Fall is my favorite time of year. Crisp clean air, apple cider, hockey, hibernating groundhogs, the beautiful foliage here in the Northeast…what’s not to like?! I don’t even mind doing a bit of foliage cleanup, once it comes tumbling to the ground. After the first few hours of that cleanup, though, the glamour wears off, and I just want it over with. In my quest to tame that fallen foliage, I’ll take all the help I can get, especially now that our kids have all moved out, and refuse to answer their phones until the leaf cleanup is complete. A grey battery-powered helper – with a turbo, no less! – just blew into the enchanted HomeFixated forest from EGO. Join us as we see how the EGO LB5800 Blower fares as an ally in our leafy battle.
The engineers at EGO wanted the EGO LB5800 blower to be the equal of, or better than, gas-powered blowers. To accomplish it, they equipped the blower with a high-efficiency brushless motor. If you’re new to the realm of brushless motors, they’re the leading edge of motor technology. They run cooler, produce more power, and are more reliable than brushed motors.
To further bump up the power, the EGO LB5800 Blower makes use of turbine fan engineering. The blower runs very smoothly, with very little vibration. The variable-speed trigger is easy to control, and when you hit the Turbo button – yikes! Here’s a list of the blower’s features and specs, followed by a quick promo video from EGO:
• 5.0 Ah 56-Volt ARC lithium battery (incl. in kit) can power all EGO products
• Most powerful blower ever
• Variable-speed control delivers 225-580 CFM
• Up to 3 hours of run time in efficiency mode
• 100 minute charge time
• Weather-resistant construction
• Flat and tapered nozzle attachments included
• Ergonomic design for superb balance and user comfort
• Product Depth: 36.142 in
• Product Height: 9.843 in
• Product Width: 6.575 in
• Battery Power Type: Lithium Ion
• Features: Adjustable Speed, Antivibration, Interchangeable Nozzles, Turbo
• Maximum Air Volume (CFM): 580
• Maximum air speed (MPH): 168
• Noise rating (dB): 65
• Number of Batteries Included: 1
• Power Type: Cordless
• Voltage (volts): 56
• Watt Hours: 280
• Five year limited warranty
Raking Over The Features On The EGO LB5800 Blower
Assembling the EGO LB5800 Blower is a breeze. Not a 168 MPH breeze, but still pretty easy. Just pop everything out of the box, attach a nozzle, and slide in any EGO 56V battery, and you’re ready to move some air. The blower comes with two nozzles – one tapered, and one flat, which I really like.
We received the kit version of the EGO LB5800 Blower, the EGO LB5804, to evaluate. It has everything needed to perform some rapid leaf relocation. Along with the blower, the kit contains a charger and a 5.0 Ah Lithium Ion battery.
Already on the EGO platform? Save some bucks and pick up the EGO LB5800 Blower as a bare tool. It will run on any EGO 56V Li-Ion battery.
The handle on the EGO LB5800 Blower is big and comfortable to grip, and the blower is very nicely balanced. The variable-speed trigger is easy to operate, and provides excellent control, especially when trying to nudge those last few leaves onto the pile.
For those binge-blowing sessions – an almost daily event here during November – the cruise control is very handy. The dial lets you lock in any speed in the trigger’s range, giving your trigger finger a little break.
Got stubborn leaves and debris that are reluctant to relocate? Time to introduce them to Turbo mode. Pressing the button on top of the handle provides a huge bump-up in blow power, to 168 MPH. For comparison, a Category 5 hurricane is anything over 157 MPH, so it’s sort of like having a hand-held mini-hurricane…It works great on leaves and debris that are wet or tangled up in brush.
Taming The Tree Poop
Our property is bordered by big trees on all four sides, and we love the shade and privacy they provide. We also really enjoy the beautiful colors in the fall, especially the bright orange of the maple trees in the back yard.
The front yard, on the other hand, is a bit of a love/hate situation. While we love the big oak trees, they have a seemingly limitless number of acorns to share. The hundreds – or thousands – of acorns they shed every day in the fall are hugely popular with the neighborhood squirrels. Since walking on them is comparable to walking on marbles, though, they are NOT quite so popular with the neighborhood humans.
To try and bolster my odds of remaining upright, and limit the chances of a lawsuit, I do a “tree poop” cleanup every day in the fall. I blow off our roughly 100’ driveway, our small front porch, and about 100’ of sidewalks. While I don’t mind doing a bit of raking, the acorns don’t comply very well. Thus, my weapon of choice for the past several years has been a blower.
