Mitox 280BVX Premium Petrol Leaf Blower/Vacuum, Red

I had read a number of contradictory reviews, but ultimately sided on 'the which' review that had it as the best to buy. For me, it was great. Very easy to assemble. I set it up as a vacuum which from the two instructions, looked harder to do. But was actually pretty easy.Its lightweight, good suction with a pretty good sized bag on it. Used it quite a few times and haven't needed to empty it yet. So overall pretty pleased.

Like the other review on here I found the instructions to be a bit poor, especially around starting it from cold.. It was relatively easy to assemble and started well once It had been fuelled and I'd ignored the instructions.

I bought this as my current one doesnt hoover. It was top ranked in which magazine so thought I'd try it.I have had a different model in the past where the blower was great but the suction was pathetic, this one I am pleased to say is very good. Its big and quite bulky, but does the job very well.Would definitely recommend.

Works well, easy to start and to use. Not to heavy

Having seen this as a Which? best buy I was concerned about the so-so comments but decided to buy it anyway. My husband is thrilled with it. It wasn't too difficult to assemble and he has used it to both blow (good narrow nozzle enables accurate aim) and sucking up (very powerful).

By the looks of it, this was going to be good. However the reality was different.It assembled OK but fiddly and not easy to get the large tubes together or affix them.Sorting out the petrol mix was fine.I read the FAQs on the website so knew to prime twice as much as in the instructions. Still took me 20 minutes to start once I had worked out how to open the incredibly fiddly flap to attach the tubes for vacuuming.Once going the machine was very good, sucking up all the pesky holly leaves.Couple of days later, had another go at starting it. Spent 45 minutes trying to with no success. Again, changing tubes almost impossible as the plastic is so slippery.Very, very disappointing.All credit to Amazon who have refunded my money.I certainly would not recommend this machine!

The good. It blows and sucks well enough, comes with a flattened nozzle end as well as a round one. The blower tube is quick and easy to attach and remove; the suction tube a bit more fiddly.The not so good. Somewhat awkward to pick up when set up for suction. Petrol tank is a bit on the small side, which means more frequent re-filling. When working among bushes leaves easily become stuck against the air intake screen which kills effective suction. Left handers will find the throttle lock lever gets in the way and can be uncomfortable, and the right facing air intake can easily suck against clothing. Starts easily enough, but takes careful handling to keep it running and get it to run smoothly - about 5 - 10 sec of short blips on the throttle or it dies.6 months on - update. Idles fast. Kill switch has totally failed. Pressing it has no effect. Can only be stopped by fully choking. Not safe. Parts diagram is so small as to be unreadable.

The operators Manuel for this machine is very poor. The illustrations are totally inadequate. This machine is advertised for amateur use but Despite a certain facility with machine I have not even managed to put it together. I fail to understand why they did not mark the tubes a simple A1,A2, A3 with directional arrows for the blower and B1 etc for the vacuum cleaner. It is also heavy and I imagine will be very tiring for the average amateur gardener to use. For the moment I will give it one star but will write again when I manage to get it assembled.