The best leaf blower for most yards is a battery powered cordless handheld in the 600 to 750 CFM range, like the EGO POWER+ LB6151, rated up to 615 CFM with a battery and charger in the box. Gas still wins on acreage and hours of continuous blowing, and a corded blower buys the most air per dollar within reach of an outlet. If you run corded tools far from an outlet, our best portable power stations guide sizes a battery box by the tool's draw.
Leaf blower listings are a wall of specs, and two of them do almost all the work. CFM is how much air the machine moves, which decides how big a pile you can push. MPH is how fast that air leaves the nozzle, which decides whether a leaf glued to wet grass comes loose at all. Most disappointing blowers are strong on one number and quietly weak on the other. Below are eight leaf blowers for eight real jobs, six cordless plus one gas and one corded, with the specs each maker publishes. This page is one stop on our fall yard cleanup tools checklist, which puts every fall job in order.
Best leaf blowers at a glance
| Blower | Best for | Why it wins | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
EGO POWER+ LB6151, 615 CFM (best overall) |
Everyday fall cleanup on a normal lot | Up to 615 CFM and 170 MPH, variable speed dial, battery and charger included | amazon |
 Greenworks 80V, 730 CFM, tool only |
Owners of Greenworks 80V batteries | The most air volume per dollar here, with turbo boost and cruise control | amazon |
 WORX WG547, 20V, 360 CFM |
Small yards, driveways, decks, garages | 4.4 pounds with the battery in it, two speeds, complete kit | amazon |
 Greenworks 80V backpack, 750 CFM |
Half an acre or more of leaf drop | The load rides on your back, 4.0 Ah battery and charger included | amazon |
 EGO POWER+ LB8803-2, 880 CFM |
Wet, matted leaves and pine needles | Up to 200 MPH, the highest published air speed here, on two 4.0 Ah batteries | amazon |
 RYOBI ONE+ P21011, 250 CFM, tool only |
Cheapest entry if you own RYOBI 18V packs | A compact hard-surface blower, tool only | amazon |
Husqvarna 150BT gas backpack, 765 CFM |
Acreage and hours of continuous blowing | 270 MPH is the fastest air on this page, and a fuel can beats a charger on a long day | amazon |
WORX WG520 Turbine 600, corded, 600 CFM |
Yards that sit within an extension cord of an outlet | Lawn-clearing air volume, with no battery to buy or charge | amazon |
What is the best leaf blower?
For most homeowners it is the EGO POWER+ LB6151, a handheld rated up to 615 CFM and 170 MPH that includes a 2.5 Ah battery and charger. It has a variable speed dial, a turbo mode for wet leaves, and access to EGO's 56V platform, which keeps the next tool cheaper.
That assumes you are starting fresh. Once you own cordless yard tools the answer changes: a bare 730 CFM Greenworks 80V blower beats any kit if an 80V pack is already on your shelf, and a RYOBI bare tool wins outright if your garage runs on 18V ONE+ batteries. Battery platforms are the real product here, which is why the best leaf blower for you is often not the strongest one on the page.
Tree cover decides the rest. A quarter-acre lot with a maple or two is a handheld job, while half an acre under mature oaks is where a backpack and a second battery stop being luxuries. For bigger properties, see our guides to the best backpack leaf blowers, the best gas leaf blowers and the best walk behind leaf blowers.
Power source is the other fork, and for most readers it is already settled. Cordless has enough air for a suburban fall with no fuel and no cord, which is why six of the eight picks below run on batteries. Gas is the answer on acreage where you blow for hours. Corded is the answer when the whole job sits within an extension cord of an outlet. Both get their own section further down.
Best battery powered leaf blower
Battery powered, battery operated and cordless all mean the same thing on a leaf blower listing, and for most buyers the pick is the EGO POWER+ LB6151: up to 615 CFM and 170 MPH, with a 2.5 Ah battery and a charger in the box, so nothing else has to be bought before you can use it. If you already own 80V Greenworks packs, the bare 730 CFM Greenworks moves more air for less. If your garage runs on RYOBI 18V ONE+, the bare RYOBI is the least expensive way to own a blower at all.
Battery blowers are no longer the compromise they were a few years ago. Their honest limits are runtime and cold: published runtimes are measured at low speed, so one pack at full power lasts a fraction of the headline figure, and every lithium pack gives up some capacity in freezing weather. Both are answered by a second battery rather than by a bigger blower. What you get back is no fuel and no mixing, no pull cord, a much quieter machine, and a tool that stays legal in the growing list of towns and states that restrict gas blowers.