In the past, I’ve used the spectrum of blower technology. Corded blowers worked OK, but weren’t especially powerful, and with a lot almost 300’ deep, managing the extension cords was a huge PITA. A gas blower worked much better, but fussing with the choke, the gas/oil mix, and the starter rope wasn’t very enjoyable either. Not to mention the obnoxious noise, and the constant stink of the fumes. I’ve also used various battery-powered blowers, which ran the gamut from feeble to impressive, and cordless blowers are now my go-to cleanup method.
Clean Up Time
When the EGO LB5800 Blower arrived, the daily cleanups had been underway for at least a couple of weeks. I charged up the 5.0 Ah battery that came with the blower, and slid the flat nozzle onto the end. Then it was time to take the blower out for its maiden voyage along the driveway and sidewalks.
Following my usual pattern, I started at one end of the driveway, and blew all the accumulated leaves and acorns out to the street. Next, I blew off the small porch and sidewalk leading up to it, also into the street. To wrap up, I headed down the street and parallel sidewalk to the end of our property. Along the way, I cleared the street and sidewalk, herding all the debris ahead of me, and steered it into a pile for pickup.
Along the way, I blew the accumulated leaves and acorns out of the ivy that borders the sidewalk. By the time I finished, I had a tidy little pile of leaves, with a LOT of acorns in the mix. The acorns are heavy when there are large quantities of them, but the EGO LB5800 Blower easily sent them scurrying along with the leaves and into the pile.
I’ve been repeating this process every day, for about two weeks now. The big, beefy 56V battery kept ‘er blowing for about a week before it finally needed recharging.
Thank You Sir, May I Have Another?
Although the EGO LB5800 Blower did a great job with the daily maintenance cleanup, I wanted to give it a more challenging task. I brought it up to our farm, located about 20 miles south of Lake Erie. That area is further along in the leaf life cycle; many trees are almost bare, and the rest aren’t far behind.
Most of the trees on our property are Maples, and they’re very prolific leaf-producers. A couple of them are close to our deck, so I started there, cleaning off an accumulation of mixed wet and dry leaves. The EGO LB5800 Blower quickly had the deck cleared, and it was on to the yard.
A couple of the trees have little shade gardens beneath them. Although these trees still have many of their leaves, there was a good coating on the ground beneath the tree and nearby. I fired up the blower, and quickly had the garden area cleared.
Due to the plantings and large rocks beneath, it would have been tricky and time-consuming to clear with a rake. Using the Turbo assist occasionally, the EGO LB5800 Blower quickly moved all the leaves and debris out, even the stuff that was tangled around plants.
I took the EGO LB5800 Blower out to the yard for a couple of cleanup sessions over the weekend. It had been raining off and on for several days, so a lot of the leaves were damp. This always makes for a more enjoyable cleanup experience. While I did have to use the Turbo button to persuade some of the heavy, wet junk to move, the blower was able to get all the leaves into nice, tidy piles for cleanup.
The EGO LB5800 Blower – Welcome To The Neighborhood
When I took the blower out to play, the first thing I noticed was how QUIET it is. And not just in comparison with gas-powered blowers; in a head-to-head comparison with a couple of other battery-powered blowers, the EGO LB5800 Blower was noticeably quieter. EGO claims the blower has a noise rating of only 65 dB, which is pretty quiet. All I know is it’s the quietest blower I’ve ever used.
The EGO LB5800 Blower has good ergonomics, and is easy to hold and use. According to the folks at EGO, the battery and blower have a combined weight of just under ten pounds. That’s pretty manageable, but it does feel a tad heavier after you’ve been at it for an hour or so. To help take the load off, EGO offers an accessory strap that clips onto the blower and helps transfer the weight to your shoulder.
The blower has excellent power, and can easily move leaves and other yard debris. Like acorns. It’s easily as powerful as my old gas blower. During my testing, it even had small rocks rolling along. The Turbo mode gives a huge power boost; the only thing on my wish list would be a way to lock it on, for extended sessions of moving heavy stuff or larger piles of leaves.
With over 700 reviews as of this writing, the EGO LB5800 Blower has an average rating of 4.8 out of 5, with 98% of purchasers recommending it. EGO backs the blower with a five-year limited warranty (three years on the battery), and if you buy it from the Home Depot, you get to make mini hurricanes for 90 days risk-free. If you’d like a ready-made test zone, let me know, and act quickly – the first 50 respondents get a free bushel of acorns!
Buy the EGO Power+ 580 CFM Blower bare tool from the Home Depot:
Buy the EGO Power+ 580 CFM Blower Kit with battery and charger from the Home Depot:
EGO Blower strap from the Home Depot
