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enfpjim –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hard working home leaf mulcher
Put the mulcher to the test for the first time. I was super easy to set up and operate. The design for everything from assembly to operation seems to be aimed at ease of use. I mulched the leaves from 5 maple trees and got through the lot in about 90 minutes.The key to smooth operation seems to me to be not overfilling the ample feed throat. The large capacity would make it easy to overload the cutters but taking your time makes it faster in the long run. I notice too that small twigs and branches are broken up pretty easily. I am very happy I made this purchase.
Byron Smith –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Notes from a user of this item
Well, I usually don’t write many reviews for products because you don’t often need a review for things you know how they perform, but I thought I’d write about this new item to me. I live in the mountains of Tennessee and have a mountain of leaves to deal with each year. After loading what felt like 50 bags last year with a rake, I decided to see if I could reduce the volume of leaves to something more manageable. So off to search for a good leave mulcher. The item was well packed and is fairly light weight. Assembly was very straight forward and its not complicated at all. I presently am using contractor clean up plastic bags from Lowes for the leaves. A few thoughts… Dry leaves work the best in this machine. If your going to blow your leaves into a pile, I do recommend that you only do so for the leaves your going to mulch with this machine, that day. I made the mistake of blowing my whole yard into a long pile. Then it rained the next day. Dry leaves work the best and you can just about load this machine with them as fast as you can and it processes it quite well But if they leaves are wet – Oh Dear!!! Wet leaves mulch into something that looks like wet coffee grounds and as such, it tends to pack into the bowl causing the exit ports to plug up. The mulch wont drop into the bag. You’ll have to stop the machine, unplug the power, then poke open the slots the leaves normally drop through. At this point, I just push the mulch through the slots and then continue. A combo of mostly dry to wet leaves will process better than just wet ones. Just try to put dry leaves through it and you’ll enjoy this greatly. The plastic weed eater string. WORX sells a pack of pre cut strings. You’d prob be better off to just get a roll of .080 or .093 weed eater string and cut your own. Ive had strings last 15 minutes to an hour before. (I think small branches in the leaves are what shortens the string life) Long strings work the best. You will notice the mulch will move around quite well when the strings are long. I replace the strings when I notice the mulch isn’t moving really well. I find worn strings are about 3 inches long at this point. Wet leaves will shorten the string life. Also, just to be clear, you can process these wet leaves, but be prepared to have a really heavy bag once its full. All that water!. Dry leaves makes the bag much lighter. One thing I did notice, is there is an air intake and exhaust for the motor cooling. The intake is where the large red on/off button is. I’m going to add some window screen over the outside of this to limit the amount of gunk that is sucked into this port. I’ve already had to take the unit apart and clean out this filter (6 phillips screws). Window screen should help prevent the build up of materials. WORX figured this out and glued a filter inside the intake port with hot glue – but this isn’t a really good fix. No way to clean it unless you take the unit apart and pull the filter from the hot glue bonds inside. WORX – rethink this filter to make a snap on outside filter thats user cleanable. Other than this, Im really happy with this. The price is good too.
24 people found this helpful
Natalia –
4.0 out of 5 stars
It does what it supposed to do
It is a good machine for the money and does what it should do: mulch leaves. There are no blades, only a little plastic cords that only cut leaves. A minor issue is that the plastic cords that cut the leaves get destroyed pretty quickly, not because of the leaves but because of a bad design where the tip of the cords hit the inside of the machine, so they get shortened and allow for the inconsistent size of the mulch. They provide many cord replacements, so they are aware of this issue.
Chad G. –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Leaf Mulcher saved me tons of time bagging leaves
The WORX WG430 13 Amp Electric Leaf Mulcher is a powerful and efficient tool for managing autumn leaves. Its sturdy build and 13 Amp motor make quick work of leaf disposal. The mulching capability reduces leaves to 1/11th of their original size.Assembly is straightforward, with clear instructions. The mulcher’s flexibility allows for easy adjustment between wet and dry leaves, ensuring consistent performance. The tool features a spacious 13-inch cutting diameter, accommodating a significant volume of leaves. The mulching line design minimizes clogging, enhancing continuous operation.One notable advantage is the mulcher’s compact design, facilitating storage when not in use. The inclusion of a clean air motor cooling system prevents overheating during prolonged use. I wish it had a guard to help prevent sticks from getting into the mulching blades as this dramatically shortens the life of the blades.
