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| Brand: Toro
Category: Home Improvement
List Price: $69.99
Buy New: $61.99
You Save: $8.00 (11%)
New (18) Refurbished (1) from $61.99
Rating:  289 reviews
Sales Rank: 1
Color: Red
Media: Tools & Hardware
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 11.5
Dimensions (in): 48 x 20.5 x 10
MPN: 51599
Model: 51599
UPC: 021038515991
EAN: 0021038515991
ASIN: B000H1Y4EK
Release Date: January 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Toro Ultra 12 Amp is wonderful November 11, 2008
I have used another leaf blower for years but this year I purchased the Toro Ultra 12 amp electric blower/vacuum because of a recommendation from a friend. I love the fact that it has adjustable speeds. The high speed really has lots of power. It is easy to hold and works great! I would highly recommend it to everyone.
Excellent product - the reviews are true! November 10, 2008
I bought this product recently after borrowing my neighbors 3 year old Black and Decker Leaf Hog. His unit worked so well that I wanted to get one just like it, but then I looked at the latest ratings in Consumer Reports and decided to try the Toro Ultra model (51599), as it was top rated and considered a best buy. I'm glad I did! Without repeating everything already said, let me point out a few things that I found and appreciate about this unit. Note that this review discusses this unit in vacuum mode only. I did use it as a blower also and can say it worked great, but my primary reason for buying it was to get as much leaves into the yard waste bags as I could.
Pros (in vacuum mode):
The metal empeller works great at handling small twigs. The instructions say to avoid twigs, but that's not realistic in most circumstances.
This unit handles my sweet gum balls whereas the older Leaf Hog I borrowed would just rattle the ball around until you shut it off to let it drop out. With the Toro, it does rattle around some but then it goes through if I follow it with some more leaves.
This unit will suck up pine needles better than the older Leaf Hog.
The bag is very easy to empty. I worked out a system where I put the entire collection bag in the paper yard waste bag, then reach in and unzip it to release the contents fairly easily. I get two loads into each paper bag. With the older Leaf Hog, it sometimes took a little work to get the bag empty. (In the process I found that the yard waste bags purchased from Walgreens work much better than those from Walmart. The Walmart bags seemed to tear very easy, while the Walgreens bags could handle much more tugging while filing it.)
Switching between blower and vacuum mode is very easy. It does take a moment but probably less than a minute. There may be some units that can be swithced faster but I can't imagine it being a lot faster given how quick and easy this one is.
The compaction ratio is very good. It may not be 16 to 1 but I would bet it's at least 8 to 1 in normal circumstances. (They probably did get 16 to 1 in their product testing by choosing the right leaves, and going very slow to allow the impeller to work better.) Still, it churns the leaves up plenty fine for me and saves me lots of yard waste bags (which is especially nice during the parts of the year where my local collection service charges by the bag).
Cons (in vacuum mode):
One thing I did prefer about the older Leaf Hog I had borrowed was the comfort of the bag and strap while vacuuming. With the Toro, the bag hangs okay but it flops around a bit more.
The other thing that seemed to work better was the cord management, but I found if I drape the cord over the back of the bag it stays out of the way pretty good.
Note that in this review I'm referring to an older model Leaf Hog for comparison, not the current model. I don't know anything about the current model except that Consumer Reports ranked it in about the middle, which is why I tried the Toro first.
Overall, this is an excellent unit and I highly recommend it!
 electric powered is the better of two evils November 9, 2008
works well, length of cord required results in annoying tangling of the cord but less of an hassle that than mixing gas. I use several shorter cords so when knots occur it is easier to untangle. The plug sometimes falls out while walking around but that can be reduced by tyoing the cord through or to the handle.
Very glad I bought this one November 9, 2008
I hesitated to spend the extra money, but the other reviews convinced me that it would be money well spent. They are right. What a well engineered product. Changing from blower to vac is a snap. The continuously variable speed speed makes it easy to vacuum leaves from flower beds with mulch and from gravel walkways. The metal impeller has held up well. The blower/nozzle combination creates enormous power for moving piles of leaves. The unit is light weight, well balanced and generally quiet (except at the very highest speeds). I would buy it again in a heartbeat and wish other products were designed and engineered so well.
Very good, with flaws November 9, 2008
I purchased this before the leaves started falling this fall. As a blower it has very good power. It also does a nice job of vacuuming the leaves. I think the bag is hard to handle and the mulching is short of the 16:1 ratio it claims, seems closer to 5:1. The bag is pretty small too, I wish it was bigger. Overall I am satisfied with the product, just wish the bag was larger and easier to handle.
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