Schröder Backpack Leaf Blower - Backpack Blower - Gas Leaf Blower - SR-6400L - 3.7 HP Engine

My handheld blower's engine seized due to a failed carburetor mount that let air leak past the carburetor and catastrophically lean out the engine. So, new blower since parts cost more than a new one.Note UPDATE below...I gave this Schröder blower five stars based on a performance/price metric and build quality, but there are some live-withs to consider. See "Cons." --- See EDIT --I have three acres of landscaped property out of five acres with lots of oaks having smallish leaves, augmented with redbuds, maples, and others with large leaves. Its an ongoing battle with the oaks all year, others in the fall. The handheld just didn't do it, but I made it work for about 10 years. I never could blow wet or damp leaves.....This Schröder seemed to offer the performance of the usual suspects at half the cost. Reviews seem good. I bought it.PROS:- This Blower Moves Leaves! After being without a blower for about ten Fall days, I first used the Schröder the day after a heavy rain that added a lot of leaves to the existing ten-day normal Fall accumulation. I spent four hours, three tanks of gas, and moved all the wet leaves and large acorns without a worry. Amazing. The blower's operational performance is exceptional. Wow.- Reasonable Weight. At just over 20 lbs, its lighter than some in its class. Makes for a nice workout addition to your 10,000 steps around the yard cleaning up. Plus, you get those "magic fingers" vibration through your back as you traverse the yard. What's not to love?- Well Built. The Schröder seems tight, well constructed and solid. The blower nozzles have set screws to hold them together and include both round and flat blower nozzles. The air filter has both a foam pre-filter and a proper pleated paper secondary filter. All the assemblies have the look and feel of fit-for-purpose and sturdiness. Some thoughtful engineering went into the base blower package.- Comfortable. The thickly padded shoulder straps, and waist and chest straps keep the blower solidly against your body. The pistol grip throttle position is adjustable along the length of the blower nozzle.CONS:- Throttle Trigger is too Stiff. I had to keep switching fingers between index and middle. The throttle return spring is too stiff. The trigger itself is wide enough, but trigger pressure is just too much after a while and your finger tells you it has had enough. Yes, I was out there about four hours, but your trigger finger shouldn't be the limiting factor. I commented to myself about this stiffness as I was pre-assembling the unit - and it proved out in application. I will take the throttle assembly apart and see if I can cut down a spring somehow, or identify the source of the stiffness and relieve it. We'll see.- Single Position Throttle Lock. Rather than a friction-based throttle lock that allows holding any throttle position, this unit has a button that holds the throttle at about 3/4. That may be fine for most uses, but not for heavy, wet leaves when you need all the power you can get.- Recoil Starter is Very Hard to Pull. No, I'm not a wimp. The recoil spool is only about 2.5 inch in diameter and the engine must have about 13:1 compression ;) Bad combination. There is no place to put your foot on the blower to hold it while pulling the cord. So, set blower on the ground, put left hand on the rubber neck above the carburetor, pull the cord, get only about one compression stroke as the blower jerks and slides. Fortunately, it starts right up. My wife is pleased that she'll never be able to start it herself.- Unable to Blow Right to Left. A benefit of the handheld blowers is you can switch them between your hands and blow across your body, right to left, or left to right. Nice when you get into tight spots. By design, backpack blower nozzles are off your right hip. You cannot blow from close in front of you to the right. Nature of the beast.CONCLUSION:I'm keeping it. I love the power, the weight, the magic fingers. I'll figure out something with the throttle, live with the recoil starter, and put the about $300 additional that a usual suspect blower would cost toward another project.As with all power tools, wear ear protection.Note, if you need to adjust the carburetor for altitude, you will need the larger "ACircle" carburetor adjustment tool. Never mind if you don't know what that means.UPDATE 11/21/2020:I took the pistol grip throttle assembly apart - three screws and an allen bolt - to see what can be done about the stiff throttle. A lot, actually.Both the trigger and the throttle interlock have circular springs; both are easily removed. Since the carburetor itself has a fully functional return spring, the one on the handle is a backup, I suppose. The throttle pressure is SO MUCH BETTER without that spring on the trigger. Then, removing the spring on the interlock keeps it depressed so you don't have to keep a firm grip on the handle and can depress the throttle without actively squeezing the interlock. I hid both springs in the handle up near the on-off switch in case, well just in case.See the two pictures of the opened up throttle assembly - one with the springs in place, the other with them removed.Also, regarding starting the unit. Placing a firmly weighted left hand on top of the air filter housing, or on top of the exhaust housing next to the spark plug improves the recoil pull experience. OK.Another tank and a half of fuel this afternoon and I'm a happy camper. I'd buy this again, but hope I never need to do so.Update: 3 January, 2024Three years in and the blower continues to impress me. The only issue is a broken plastic waist belt clip. I replaced it.

I couldn’t be more pleased with this purchase. This blower is awesome and is incredibly easy to get started and use. Considering the price difference between it and the two main named brands I think it is a great value. I only use non Ethanol fuel and it starts on the first pull every time.