CFM vs MPH: which number to trust
CFM stands for cubic feet per minute, the volume of air the blower moves. Volume pushes mass, so CFM sets how large a pile you can drive forward and how wide a swath you clear per sweep. MPH is the speed of the air at the nozzle, and speed is what breaks a leaf loose from whatever it is stuck to. Air speed decides your wet-leaf and pine-needle problem.
Here is the trap: the same motor produces different numbers depending on the nozzle. A narrow or flat tip raises MPH and lowers CFM, and a wide tip does the reverse, so two spec sheets can describe the same machine measured with different attachments. It also means the narrow tip is the one to fit when the leaves are wet. Some brands publish a newton rating that combines air volume and speed, and it is a more honest single number when you can find it.
- Under 400 CFM is a hard-surface tool. It clears a driveway, a deck, and grass clippings off concrete. It will not move a leaf pile off a lawn.
- 500 to 750 CFM handles a suburban fall. This is the range where a blower gathers a yard's leaves into windrows instead of scattering them.
- Around 150 MPH is a practical floor for wet leaves. Below that you nudge them rather than lift them, whatever the CFM says.
- Variable speed matters more than peak output. Full power in a planted bed strips the mulch, so most of your work should happen at a middle setting you can lock in.
One honest limit: no blower is gentle enough for the inside of a perennial bed, where a stiff-tined leaf rake is still faster and does less damage than any amount of air. Air does win in one place a rake cannot reach, which is a gutter full of dry debris, and our gutter cleaning tool picks cover the blower extension kits alongside the scoops and poles.
The best cordless leaf blowers, by job
1. EGO POWER+ LB6151: best cordless leaf blower overall
The LB6151 fits more yards than anything else here. EGO rates it up to 615 CFM with air speeds up to 170 MPH in turbo, enough volume to walk a lawn's worth of dry leaves into a windrow and enough speed to break the damp ones off grass. The variable speed dial spans 200 to 480 CFM with a lock-on button, so most of the work happens at a setting you hold and turbo stays in reserve.
A 2.5 Ah battery and charger come in the box, which makes this the value pick as well as the power pick. EGO lists up to 75 minutes of runtime on that pack and a 50 minute charge, and the included battery works with all EGO power tools. Find it on amazon.
Where it loses: 615 CFM and 170 MPH sit a step below the two-battery EGO further down, so a lot under mature oaks after a week of rain will feel slow.
2. Greenworks 80V 730 CFM: best value cordless leaf blower
If there is already a Greenworks 80V battery on your shelf, this is the most air you can buy for the least money. Greenworks rates the bare tool at up to 730 CFM and 170 MPH, more volume than the EGO above for less, with variable speed, a turbo boost for heavier piles, and cruise control.
The catch is the product title. Tool only means a blower and a manual, with battery and charger sold separately: right for the reader who bought an 80V mower last spring, wrong as a first cordless purchase. Greenworks says its 80V packs run across more than 75 tools. Find it on amazon.
Where it loses: a first-time buyer still has to add a battery and a charger, which erases the price advantage, and there is no runtime figure to plan against until you pick a pack.
3. WORX WG547: best cordless leaf blower for small yards
A 20V blower sounds underpowered next to an 80V one, and voltage is the wrong thing to read. The WG547 uses a turbine fan to move 360 CFM at up to 75 MPH, and it weighs 4.4 pounds with the battery installed. Weight is the number that matters when the real job is a driveway, a deck, and a garage floor.
Two speeds cover the range: low for sweeping near planted beds without rearranging them, high for gathering leaves into a pile. A 2.0 Ah battery and charger are included, and the same PowerShare packs run more than 140 other WORX products. Find it on amazon.
Where it loses: 75 MPH is not enough air speed to lift wet leaves off a lawn, so on a rainy fall weekend this reverts to being a hard-surface tool.
4. Greenworks 80V backpack: best backpack leaf blower
Weight is what ends a long blowing session. A backpack puts the machine and its battery on your back, so your arm only steers the tube. This Greenworks 80V rig is rated at up to 750 CFM, more volume than any handheld here except the two-battery EGO, and it ships with a 4.0 Ah battery and charger.
Variable speed control matters more on a backpack than a handheld, because a machine this size run flat out in a flower bed is a mistake you make once. Across half an acre of oak leaves, the difference between holding a blower and wearing one shows up in your shoulder by the second pass. Find it on amazon.
Where it loses: Greenworks does not publish an air speed for this model, so there is no MPH figure to compare, and it costs more than two capable handheld kits.
5. EGO POWER+ LB8803-2: best cordless leaf blower for wet leaves
Wet leaves are a speed problem, not a volume problem. Water makes a leaf cling to whatever it is lying on, and only fast air breaks that bond. The LB8803-2 carries the highest published air speed of any cordless blower here at up to 200 MPH, paired with up to 880 CFM to move the mass once it is loose, and EGO points its turbo mode squarely at wet leaves and caked-on grass.