SwdstMaker –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Does the job
Several points.The storage holes in the top for the legs are nice, until you turn it on and the sherdded leaves blow out of them into your face. Wear safety glasses,The shredder works much better with the blade removed. (I believe it’s to insure the string is cut to the proper length) The blade quickly gathers larger pieces and changes the pattern such that the larger leaves don’t get hit. I removed mine and it works much better.The string needs replacing often. A stray small branch (very hard to miss in a pile of leaves) shortens the life considerably.
Golfcritic –
3.0 out of 5 stars
Works great with DRY LEAVES! Wet not at all
Some basic information. The idea is good, use weed wacker string on a motor to mulch leaves.Pros: Easy to use. Simple assembly, simple to use.Cons: The leaves must be DRY! If they are wet the leaves do not drop down into the bag. The leaves gather up on the sides causing it to stop mulching. The opening on the bottom are too small and the leaves get jammed.Also the string shipped Diameter is .075 and the replacement string from Worx is .080. This is a little better but requires CONSTANT replacement. I purchased .095 and that did the trick. It’s a tight fit but certainly fits. I recommend making the string 2 inches longer than what is sent to you with the Worx mulcher. Again wet and damp leaves don’t fall into the bag due to being hung up.There are 4 pieces of plastic that are mounted across the hopper. The main piece is the support for the motor. The other 4 are a problem. I removed 2 of them. This opened up the area for the leaves to drop into the bag. Now I can mulch leaves that are damp. The leaves still get mulched but will drop into the bag. Next year I may bore out a larger hole to fit thicker string. There is a braided line 1.05 diameter which would be way to go.Wear safety glasses and use a sturdy branch to push down on the leaves and to clear the sides. Obviously stay away from the spinning string.
One person found this helpful
CD –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Put it on a trash can
The mulcher does what it claims. That said, instead of using the-base they provide, I would suggest putting it on top of a trashcan. You can get a couple boards and lay across the trashcan on the edges for it to sit on or build a base and attach it to the mulcher as I did. Should you choose to use a bag, it’s much easier to wrap the bag around the trash can than to use the flimsy plastic ring that is provided.I purchased this to cut down on the number of bags I use as I must pay for them to be hauled off. It does cut down on the number of bags but because it takes SO much longer to mulch than to just stuff the leaves in a bag, I abandoned it for the sake of saving time. I’ll still use it to mulch some leaves for the beds and pots.
One person found this helpful
Omar J. Torres –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Is pretty good
It work but if you have a big mountain of leaf going to be a hassle because if you put alot to crush the machine start to cloth and be careful on pushing the leaf with your handsI just shake it sides to sides and do the trick but it’s a time consuming process be aware of that but the most part do a pretty good job
M. BittickM. Bittick –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Works well for leaves, keep the twigs out tho
Works well from box. Some ease of use suggestions, 20 gallon trash can will fit right underneath if you’re looking to use mulch on your property and can just dump somewhere. Way easier than bags. Also the trimmer line that comes with is outperformed by heavy duty trimmer line so buy a spool of that and use right off bat. Leave the stock lines to use for measurement off the spool.
One person found this helpful
Topper –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent at what it does, but be ready to buy extra supplies
I think that this machine is excellent for its intended use. It works best with dry leaves, just like every other leaf mulcher out there. Here are a few thoughts:PROSIncredibly easy to assembleReplacing the “blades”, is easily done in about one minuteOversized on/off switch – a very good safety measurePowerful to chew through leaves and stemsNot too cumbersome to move, but the top part is a little heavyCONS”Blades” – these are plastic trimmer like lines that rotate just like a trimmer. Any non leaf/stem debris will wear down the blade quicker. On average, you will be able to use one set of blades every 45-60 minutes. The more larger debris you put in, the quicker you will have to replace them. They begin to shear from the outside in, and when they lose 4-5 inches of their 13 inch length, the outside of the machine will clog with leaves and debris. A quick shake of the machine will tend to agitate the material, but at some point, you need to power off and replace.Tips:Buy extra “blades” right away. The are not expensive and you won’t stress about using them up. After about an hour, replace them. It says to cut them, but you can undo them and replace them without any need for a cutting device.You can buy a collapsible bag, but only do this if you are going to actually use it as mulch. Fill the bag, remove the top of the machine to remove the bag, and dump wherever you need it. This can also be accomplished with a leaf bag. You will need to rip it a bit to get it to fit, but it can be done and at a fraction of the price. If you are just going to use it to get more into the leaf bags to dispose of, I wouldn’t use the collapsible bag, or else you’ll be filling up one bag to then empty into another…makes no sense.Make sure you have extension cords at the ready. Place this machine right where you need it. Use a blower to gather the leaves in a pile, and then I use a snow shovel to scoop the leaves right into the machine. It works faster if you don’t put a massive pile in. A blower and shovel will do wonders on your back, since you won’t have to bend down to pick up the leaves (that’s what kids are for).If you really have the time, and the patience to do so, you can run the leaves through twice. This will grind them completely and give you an incredibly mulchy base. Like I said, IF YOU HAVE THE TIME.Overall – 4 out of 5 stars, because the “blades” have to be replaced every 60 minutes.