This blower works great. Has lots of power and is very easy to use. I'm 72 and blower is easy to start and light enough to work with for long periods of time. Seems very well made and durable. I'm sure its all I'll ever need for my spring, summer and fall clean up chores.

I own several blowers -- a Toro and Worx electric and an Echo gas. Each of them left me looking for something better. My neighbor owns a 560-series Husqvarna that I've borrowed a couple of times and found it to be exceptional so I started looking into getting a 570-series (around $500). I then tripped over this entry on Amazon and the first thing that JUMPED out at me (at the time of my purchase at least) was the stellar reviews including something I hadn't ever seen before -- ZERO 1-star reviews (not easy to do ever, but harder with 106 reviews). I also was caught off-guard by the $299 price tag. I assumed this had to be some sort of joke, but just in case I decided to give it a shot.The blower isn't included in Prime so I waited a few days for it to arrive from Vancouver. It showed up early this morning. I opened the box and the first thing I see is a pile of papers. On top is a warning that is part of the reason I didn't give this 5-stars: It's a note informing you that you cannot return this unit to Amazon if you have any problems with it. That was a huge red flag for me. It's what I often see in garbage products and should be clearly noted in the description on its page on Amazon.I then started to look over assembly and immediately realized this is a bit more involved that your typical more mainstream units. It comes with a carburetor tool to make carburetor adjustments it in case you're not getting enough power. Another minor red flag. You at least get a tool, but I'm no engine expert, so I wouldn't know for sure if it's tuned properly or not, and I'd much prefer something other than needing to keep a tool around.I then got the unit assembled and noted a few pieces that felt more basic in nature. There's a standard wing nut on the throttle assembly (instead of a more substantial knob perhaps). The throttle (a trigger) also has a lock mechanism to keep it at full power, but anything below full power requires you to hold the trigger at that level. My Echo has a lever that can be set at any level of power. However, 99% of the time you run a blower at full power, so this is another minor point.The strap is also a bit interesting to figure out at first mainly due to very dark color laser-printed instructions on how to attach it. The page is so dark that I could barely make out what they were trying to show. However, a few moments of looking it all over filled in the gaps. One thing the straps could use is another higher-up chest strap. In later use I found the right strap kept creeping down my right arm.I then went out and filled the fuel tank (50-to-1 mix which is pointed out in an addendum to the instructions which call for 30-to-1). They also include a plastic fuel measuring container but with no directions on how to use it. Thankfully I already had a 50-to-1 mix in my garage ready to go.Start up is SLIGHTLY more involved than my Echo. You have to set the choke for Cold (push it up). There's no clear indicators to really help you with this other than a strange set of icons that don't make much sense. The Warm icon looks like this: III. The Cold icon looks like I\I. Your guess is as good as mine. You also need to set the throttle to be locked on which means pushing a safety trigger that normally sits under your right palm, squeeze the main trigger, push a lock button, release the trigger and then set a Start/Stop switch to Start. THEN you prime the carburetor by pumping the bulb 10 times to get fuel into the system. Finally, you pull the starter cord.The first time I pulled I thought I was going to rip the until off the stair I had it on. The motor BARELY turned which put a lot of strain on my pulling arm as the pull slammed to an abrupt stop. The second and third pull were nearly equally rough. The next pull the blower roared into life and I could almost immediately turn the choke to the Warm position.I put the unit on my back, kicked down the full throttle speed, adjusted the placement of the throttle assembly (simple to do) and then noticed something a bit different. At idle the unit was still blowing leaves around. On my Echo the idle is so low that almost nothing comes out of the hose. It's a slight issue, but one worth noting.Then the magic started. I squeezed the trigger to give it full throttle and immediately realized this thing was stronger than my neighbors 560-series. It was blowing leaves half-way up my long driveway. I'd estimate that this unit is pumping roughly 800cfm out at the nozzle. Quite a feat.It is a bit louder than his unit so I highly recommend ear protection (which is normal for all gas blowers). The unit felt about the same weight as my Echo and my neighbor's 560-series. A quick check showed it's actually slightly lighter. It finished the job in no time for a nice quick "spring" cleanup of my front yard. Next up will be the bigger job of cleaning up the back yard.The company also ships this unit with two end nozzles: a "G" which is a standard round-end nozzle and an "H" which ends with a downward-angled rectangular end. It also came with something I didn't expect -- a replacement pull cord assembly. I'm not sure what to make of that. Is this because they expect the existing one to fail quickly? I don't know. It just struck me as odd, but also nice to have.So far, after a single use I can't be much happier. For the price paid I'm doubly impressed. As long as you don't mind a couple MINOR trade-offs, this unit seems really hard to beat. Here's hoping it lasts a few seasons or more.

I am pleased with shroder

So far this thing kicks a$$. Came with tools, "gas can" (plastic) to mix fuel if needed. Also came with an extra pull start assembly, cord recoil, mounting bracket, all in one. Was not hard to assemble nor was it hard to start. Running premixed 50:1 94 octane. Beats the crap out of raking!! Also has a throttle lock to give your trigger finger a rest. Excellent!!