Cordless Leaf Blowers for Fall Cleanup: A Buying Guide to Six Battery Blowers

Every October the same question comes up: is a battery blower actually enough, or will you be out there twice as long chasing wet leaves around the lawn? The honest answer is that it depends far more on which battery blower you buy than on “battery versus gas.” A sweeper built for the patio and a 56V blower built for a half acre of soggy oak leaves are different tools that happen to share a shape.

This guide covers six cordless blowers that span that range, from a featherweight deck sweeper to EGO’s 765 CFM handheld, plus a blower that also vacuums and mulches. It is a researched guide built from manufacturer specifications, the Amazon listings and published reviews, not a hands-on test. Three things matter more than anything else on the box: how much air the blower moves, which battery family you are buying into, and how long it runs at the power you will actually use.

Quick picks

• Best for decks, patios and garages: BLACK+DECKER LSW221 sweeper.
• Best value for a typical suburban yard: Greenworks 40V 550 CFM.
• Best if you already own DeWalt 20V tools: DeWalt DCBL722P1.
• Best for Makita LXT owners who care about neighbors: Makita XBU02PT.
• Best for big lots and wet leaves: EGO POWER+ LB7654.
• Best for bagging and mulching leaves: WORX WG583 blower/vac.

BLACK+DECKER LSW221: the patio sweeper

This is the smallest tool here and should be judged that way. The kit includes the 20V MAX POWERCONNECT sweeper, a 1.5Ah battery, a wall-mount charging base and the blow tube. BLACK+DECKER rates it at up to 130 MPH, 3.7 pounds and 12 minutes of runtime, and it publishes no CFM figure, which tells you where it sits.

Gardening Products Review got about 8 minutes of continuous use per charge and said it “almost replaces the need for a broom” on decks, outdoor rugs, the garage and a truck bed. Their complaints: the side intake can grab clothing, the tube sections were hard to pull apart, and recharging took about three hours.

Who should pick it: townhouse and condo owners, or anyone who wants a grab-and-go tool for grass clippings on a walkway.

The caveat: it is not a leaf blower for a lawn in November. Check the current price on Amazon.

Greenworks 40V 550 CFM: the mainstream value pick

Greenworks lists this brushless axial blower (model BLF442 with the battery) at 550 CFM and 130 MPH, with a variable trigger, cruise control and a turbo button. The tool weighs about 5 pounds, and the kit includes a 4.0Ah battery and charger. Greenworks quotes up to 20 minutes on high, with a 120-minute recharge, and backs tool and battery for three years.

That 550 CFM figure puts it in real leaf-moving territory for an entry-level kit. We did not find an independent lab test of this exact model (older Greenworks 40V tests cover weaker predecessors), so treat the spec sheet as the whole story and the listing’s marketing claims, like “library-quiet” at 78 dB, with a grain of salt.

Who should pick it: quarter-acre yards, mostly dry leaves, and anyone starting fresh on Greenworks’ 40V tools.

The caveat: 20 minutes on high is short; plan on a second battery for bigger cleanups. Check the current price on Amazon.

DeWalt DCBL722P1: for the DeWalt 20V garage

The DCBL722P1 kit pairs DeWalt’s 20V MAX XR brushless blower with a 5.0Ah battery and charger. DeWalt rates it at up to 450 CFM and 125 MPH (with the concentrator nozzle), 62 dB(A), with a variable trigger and speed lock. LeafBlowerGuide lists 5.4 pounds bare and 6.8 pounds with the battery.

The weak spot is runtime. DeWalt quotes “up to 87 minutes,” which only makes sense at low speed, while LeafBlowerGuide lists about 20 minutes and calls it short for the class. The strength is that the battery is the same one that runs your drill; see our DeWalt drill combo roundup.

Who should pick it: anyone with a shelf of DeWalt 20V packs who wants a capable blower for driveways and medium leaf jobs.

The caveat: if you do not already own DeWalt batteries, there are stronger blowers for the money. Check the current price on Amazon.

Makita XBU02PT: two 18V packs, a quiet rating

Makita’s blower runs on two 18V LXT batteries in series (36V), and this kit includes two 5.0Ah packs and a dual-port charger. Makita rates it at 473 CFM, 120 MPH, 61 dB(A) under the ANSI B175.2 standard, and up to 28 minutes at mid-speed on its six-step dial.