35 people found this helpful
archshrkarchshrk –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Works well enough
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This is my first leaf shredder so I can’t compare it to others but this one does the job. I took a large pile and made it into a small pile.It is louder than I expected but you can wear ear protection. I just got used to it.I can’t vouch for the 16:1 reduction. I’m sure it’s true in lab conditions but it felt like 8:1 no problem. It’s definitely better than filling up several green waste bins for the city to pick up.I haven’t used it with a bag yet but don’t see why there would be a problem there. Since I mulched my leaves straight into the garden, it would be nice to have a discharge shield but I can rig one up myself, may even cut the bottom off a reusable bag.
4 people found this helpful
Adair Rowan –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Works as indicated
This product works as advertised. Thick nylon string blades. Wide opening. Made about thirty bags of leaves broken down to about 5 or six bags.
Libby R –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Works great! Less bags!
Easy to put together and use! Shreds leaves with ease! I went from 15 bags to 2 cans! I have a ginko tree, so it’s one and done, but my neighbors trees? Never ending leaves to clean up in my yard. I would start stocking yard waste bags late summer just for fall clean up. This machine is amazing! Dusty, loud as a lawnmower, but it eats those leaves right up. So happy with this purchase! Specially since the trash company will be limiting the amount of yard waste pick up in the next 6 months. I’m a Gen X, live alone, and it was easy putting this together and using it. I did buy the extra string pack, but I think you could just use weed eater string too. Bring on the next batch of leaves!
3 people found this helpful
L. Heald –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Works very well
I use to mulch hay for my senior horse. Works very well. Only thing is the mulch lines wear out very quickly when mulching hay.
james m. conlon –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic!
We have a large Maple Tree in our front yard. We live in Michigan and it waits to drop its leaves until November.This leaf shredder is fantastic. It eats leaves up wet or dry. I found that two people working is the best scenario. One who rakes the leaves to the one feeding the machine and changing the bags.Very efficient. If you avoid letting twigs getting on n with the leaves, the strings last a long time. It’s double string trimmer design works perfect for shredding leaves. In our township you must use paper lawn and leaf bags. The stand is designed to accept plastic bags. I found if I made two cuts in the paper bags just above the top of the stand I could easily fold over the top of the bag and secure it with a bungee cord. Got the work all done in a few hours! Used half the number of bags!Finally, the machine packs up nicely for storage. Very happy with this purchase.
2 people found this helpful
anthonyanthony –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Seriously powerful but…
The string will break right away for anything thicker than leaves. I was able to modify the spinner head to allow .130 string. Drill bits barely thicker on the top and sides. I mean just barely. It’s just plastic so you can ruin it. Lastly, I removed the string cutter that was screwed in. See the screw holes on 3rd pick. The 130 string is really tight in the spinning top, which is ideal.Still clogs so I was unable to use leaf “claws” to put leafs in. Just a 2 handed grab. But the thicker string allows for more than just leaves. Some Twiggs of light thickness.
4 people found this helpful
Wendy –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Unfortunately
I live in the Netherlands and I hadn’t noticed that we have a different power grid here so I turned it on and it worked for a while then I smelled a burning smell and it was broken. Unfortunately.
~~Ria~~ –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love this product.
Very easy to set up and relatively safe with no blades. The shredder really makes small pieces and my mother in law loves it because she uses the leaves for mulch. Only gripe us the stems eat through the cutting wire but easy enough to replace if you have any string trimmer wire lying around.
porcbeach –
5.0 out of 5 stars
WOW what a leaf munching machine
I purchased a WORX wood planner a few years ago. Inexpensive. It worked great. When I purchased the mulcher I thought it may help a little. WOW it works great. I am not sure it is 11 to 1 in reduction but it is considerable. Much quitter than I expected. Came with extra strings. We used it two days and I would say 100 bushels of leaves with no issues. Fall is here and I can say this made it where all our leaves were in the garbage can and not 20 black plastic bags. So I guess its also pretty green saving all that plastic.