It runs on two included 4.0 Ah batteries, which EGO rates at up to 90 minutes, and a digital display reports output, charge state, and cruise lock while you work. The cruise dial spans 270 to 700 CFM, so the full 880 is a reserve rather than the setting you live at. Tapered and spread nozzles both come in the box, and the tapered one is what you want on a wet lawn. Find it on amazon.
Where it loses: two batteries add weight and cost, so this is an expensive way to clear a patio and it only earns its price if your cleanup is genuinely heavy.
6. RYOBI ONE+ P21011: best budget cordless leaf blower
The cheapest way into a cordless blower is to already own the batteries. If your garage runs on RYOBI 18V ONE+ packs, the P21011 is a bare tool that works with all of them, rated at 250 CFM and 90 MPH.
RYOBI is direct about the job: the listing calls it ideal for hard surfaces like sidewalks and driveways, and that is the honest ceiling. It is compact and light, and right for clearing a walk, sweeping a patio, and getting clippings off a driveway apron after mowing. Find it on amazon.
Where it loses: 250 CFM will not move a real leaf pile off a lawn, and with no battery in the box it is only cheap if you own a ONE+ pack already.
Best gas leaf blower: Husqvarna 150BT
Gas earns its place in one situation: a big property and a long session. A battery backpack empties and needs a charger, while a gas backpack needs a fuel can and keeps going. Husqvarna rates the 150BT at 765 CFM and 270 MPH from a 51 cc two-cycle engine, which is more air speed than any cordless blower on this page and enough volume to windrow leaves under mature oaks.
Because it is a backpack, the weight rides on a padded harness and hip belt rather than on your arm, and the variable speed throttle has cruise control so you are not holding a trigger for an hour. An air purge system clears the carburetor before starting, which is the part of gas ownership people complain about most. Find it on amazon.
Where it loses: a two-cycle engine means mixed fuel and real noise, and a growing number of towns and states restrict or ban gas blowers outright. Check your local rules first, because that restriction is on the tool itself.
Best corded leaf blower: WORX WG520 Turbine 600
A cord is a real constraint and a real advantage. There is nothing to charge, nothing to run out mid-job, and no battery platform to buy into. WORX rates the WG520 at 600 CFM and 110 MPH from a 12 amp motor, which lands it inside the 500 to 750 CFM band that actually moves a lawn's worth of leaves.
Shop it by the model number. WORX sells this as the Turbine and its own listing calls it the Turbine 600 after those 600 CFM, so WG520 is the string to search rather than any Turbine number you see on a shopping tile. It weighs 6.5 pounds, runs at two speeds, and includes a hyper-stream nozzle that concentrates the air for stubborn patches. The plug takes a standard extension cord, sold separately, and a cord retainer stops it pulling loose. Find it on amazon.
Where it loses: your working radius is the length of your extension cord, and dragging one through a planted bed is its own small chore. At 110 MPH it also takes more passes on wet leaves than the 200 MPH cordless pick above.
What size leaf blower do I need?
Size a blower by lot and tree cover, not by the biggest number on the box. Under a quarter acre with a driveway, a deck and a light leaf fall, around 500 CFM is enough, and the lighter tool is the one you will actually pick up. A quarter to half an acre with a few mature trees is the 600 to 750 CFM band, which is where most of the picks on this page sit. Over half an acre under oaks or pines, a backpack in the 700 CFM and up range stops being a luxury, because the limit becomes your arm and your batteries rather than the air.
Two adjustments to that. Wet leaves and pine needles move the requirement toward MPH and a narrow nozzle rather than toward more CFM, so a 600 CFM blower with real air speed beats an 800 CFM one without it. And if the leaves have to leave the property rather than move to a pile, blowing is only half the job: a leaf vacuum mulcher shreds as it collects, and a lawn sweeper clears a whole lawn in passes. Both beat blowing onto a tarp.
How to choose a leaf blower
Six decisions cover almost everything.
- Start with the power source. Cordless fits almost every home yard. Gas is for acreage and hours of blowing, corded for a job an extension cord reaches.
- Then match the battery platform. A bare tool plus a battery you own beats a kit on a new platform, and every future mower or trimmer gets cheaper too.
- Buy CFM for the yard, MPH for the mess. A big lot of dry leaves means volume. Wet leaves, pine needles, and gravel mean air speed and a narrow nozzle.
- Count batteries, not minutes. Published runtimes are up-to figures at a low setting. A second battery turns a one-hour tool into an all-afternoon tool more effectively than a bigger blower does.
