I have an EGO electric leaf blower; it uses a 56V li-ion battery and is really
quite excellent. On turbo mode the battery only lasts about 20 mins, but I
also have the EGO weedwacker and EGO lawn mower (which are also both
excellent), so I have plenty of spare batteries.

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Tempest1981
Any recent improvements in small gas engines? Can't they be made quieter in
simple ways, like a better muffler?

