Ryobi RBV26B 26cc Petrol Blower Vac

I bought one of three or four years ago. This year it wouldn’t start and had been well used. So, rather than repair cost, I decided to buy a new one. The design has been improved since my last one. There is now a metal cutter blade as well as the plastic shredder. Even better, the kill switch is now a press off type which is sprung in the ‘on’ position. This vastly reduces switching off the motor by mistake. It picks up really well and is hard to clog. But, to other reviewers, get real! If you pile up wet leaves and then try to hoover them up all at once, it will clog... no surprise!!This is a sturdy well made unit and will give good service if looked after. Just don’t forget to zip up the bag after emptying. Otherwise you will be followed around the garden by a cloud of shredded leaves! Been there and got the T shirt.

For a price of £109, it's a great deal.It's reasonably powerful as a blower, and after reading average reviews of its vacuum capabilities, I was quite impressed. It did a good job of sucking up huge amounts of semi-dry leaves and smashing them into bits.One downside is the weight. As there is no strap it does get heavy quite fast, you end up changing hands every couple of minutes. I might even rig up a basic strap to go over my shoulder. Another issue is how tightly the pipes fit to the nozzle, the vacuum pipe took a lot of effort to click into place, and even more to remove. I had to hold the unit between my knees on the floor and use both arms to twist the pipe. Hard work.Instructions are very average, one book of words, one leaflet of pics, so you constantly have to refer from one to the other. Bit stupid.No issues with starting yet, but it's new, so... A good tip ive found with 2 stroke engines is to run the engine dry, that way there's no fuel sitting in it and it keeps the insides clean. This is especially sensible over a long period of not using it.Lastly, the tank only holds about 0.8 of a litre. Bear that in mind when filling as it's easy to end up with fuel everywhere.

I am a Ryobi fan and have five of their electric tools, all of which have given excellent service over the years; their petrol blower/vac was therefore a natural choice and it certainly looked and felt great but then it all went downhill. Instructions very hard to understand; blower pipes very stiff and difficult to attach. On day one it started effortlessly on each of three short trial blower tests and worked well. A few days later, when I needed it for a large just cut holly hedge, it refused to start. Tried everything the following day - new fuel etc - it had spark and fuel but still refused to start. I have a host of petrol powered garden tools and have never experienced such start problems with them. Five stars to Amazon for their speedy return collection and refund.

My biggest criticism of this and my other Ryobi products is the utterly appalling instructions which come with it. The diagrams are small and badly drawn making them difficult to understand and on assembly it is very easy to make a mistake because of this. They are bad... really bad!The product itself is fairly easy to use and start. The starting procedure is slightly complicated but if you follow the bad instructions and tiny confusing diagrams correctly it starts without a problem. There are videos on You Tube which may help but avoid the official Ryobi ones because like their instructions they are a bit confusing and not helpful.It collects leaves and small twigs easily and mulches them nicely. It will be heavy for some individuals and with the collection bag on, the shoulder straps can dig into your neck. This also puts you in an awkward holding position which can give you a sore back after a while. You may want to purchase a face mask because you can end up inhaling the exhaust from the engine on clam wind days.

I use this mainly as a garden vacuum and can't fault it yet. The metal blades seem to aid shredding. Hopefully it'll last longer than my McCulloch one did - a couple of years. Vacuum bag fitting is easy, although I found the intake tube a tad long for me, I'm 5'10". It could of course be cut shorter.After 2 years of ownership the motor started to become difficult to start. Good fuel, good plugs. Purchased pac-man type tool to adjust carb mixtures. Ok now.

Have had this for less than a year and now the put cord doesn't recoil. So I bypassed the pull cord and it still doesn't start. Really disappointed as it was great when it worked. Had a Ryobi prior to this one and it worked great for 10 years. Definitely will not buy another Ryobi.

This is my second Ryobi leaf vacume and only needed to be replaced as my first was 17 years old and parts were unavailable. The number 2 has new features and number of key improvements. Assembly was straight forward and the new rev regulator has proved to be highly effective. Product improvements were: vacume Tube fitting is more secure than my old system as is the fitting of the leaf bag (more about that later) which means it stays on. The expeller fan now includes a metal muncher, much more effective and I expect it will last longer. No comment on documentation I had a glance but it was a bit vague. Some good You Tube videos but being familiar with the device I just had a play, which your average bloke does. In 17 years I needed to replace some parts such as the leaf bag, vacume tube and expeller fan and these proved to be readily available for at least 12 years. Just spent the afternoon sucking up leaves. Delighted. Two negatives, the machine gets hot and cooked my tum, had to put on a jacket. The leaf bag connector is a tight fit and gets in the way when refuelling. Difficult to get off ; a little silicon fixed it. I’m very pleased with this replacement, having had an electric one (which didn’t cut the mustard) and a Ryobi for 17 years, I commend it.

I must say that when I saw many of the other reviews I nearly didn't buy this machine, However it seemed like such a good deal that I went ahead and ordered it. I found it easy to assemble and start. Its powerful and did a great job. Just follow the instructions.