- Handheld under a quarter acre, backpack over half. In between, weight and session length decide. If you stop to switch hands, you have outgrown the handheld.
- Read the listing for the word kit. Tool-only listings are often the best price on the page and the worst surprise in the box.
Cordless blowers also run quieter than gas, which matters because some towns and states restrict or ban gas blowers. Check your local rules before you buy either kind. And blown leaves are only halfway to useful: pile them into a compost bin and they come back next spring as free soil amendment.
Frequently asked questions
Is CFM or MPH more important on a leaf blower?
Both, for different reasons. CFM is air volume and decides how large a pile you can move and how wide a path you clear. MPH is air speed and decides whether wet or matted leaves come loose at all. For fall cleanup on a lawn, look for high CFM with roughly 150 MPH or more behind it.
How long does a cordless leaf blower run on one charge?
Maximum runtime figures are up-to numbers at a low setting. EGO lists up to 75 minutes for its 615 CFM model on a 2.5 Ah battery and up to 90 minutes for its 880 CFM model on two 4.0 Ah batteries. Turbo and high speed cut those figures well short, so plan on a second pack.
Can a cordless leaf blower handle wet leaves?
Yes, if it has the air speed for it. Water makes leaves stick, and speed breaks the bond, so a model rated up to 200 MPH clears wet leaves that a 75 MPH model only nudges. Fit the narrow or flat nozzle to concentrate the stream, and work in short overlapping passes.
Are cordless leaf blowers as good as gas?
For home yards, yes. The strongest cordless handhelds now match or beat mid-range gas blowers on published CFM, start instantly, run quieter, and need no fuel mixing or winter carburetor work. Gas still wins on all-day runtime, which is why crews either buy batteries by the crate or stay with gas.
Should I buy a cordless, gas or corded leaf blower?
Cordless fits almost every home yard: enough air for a suburban fall, no fuel to mix and no cord to drag. Choose gas for acreage and hours of continuous blowing, where a fuel can beats a charger. Choose corded when the whole job sits within an extension cord of an outlet and you want the most air per dollar.
Is a backpack leaf blower worth it?
It is worth it above roughly half an acre of leaf-dropping trees. A backpack puts the tool and its battery on your back, so a long session stops being an arm workout and your hand only steers the tube. Below that, a good handheld kit costs less, stores smaller, and finishes the job.
Are battery powered leaf blowers any good?
Yes, for almost every home yard. A modern 600 to 750 CFM cordless blower clears a suburban fall with no fuel, no mixing and no pull cord, and it runs far quieter than gas. Gas still wins where you blow for hours at a stretch, or well beyond the reach of an outlet and a charger.
How many CFM do I need for a leaf blower?
Around 500 CFM clears a driveway, a deck and a light leaf fall. 600 to 750 CFM is the band that handles a quarter to half an acre of real fall leaves. Above that you are buying a backpack for acreage. Pair whatever CFM you choose with roughly 150 MPH or more, or wet leaves will not lift at all.
Does a higher voltage battery make a leaf blower more powerful?
Voltage sets the ceiling on how much power the motor can draw, so an 80V tool can be built stronger than an 18V one. Amp hours are a different number and set runtime, not power. A 5 Ah pack on the same blower runs longer than a 2.5 Ah pack; it does not blow any harder.
What is the best budget cordless leaf blower?
The RYOBI ONE+ P21011 as a bare tool, if you already own 18V ONE+ batteries, because the tool alone costs a fraction of any kit. If you own no batteries yet, the cheapest honest route is a kit on a platform you will buy more tools on, since the saving actually lands on the second tool rather than the first.
The bottom line
Buy the EGO POWER+ LB6151 if you are starting from nothing. Buy the bare Greenworks 80V if you already own the batteries, the WORX WG547 if the job is really a driveway and a deck, and the 880 CFM EGO if your leaves arrive wet and stay that way. Buy the Husqvarna 150BT if you have acreage and blow for hours, and the corded WORX WG520 if an outlet reaches the whole job. Then work with the wind, blow into windrows, and finish the season with our guide to winterizing the garden.
Disclosure: some links in this guide are affiliate links to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, Spear Head Spade earns from qualifying purchases. This is at no extra cost to you, and it never changes our honest, use-based recommendations.
About the shop behind this guide: we are Spear Head Spade, a family business in New Jersey, and we make the double-patented spades built for clay and roots, with over 600,000 sold. The leaves you blow into a pile are worth keeping, which is what our guide to mulching leaves is about. If digging is the next job after the cleanup, our spade finder matches a spade to your height and your soil.