Reviewers disagree in an instructive way. Tools in Action measured about 60 dB, praised the build quality and liked the rear intake. TechGearLab measured about 18 minutes on high, called the 9.0-pound weight typical, found the intake occasionally caught clothing, and recorded roughly 91 dB, the loudest in its group. Both can be true: the rated figure is measured at 50 feet, what a neighbor hears, while the operator is much closer. TechGearLab also reports the model as discontinued, so confirm stock and seller.

Who should pick it: Makita LXT owners who want a blower that stays on the batteries they already have.

The caveat: no turbo, and less punch for wet leaves than the EGO. Check the current price on Amazon.

EGO POWER+ LB7654: the heavy hitter

This is the kit for big lots and wet, matted leaves: the LB7650 blower, a 56V 5.0Ah battery, a 320W charger, and tapered and spread nozzles. The dial covers 260 to 580 CFM, and the turbo button jumps to 765 CFM. The Ohio Power Tool spec sheet lists 195 MPH with the tapered nozzle, 26 newtons of force, and runtimes of 150 minutes on low, 25 on high and 15 in turbo. EGO covers the tool for five years and the battery for three.

Bob Vila’s tester found it matched a gas backpack blower on storm-soaked leaves and scored it 8.9 out of 10, but called the 9.75-pound loaded weight tiring. Family Handyman measured about 17 minutes with turbo held and 25 without, and about 45 minutes of real stop-and-start yard work.

Who should pick it: half-acre-plus lots, lots of trees, or anyone replacing a gas blower and expecting the same results.

The caveat: weight and turbo runtime. A shoulder strap or a second battery is worth budgeting for. Check the current price on Amazon.

WORX WG583: blow, vacuum and mulch

The WG583 switches between blower and vacuum without tools, mulches at a claimed 12:1 ratio into a 1.0-bushel bag, and has a wheeled vacuum tube. It runs on two 20V PowerShare 4.0Ah batteries, included with a charger. The Amazon title says 210 MPH and 340 CFM, while WORX’s own table lists 350/200 CFM and 185/116 MPH on high/low. Either way, it blows like a mid-range handheld. WORX lists 8.4 pounds for the blower.

EasyLawnMowing, testing the European WG583E, liked the vacuum mode best: suction packed the bag solid and mulching shrank the pile a lot. It found very wet material and sticks can challenge it, and that full power is noticeably loud.

Who should pick it: smaller yards where leaves go into a compost bin or yard waste bag instead of the woods.

The caveat: vacuuming is slow work for big lawns. Check the current price on Amazon.

How to choose

CFM first, then MPH. CFM is how much air leaves the nozzle per minute; MPH is how fast it moves. SlashGear compares it to a garden hose: pinching the end makes the water faster without making more of it, and a narrow blower nozzle does the same. That is why MPH figures are usually quoted “with concentrator.” For moving piles across a lawn, volume wins. For prying wet leaves out of cracks, speed helps. Where a maker lists newtons of force (EGO does), that is the best single comparison.

Battery platform lock-in. Batteries are the expensive part, and they do not cross brands. EGO 56V, Greenworks 40V, DeWalt 20V MAX, Makita LXT, WORX PowerShare and BLACK+DECKER 20V MAX are separate systems, and the DeWalt and BLACK+DECKER packs do not interchange despite the shared “20V MAX” name. Greenworks alone sells several voltages; the 40V blower here will not take the 60V packs from our Greenworks mower roundup. If you already own a family, start there.

Runtime versus turbo. Headline runtimes are measured on low. Turbo can drain a battery in 15 minutes, so check the high and turbo figures, and treat a second battery as part of the cost for big yards.

Weight with the battery. Spec sheets often list bare tool weight. The EGO is 4.6 pounds bare and nearly 10 loaded. Over 30 minutes, those pounds are what you feel.

Noise. Rated dB(A) figures are taken at 50 feet. In Arup’s testing, battery blowers also produced far less low-frequency rumble than gas models, which carries farther and through windows. At arm’s length any of these can be loud; ear protection is sensible.

Handheld, backpack or vac. Handhelds cover most yards. A blower/vac like the WORX suits smaller lots where bagging matters. Backpack units make sense for multi-acre properties.

The bottom line

Match the tool to the yard. For decks and walkways the BLACK+DECKER sweeper is plenty. For a typical suburban lawn the Greenworks 40V is the value starting point, and DeWalt and Makita owners should stay with the batteries they have. For big lots and wet leaves the EGO LB7654 is the one to beat, and the WORX WG583 is the pick if you want leaves bagged. Check the current price on Amazon for each, and see more in our yard and outdoor picks or the Shop Llama blog.