Alexandra B. –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Works Great! (but its still a lot of work)
There’s a few things you should definitely know. First, mulching leaves is a super dusty job. You will need to mask up for sure! Second, the description says you can use this with paper bags, but you won’t want to. Its much easier to use a plastic bags and transfer into paper if you need to. The paper bags are too challenging to get positioned under the machine without ripping.Overall, a quality product that serves its function. It reduced my number of leaf bags considerably, but still took a lot of labor.
Barbara T. –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mulches very good
We have very mature, very large maple and ash trees on 1/3 acre and autumn is beautiful but produces many leaves. Mowing all of them with a mulching blade is just too dense on the grass and doesn’t account for leaves left on the garden area. We have made mulch piles in the past and takes too long for my lazy, lack of turning the piles.This was our first year using the Worx WG430 and this is my initial opinion.1. very easy to set up and use. It is electric so requires a long extension cord to move around the yard.2. noisy. not more than expected, just as expected. I wear hearing protection when mowing and did with this too. Not a complaint, just an observation.3. mulch reduction rate. I don’t know how manufacturers get their 4:1, 11:1, 16:1 reduction rates, but I didn’t see 11:1 mulch rate with this. I played with running a mulched load back through again and even running that through a 3rd time and got it mulched down to very fine, but I take the 11:1 “rating” like I do a wet/dry vacuum that claims to be 5 HP. This is marketing mumbo jumbo and probably isn’t reliable to compare between tools.I do believe that the mulch reduction rate is acceptable for either keeping in my gardens, mulch pile or moving them to a compost site. The Worx made big whole leaves into little pieces of leaves.4. the trim lines. I found that the Worx trims great when the trim line is new, and is progressively slower as the trim line is used and worn down. I’ve used line trimmers so I understand the concept. With line trimmers they bump to extend or magically extend as they are worn away. With the Worx there is no extending as they wear away. You have to stop your work and replace the pre-cut, pre-measured trimmer lines. The machine came with Worx brand trim lines and there were 10-20 (I don’t remember) so you can get started and really get a lot of mulching done with what comes in the box, but you will change them out and maybe quicker than you expected.The changing of the lines is very easy and quick.I have a 350′ spool of .080 string trimmer line and using one of the Worx lines, I cut a whole stack of proper length lines and used them in the Worx. I did not see any difference in durability while using my .080 string trimmer line vs the trimmer line that came with the Worx.5. Stores compactly.6. I found the paper bag adapter COMPLETELY useless. It went immediately into the garbage since I could not think of a way to repurpose it. I used contractor grade garbage bags that worked great and if I needed to use the paper lawn bags then I could just pour the leaves out of the contractor bags into the paper bags, easier than trying to use the paper bag adapter.After the first season of use, I am very happy for the purchase. It seems durable, easy to use, and does the job (the one job it is intended to do) well. Still have to rake or blow them into a pile and lift them into the machine.I would recommend this for a medium size yard (again my lot is 1/3 acre with 8 very mature trees, 18″-40″ diameter base).
One person found this helpful
Patrick A. Curran –
4.0 out of 5 stars
It tears through leaves like crazy, but does not like twigs and sticks.
