Best Cordless Blower for Wet Oak Leaves: Three Blowers With the Airflow to Move a Soaked Mat

Why oak leaves are the hard case

Maple leaves curl and tumble; oak leaves are big, flat and leathery, and after rain they lie in a mat that most blowers push around without lifting. Moving them takes a lot of air volume and, more important, air speed to get under the edge of the mat and peel it up. The three blowers here are the highest airflow handhelds on their platforms, and all three have variable speed so the same tool does the open lawn without exhausting the battery.

This guide is built from the published specifications and manuals of each blower and from recurring owner feedback. We have not run these blowers ourselves.

How the three compare

EGO LB8803-2: the most air

Eight hundred and eighty CFM is backpack territory in a handheld, and on a soaked oak mat that is the difference between peeling it up in one pass and pushing it around in five. The LB8803-2 runs two 4 Ah packs, has a digital display showing charge and mode, a cruise dial from 270 to 700 CFM for the open lawn and a turbo to 880 for the mat. It is heavy with two packs; a strap helps over a long session.

EGO LB7654: one pack, nearly as much

The LB7654 gives up about a hundred CFM to the two-pack model and gains lightness, with 765 CFM and 200 MPH on turbo from one 5 Ah pack. EGO names wet leaves as its job. The cruise dial runs 260 to 580 CFM and the pack is rated for up to 90 minutes at low speed, which in practice is a yard of wet leaves done in sections with a turbo burst on each mat.

Greenworks 80V 700 CFM: the value

At 700 CFM and 170 MPH the Greenworks 80V moves wet leaves, and Greenworks says so by name. The brushless motor, cruise control and a kit with a 2.5 Ah pack and charger come in below either EGO. The pack is small for turbo work, so a second 80V pack, which also runs Greenworks mowers, is the sensible add for an oak yard.

Moving wet oak leaves

Work on the driest morning the week offers. Hold the nozzle low and at a shallow angle so the stream gets under the mat edge, and lift the mat in sections toward a tarp rather than trying to move the whole yard to one pile. Use the dial at 500 to 600 CFM on the open lawn and turbo only on the mat; turbo drains a pack in about twenty minutes. A flat nozzle concentrates the stream and is worth buying for any of these. Wet oak leaves are slow to compost; shred them with the mower first.

Which one should you buy

Buy the EGO LB8803-2 for the most airflow on a big oak yard. Buy the EGO LB7654 for nearly as much from one pack at less weight. Buy the Greenworks 80V 700 CFM for the job at a lower price, with a second pack.