Why would people be paying hundreds more for a blower that has less air speed?
That's easy, they don't. There a few things that one needs to understand when buying a blower. Many people get confused when looking to buy a leaf blower on how to find out it's blowing strength and it causes many people make the wrong decision when buying.
There are a few things on gas powered leaf blowers that are an indication of it's blowing strength.
First is CFM, this term designates cubic feet per minute, 375 CFM means that every minute 375 cubic feet of air volume is pushed through the end of the nozzle, so the higher the cfm the more cubic feet of air volume will be pushed through the nozzle. (
That moves leaves.)
lawn mower fanatic you hand held runs 354 cfm, the 150 runs I think around 700cfm and the other is around 1025 cfm so depend on the area to be cleaned of leaves buy accordingly.
Second is MPH, this designates the speed in which the air escapes the end of the nozzle only. (
that doesn't necessarily move leaves)
Third, CC designates the engine size in cubic centimeters. In general, the larger the size the heavier the machine will be.
And lastly,db which stands for decibels of sound at 50 feet per ANSI measuring regulations. The higher the db, the louder the sound the machine will emit.
Also check the tube sizes on the two blower mentioned, (
the 150) has a smaller diameter, causing the air to exit at a faster velocity, which means nothing when it's not moving enough air to blow the leaves.
In short, as I said earlier buy the blower with the highest CFM your budget (and yard size) dictates.