Likes: when I dropped the first few piles of leaves in this machine, it tore through them like a hot knife through soft butter! And it doesn’t just mulch the leaves, it pulverizes them! Last weekend I was using a leaf vac/mulcher that looks like a big lawnmower. It also does a good job of mulching the leaves, but since we have large areas on our lawn where no grass grows, it sucks up and disperses large amounts of dust, which I’m sure is annoying our neighbors. Also, the collection bag on that device is too big to easily dump the mulched leaves into the paper lawn & garden bags which are required in our county. So I needed a new solution. The Worx WG-430 is satisfying that need, with a few caveats.Dislikes: right out of the box, it was obvious this device was not friendly to the tall brown paper lawn bags that I have to use for leaf collection. First, it’s not tall enough for the paper bags to fit underneath it, and second, the paper bags will not easily fold over the top of the stand as shown in the pictures and video. Paper bags just don’t work that way. But reading other reviews, I learned there are solutions to both those problems. For the height problem, I bought some 3/4” PVC tubing at Home Depot for about $6, and used three 2’ lengths of that and some Gorilla Tape to make the stand a foot taller. Then I took a large heavy-duty trash bag and cut the bottom off of it, and folded that over the frame to act as a funnel to direct the mulched leaves into the paper bag. Boom, problems solved.Other things to be aware of: this device does not like twigs or sticks. The Worx WG-430 is basically a weed-whacker/string trimmer with legs. Like all string trimmers, the strings need to be replaced fairly often. Twigs and sticks greatly shorten the life of the strings, but it’s near impossible to prevent them from getting in there. Fortunately, it’s not difficult to replace the strings; just make sure you have a good supply of them. You’ll know it’s time to replace the strings and/or unclog the bowl when performance slows down – when the leaves don’t disappear immediately into the bag.Remember I mentioned this device pulverizes leaves? It reduces them almost to a powder. This means it’ll take a LOT of leaves to fill up a bag, and when the bag finally gets full, it will be quite heavy. Just be aware of that.So, with a couple of simple modifications and accepting that I have to replace the strings fairly often, I’m happy with this device. It’s dealing with the leaves from the four huge trees in our backyard efficiently, but it’s not covering our neighbors’ homes and cars with dust.
2 people found this helpful
Jonathon –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Whoa…this really helped out with fall clean-up
Like other reviews, I used my mulching lawn mower and bag previously for fall clean-ups…a real pain. Given the large volume of leaves on-property, the mower bag would fill-up fast and required frequent emptying. That was getting old…so, thought I would try an application specific leaf mulcher.After some research, I ordered the Worx leaf mulcher; it was well-packaged and easy to assemble. Assembly takes literally just a few minutes, easy.My fall clean-up approach first was to use a leaf blower to blow leaves into a few large piles….I mean big! The piles were then feed manually into the Worx leaf mulcher (gotta find a better way next season). As several other reviewers pointed-out, the 11:1 mulch ratio may be a bit ambitious; I’d say mine was more about 7:1 or so. Nevertheless, this is still a valuable tool, both as a cost and time saver.I followed advice and placed a heavy duty demo bag under the mulcher’s exit. As each bag filled-up; I used the resulting mulch and spread throughout my house beddings. The mulcher can create considerable dust; so, a mask and safety glasses are necessary.The resulting mulch was comparable in composition to mulch I purchased from my lawn & garden center previously; of course, the color of the new mulch is “natural”. That said, this new mulch color appearance is fine; especially, since the mulch decomposes and darkens throughout the winter. As an added activity, I plan to till the mulch/soil in the beddings for soil amendment.I agree with other reviewers regarding the trimmer line that came with the unit, not great. The line needs to be replaced regularly; every couple bags or so….at least that was my experience. Next year, I’ll search for the strongest trimmer line available; that should help a lot.The mulch ratio saves noticeably on bags and waste sticker pick-up; overall this tool saves energy, time and effort. However, I am hopeful that the resulting mulch placed around my house beddings will provide the biggest savings…reducing/eliminating mulch purchases from the garden center. If true, this leaf mulcher will “payback” in one, maybe two seasons while contributing ecologically and reducing landfill…win:win.
