BLACK+DECKER Electric Leaf Blower, Leaf Vacuum and Mulcher 3 in 1, 250 mph Airflow, 400 cfm Delivery Power, Reusable Bag Included, Corded (BEBL7000)

These machines are junk. I have had 2 that quit working after less than 7 hours of use, one after 3 hours. The motor just stops. Don't buy Black & DECKER equipment. I offered to ship the machine back for investigation and they were not interested.

OK, I don' know why they keep trying to make these tools do two things: vac and blow leaves. None of them ever do both jobs well, so face it, we all have (or want to have) one tool that vacuums the leaves and one that blows them.With two tools it also keeps you from having to mess with the always frustrating process of switching the tool from one mode to the other.OK, on to what this is good at. This is the BEST leaf vac I've ever used!! I had a Toro, which is still highly rated, but I wasn't super happy with it. Needless to say, when it died, I wasn't all that upset. I actually went and bought the new Toro model hoping it would be better. It wasn't. The ergonomics are all wrong and carrying the bag that's low to the ground is a pain in the you-know-what!Sooooo, when I saw this cool blower/vac/mulcher, I was very excited. Obviously, since it comes with a backpack, they put more emphasis on the vac & mulching aspects, and it shows. This is a terrible leaf blower in my opinion, which is why I have a separate blower for that and that is all it does and it does it quite well. This does not, but, boy does it suck up leaves like a guy at a hotdog eating contest!! How it does that so well without picking up all of my rocks, I don't know, but it does and I am thrilled. My Toro was never this good at picking up leaves, but seemed to always pick up rocks. Go figure.On top of the good suction, the backpack is really a wonderful improvement over most setups. You don't even realize it's full because the weight is so easily carried on your back. This has improved the process of cleaning up my leaves so much, I hardly notice that there's a cord. Of course, if I could find a cordless model with this much suction AND a backpack I would be on that like flies on Grandma's apple pie, but I don't see that happening soon. I also have the B&D 40-volt battery powered sweeper vac and it's great for what I need it for (picking up cotton wood fluff every spring), but it can't pick up a leaf to save its little life! So, having just the cord to drag around and not the heavy bag as well is a HUGE improvement.Now, I had really wanted a vac with a metal impeller and this one is plastic. I'm guessing it might not last as long, but for only $69, I don't really care if I have to replace it every few years. My Toro had a plastic impeller and actually lasted over 8 years, so maybe the metal blade isn't that big a deal.My headline says this is a beast, and it is. At first I thought, dang, this is heavy! I'm a 5'1" female, so the weight has the potential of being a real drag getting stuff done and not running out of gas (me, not the vac, it's electric, remember?). :)But despite the somewhat hefty weight, it's so balanced you don't notice it. It also has an extra handle to spread out the weight even more. Brilliant!I don't write a lot of reviews, but I just had to write about this vac. I absolutely love it and it's the best $70 I've spent in a long time.For the people who said the bag leaks all over the place — not to be mean, but I'm quite baffled how you could not figure this out. You just have to roll the end up a good 3 times or more before you buckle it (I always roll it 3 times). This is so simple I think a 5-year old could figure it out. There are some not so smart people in the world though, and some of them obviously bought this tool. Hopefully you have figured it out by now.

So yeah, I purchased a house that gets millions of leaves per season, yet I have no trees. How fun is that? Raking and bagging isn't all that enjoyable so I thought about picking up a leaf sucker primarily for the areas that the leaves start to build up. The yard itself I typically mower over them to mulch them up, but I needed something for areas that again, the leaves pile up and block walkways or entries.A buddy allowed me to try another brand leaf sucker (that Amazon sells, but I won't mention which) and while that one has an awesome switch to go from sucking to blowing, the collecting bag was a nightmare. Having the bag over your shoulder while you're trying to maneuver a sucker and once the bag starts to fill and add weight, it becomes a nightmare to control. You're fighting the bag strap to stay on your shoulder while you're swinging the sucker back and forth to collect leaves. I immediately thought, there has to be a better design to the bag, something that can simply stay on your back like a backpack. This is where this particular product comes in that I researched.So it arrived fast and I immediately put it together to use it. I have to say, assembly was quick and simple and the bag has a love it/hate it design. I love obviously that it just straps onto your back like a backpack. Simply put, there is probably no easier design than that as far as walking and collecting. It takes all the effort of fighting a strap off the table and lets you focus on sucking those leaves up. And let me tell you, it has great sucking power. I've had no issues with pulling leaves up (dry that is) and don't need to sway back and forth as much as my buddies. The handle design feels great in hand. Think of yourself as Arnie in Terminator 2 Judgement Day. Except instead of scaring off the cops with a minigun, you're going to war with those pesky leaves that don't seem to disappear all season. That's the feeling this will give you once you grip up.The impeller is plastic which I was initially worried about, but can tell you, it's super hard plastic. The kind of plastic that you could hurt yourself on, lol. Very durable and unless you're sucking down on rocks all day, I wouldn't worry about it wearing down anytime soon.Now for the cons. I've had it clog a couple times. Not by the impeller, but within the tube that the leaves come up through. A simple push gets them through and you don't really need to worry about your hand going into the impeller because it is well before where the impeller is even located. If you're afraid, use a stick and push them.The bag... I love that it's a backpack, but the opening is a love and hate design. It has no zipper but rather a clip. The edges of the bag are a plastic blade that bends so you essentially bend the blade which folds the opening into a small slit. You can then clip it to hold it in place. So here is where the pro and con is regarding the bag opening design. The pro is that you can EASILY open this up and let all the mulch fall right into a bag to recycle. The bad, sometimes mulch will get through the slit because it's not truly closed 100%. It's basically a plastic bended fold that needs to remain folded to maintain being closed. Super hard to explain, but you'd understand the second you saw it. So while I'm walking, I'll notice mulch flying out the back occasionally. I also recommend you never turn it on in a garage unless you want to sweep your floors ;)The last con is changing it from sucking to blowing requires you to basically disassemble and reassemble it from one to the other. While I only bought this for sucking, I knew before hand this so I didn't care. If you expect to use both options, I'm not sure this would be the best one for you. My buddies version is actually better in that aspect because it simply has a switch that changes it from one to the other.So that's my review. I'm reviewing this as a sucker because I've never used it for blowing and don't intend to. My review on sucking has mostly been positive with the little cons that I posted that I don't truly think should prevent your decision from buying it. I'm giving it a 4 star because of those cons, but would probably buy it again if something ever happened to it. It is effective for what it does and that's ultimately what I was looking for.

I purchased this. item about 5 months ago, but have only just now put it together. It seemed like the perfect tool for my large yard. I had placed the cover on it to use as a blower, but then needed to use it as a vac. The problem for me was the RELEASE BUTTON. Instructions only say "insert", but then what? PUSH?, TURN? I used a screwdriver, as instructed, but had a very hard time getting it to release the fan cover. Then I couldn't get the vac tube to fully lock. I had to pound it on the cement to get it to seat properly. I used it to clean up grass/plant, and tiny pieces of the plastic debris from a weed whacker that had accumulated between my pavers. I found the product somewhat heavy and tiring to use , but it did get the job done. I not sure I'll be using it as a blower, because I'm afraid it will be difficult to change it back to a vac again. I also found the emptying of the bag rather awkward.