What to look for in a cordless leaf blower

Blower listings lead with peak CFM because it is one big number and it sorts well. It is roughly sixth on the list of things that will determine whether you like the tool. Here is that list in the right order.

1. A published variable range

The most useful specification on a blower is the bottom of its range, not the top. You will spend most of your time at moderate output, and the low end is what lets you work near mulch beds, gravel and flowerbeds without undoing your own work.

The LB6504's 225 CFM floor is the lowest published figure here, and it is the reason it tops our blower roundup despite not having the highest peak.

2. Runtime published per setting, not averaged

EGO publishes turbo and low separately on the LB7650 and all three settings on the LB6000 backpack. Ryobi publishes 30 minutes high and 120 low. Greenworks publishes one figure for low and nothing else. That difference tells you something about each company before you get to the airflow numbers.

3. Weight, and whose convention it uses

You hold this tool out in front of you. A pound matters here in a way it does not on a mower.

That inconsistency is worth naming. A 4.6 lb bare tool with a 5.0Ah pack fitted is not 4.6 lb in your hand, and the brand quoting 9.4 lb may simply be the one being straightforward. Compare like with like, or do not compare at all.

4. A published noise figure

Blowers are the tool your neighbors notice. Ryobi publishes 57 dB, EGO publishes 64 dB, Greenworks publishes nothing.

Both published figures are measured under each brand's own conditions, so the 7 dB gap is directional rather than laboratory-grade. But the presence or absence of a figure is itself informative: a company that engineered for noise tends to say so. The comparison is on the quiet blower page.

5. The nozzles in the box

The nozzle sets the trade between air speed and volume, so it is effectively part of the tool's specification. EGO ships tapered and spread nozzles with both handhelds. Ryobi ships three speed tips rated 160, 175 and 190 MPH, which is a more explicit version of the same idea.

A blower with one fixed nozzle has one CFM-to-MPH split whatever its trigger does — and that split is the thing that matches the tool to your debris.

6. Which platform it locks you into

A blower is rarely anyone's first cordless tool. If you already own a mower on a platform, buying the bare blower for that platform is usually the cheapest capable option available to you — and your mower's large pack will give it far more runtime than the small one in a blower kit.

That is a threefold difference from a battery you already own. It is the single strongest practical argument for staying on one platform, and the whole reason we lead the site with the platform decision.

What to ignore

• Peak CFM as a ranking criterion. It describes turbo, and turbo is about a tenth of your usage.
• "Gas equivalent" claims. Unfalsifiable, and never defined against a specific engine.
• Voltage as a proxy for power. The 730 CFM tools here are 40V and 80V respectively — the voltage guide explains why.
• Vacuum and mulching attachments, unless you specifically want a leaf vacuum. They add weight and cost to a tool most people use as a blower.