One person found this helpful
Katherine M. Shon –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Works quite well, but wear a mask for the dust, watch the air intake, forget the 11:1 mulch ratio
The product does a fine job of mulching leaves and even very small twigs. Anything big enough to be called a stick will greatly reduce the life of the trimmer string, so be very careful about what goes in. To its credit, it is easy to change the trimmer string, but you can go through them quickly if you’re not careful, and they are 0.90 diameter, which I have found is relatively hard to find , 0.8 and 0.95 being much more common.If you stand in the obvious place to feed leaves into it, you’ll quickly clog the very small air intake from dropped leaves and bits of flying mulch, so it pays t stand off to the side half way between the air intake and exhaust, but you still have to pay attention to whether it has become blocked.The noise level is not too bad, but you are only a few inches away and you’ll be there for probably an hour or more if you have any significant amount of leaves. If you don’t use earplugs or some other hearing protection, you will definitely regret it someday fairly soon, and in any case your ears will fill with leaf dust right away, so be smart and use something to plug and/or cover your ears. I use a couple of those large plastic leaf scoops on my hands to pick up fairly large gobs of leaves for feeding the mulcher. It works very well and you can process a lot of leaves fairly quickly, but a really big pile still takes 20 – 30 minutes to mulch. However, it is MUCH faster to mulch them than it is to try to pack them tightly into trash bags or barrels, and far, far less effort. The worst part is the hundreds and hundreds of times you have to bend over to grab the leaves. It helps to rake them often into as high a pile as possible. A foot makes a big difference when you’re bending over.If the leaves are dry, there will be a LOT of leaf dust in the air, and you REALLY need to wear a filter mask and goggles. If the leaves are a bit damp, it still mulches them without a problem and keeps the dust down pretty well. There does not appear to be any way to clean or replace anything like an air filter, unlike other similar machines The motor is strong and does not slow much when mulching even a large wad of dry or damp leaves, so you can feed it fairly quickly – about as fast as you can check the leaves for sticks.The supporting legs are well made and easy to assemble, but are quite short and it seems to me that they would hold only a small lawn bag, which would fill very quickly. I was unable to stuff a collapsible fabric lawn bag (approx 30 gal.) inside the legs at at all and it’s way too short for all but the smallest trash can.In my town, we cannot use lawn bags for our leaves, so I have a number of larger rectangular trash barrels like the BlueHawk 32-Gallon Black Plastic Wheeled Trash Can from Lowes and the Blue Hawk 45-Gallon Black Plastic Wheeled Trash Can from Lowes for the leaves and mulch. Filling trash bags with mulch only to lift and empty them into the cans was not an appealing proposition.I was able to make a jig to go on top of the trash cans which holds the mulcher securely and lets me mulch directly into the trash cans. I used a 2’x2′ piece of plywood with a large circle cut from it (using the mulcher’s legs to get the size of the circle right) and a couple more smaller venting holes , with a few small pieces of wood screwed into it to keep it from sliding around on the top of the cans.I have found that by stopping the mulcher every 25-30 scoops and tamping the mulch down just a bit with a length of 2×2 just to get the air out and de-fluff the mulch, I can get easily twice as much mulch into a barrel. It also gives me a chance to clear the air intake and breath some cleaner air for 30 seconds or so. I can tamp through the vent holes to a useful degree, but it works better to lift the mulcher out of its hole and slide it off to the side a few inches to get better access for tamping down the whole barrel.The 11:1 mulch ratio is either a marketing dream, or refers to crispy dry leaves which have never been stepped on, raked, piled, or stuffed into a bag or barrel. Unless you have an unlimited number of barrels or bags to hold your leaves, without a mulcher you naturally stuff, stomp, and crush your raked leaves as you fill barrels or bags with your raked leaves. There’s no way that you’ll mulch 11 of those bags into 1 bag of mulch, but you might get 5:1 on a good day.I have kept careful track (partly because I want to stop at a regular interval for tamping) and the amount of leaves that can be packed (not dropped) unmulched into the smaller 32 gallon can equals 25 decent scoops of leaves (that is, it takes 25 scoops to empty a packed can into the mulcher). Four of those packed cans , or 100 scoops from a pile can be mulched into the same 32 gallon can, so that is a 4:1 ratio of packed leaves to mulched leaves. It may not sound like it, but that is a LOT of leaves. Quite a large pile will fit into a single barrel.Surprisingly, with some extra tamping, I can get 200 scoops ( or 2 32 gallon barrels) mulched into the larger 45 gallon barrel, which makes no sense if the sizes are at all accurate, but I’ve done it many times.At the end of the season, it does quickly snap apart and re-nest into a very small space so I like that I don’t have yet another huge machine to store.So, it’s dustier than I would like it to be, noisier than I would like it to be, and I had to make my own jig in order to reasonably process the mountains of leaves that I deal with in a season, but it does work well and I don’t see how it could be done much better. I am well satisfied.
289 people found this helpful
Kate –
3.0 out of 5 stars
WORKX versus Flowtron vs McCulloch Chipper/Shredder
I am a huge believer in creating compost and living in Oregon with an abundance of trees and leaves has led me to try a number of different products that mulch. I have purchased many combination blower-mulchers as well as stand-alone leaf eater (leaf shredder) electricity-driven products. I would like to share with you my review of the WORKX WG430 & compare it to the Flowtron LE-900 and to the McCulloch 14-AMP Electric Chipper/Shredder- MCS2001.Pros:All 3 pieces of equipment shred leaves sufficient to allow for mulching and ultimately composting. The WORKX is easily put together and this is so simple that the instructions are not needed. The assembled unit is stable despite some other reviews that it may not be so. The assembled unit is easily disassembled for better cleaning, for storage and to facilitate putting in new leaf-eater line. The Flowtron assembly is a little more involved but easily done. The assembled unit does not feel as sturdy as the WORKX but it is durable and the first Flowtron unit that I bought in 2007 lasted two years; it was the electric motor that died, and not any other part of the unit. I still have the McCulloch chipper-shredder. It has lasted over 5 years and shows no signs of impending demise. Therefore, I do not think that the construction, stability or assembly/disassembly of these units plays a major role in my choice of what the best unit is.Cons:The WORKX and Flowtron both generate a major amount of dust and the Flowtron is especially noisy. Definitely advise use of a face mask or some form of protection for the eyes and ideally the lungs (simple mask) when working with dry leaves. Ear protection is important as well. All units can emit (spit out) pieces of debris that could result in trauma to your eyes or any exposed soft tissue so safety should be a key issue when running these machines. Of the 3 units, the Flowtron is most offensive to the ears. Of the 3 units, the McCulloch emits the least amount of dust with the Flowtron and WORKX tied for a very distant second.Inability to handle even small twigs is a major downside for the Flowtron and WORKX since both use filament line to act as leaf eaters. This is the same kind of line used in weed wackers. If you intentionally or inadvertently toss in twigs or even small branches into either machine the filament length is whittled down quite quickly and you will be inserting new line often. This is not a super simple task for either Flowtron or WORKX. On the contrary, the McCulloch handles branches and of course twigs, pine cones, etc very well. No problem there. The major downside of the McCulloch is the need to hand feed the leaves, twigs, or anything else that you are chipping or shredding. The Flowtron and WORKX allows you to grab large handfuls of leaves and quickly toss them into the unit. Not so with the McCulloch. If the McCulloch had this ability there would be no issue as to which machine to select.The mulched product is the finest with the McCulloch, followed by the Flowtron with the WORKX the least impressive. The reason for this is that the WORKX has no way to adjust the opening for the shredded leaves; it is one size. The Flowtron has a sliding device that allows you to select a fine or coarse adjustment. Both the Flowtron and WORKX talk about the ability to shred moist leaves but I would tell you that although this is possible you end up after 5 minutes stopping the machine and scraping off a large amount of mushed leaf product and the trimmer line rapidly is eaten up as well. Same issue with the McCulloch but here you have not a problem with trimmer line but caking up of this mushy mulch on the inner walls of the machine that forces you to disassemble the McCulloch. The disassembly of the McCulloch is a time-consuming and not at all enjoyable procedure and if McCulloch could devise a quick release set up like the WORKX, this would be wonderful (assuming it to be safe).I do not like that the WORKX has a two-pronged plug. I feel better with a 3-prong which is seen with the Flowtron and McCulloch.Lastly, with the McCulloch you have 3 major working blades. These can be sharpened by the homeowner or new ones purchased online. These are not cheap but I have found it pretty easy to sharpen them myself so I do not consider this a major downside for this machine.I just purchased another Flowtron after trying the WORKX and today have returned the WORKX for the reasons listed. I did a side-by-side comparison of the quality of the shredding and it was clear that WORKX allowed to many fully intact leaves to pass through without shredding.Final conclusions: of the two leaf eaters, the Flowtron is clearly better. Of all three units, I would have to say that the McCulloch’s ability to chip leaves, twigs, pine cones, seeds from cedars makes it my favorite. It just does not handle leaves as fast as the Flowtron. I have no connection in any way with any of these companies. Anyone that uses one or more of these products will find this review to be complete, clear and right on target. Lastly, I purchased and returned the WORKX via Amazon and purchased the FLowtron via Amazon on two separate occasions. I bought the McCulloch locally. I am very pleased with the delivery and return policy of Amazon.
2,710 people found this helpful
Andrew Hoffman –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome
I was skeptical about this machine before buying it and was glad I did. It’s really helpful in processing all the leaves in our yard, especially if you’re trying to do this on your own. It’s nearly impossible to hold a bag and get leaves into it with any sort of efficiency. It certainly reduces the number of bags of leaves overall. It is dusty/messy, loud, and you do have to change the strings quite often. I found I could get about 2 bags done before changing, which is quite a lot of leaves.If you have a few people helping you get leaves into bags and are motivated to complete the project, I think you can still move faster without this device. You’ll have more bags, but it’ll go faster. This device really only has one speed, and more people don’t necessarily make the process go any faster.
Robert Horowitz –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Does the job but with some caveats
We have sycamore trees here in Sacramento and they have thick, tough leaves. The red trimmer line that was included with this product seemed brittle, and wore down in just a few minutes on these thick leaves, especially if a few small sticks got in there too (inevitable). The line only has to erode about 1.5″ before production craters, the bin clogs, and what little passes through is poorly shredded. Fortunately, the line is fairly easy to replace, and I had some green trimmer line which seemed more resilient and lasts much longer. Couple other caveats are that wet leaves will slow production a lot, and also tend to clog the output. So, you need to meter the leaves in, keep sticks out and avoid wet leaves. Even so, you will be replacing line frequently, so stock up. It is quite loud and you should wear earplugs and a dust mask. I don’t think the production rate is as high as they say; it takes me a good half hour to work through 100 gallons of leaves (based on a 96-gallon toter). I am hopeful this tool will allow me to improve my composting process, but it is slower and more laborious than I envisioned. I have been mulching a variety of leaves, not just sycamore, but the line has to be replaced about every 20 minutes even when I am very careful.
One person found this helpful
artgirlartgirl –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing
First off I purchased this to add to my extensive amount of flower garden beds and I prep them in fall for spring. I live on 6 acres (most heavily wooded) with about an acre + of garden area. I do not bag leaves. I use them. I bought this because the baggers on my bag mower mulch the leaves but the pieces are too big for my use for them in the beds. So I got this. Wow. Wow. Wow. The pieces are confetti-sized which I was giddy when I saw what it does to leaves. The issue when I got started was having a plan to figure out how to place the mulcher over something in order to collect and then distribute it to all the beds. We first turned the stand upside down and placed it in a garage-sized trashcan. That was working but to dump it, I had to take out the mulcher then the stand and then dump the leaves and then place everything back in the can. Doing that would probably mean I would be mulching leaves until spring. Too many steps. So the hubby came up with using another trashcan with a flat lid. The lid being flat enabled the mulcher to be stable as I dumped leaves into it. Hubs used the stand provided, turned upside down as a template to trace a circle so the mulcher fit over it. He used a Dremel thing that has a circular saw blade thing on it. Are you dazzled by my vast knowledge of power tools? Anyhow. As you can see, I can place the mulcher right over the opening and now all I have to do is dump leaves and then take the can to wherever in my garden and dump it. I go back and just place the lid on and then the mulcher and I am good to go. I would slowly dump the leaves in the mulcher. If you dump it in all at once, it will sort of sit there. If you do that, use a wood stick lay it flat on the pile and gently push the pile into the mulcher. I would recommend wearing safety glasses because leaves fly out a bit and I’m not risking a leaf bit hitting my eye at 100mph. The stick I use to push the leaves in is just an old bamboo stake I use to support plants. I guess you could use anything that would mess up the mulcher if it falls into it. Also, this is not a chipper. I will not be shoving branches and sticks into this thing so I cannot speak to that.
16 people found this helpful
Amazon Customer –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good for Shredding Leaves
The Worx Leaf Mulcher is easy to assemble. Bolting the stand together and threading mulching line in the machine is about all all you have to do other than placing the hopper on the stand and plugging it in to an electric power source. The on/off switch is large and easy to find. The motor is in the bottom of the hopper. Threading plastic line was very easy and the Leaf Mulcher comes with a nice supply of replacement lines that are pre-cut to size. I tried substituting a heavier line in hope it would shred better but it didn’t make any difference and the line lasted about as long as the Worx line. There wasn’t any blow back as the design of the hopper seems to stop that. The Worx Leaf Mulcher does a good job of shredding leaves, but it can be very labor intensive. I used it for one day shredding White Oak leaves in my backyard. I also mulched leaves with my lawn mower and then ran the mower over them again to pick them up in the mower bag. I had to stop very frequently to dump the bag.The Worx Leaf Mulcher shreds leaves really fast, but you have to rake the leaves into a pile and then pick them up in bunches to feed the mulcher. I didn’t notice any difference between shredding dry leaves or wet leaves. There are a lot of twigs mixed with Oak Leaves. I couldn’t tell that the mulcher shredded them. It appeared twigs just dropped through with the shredded leaves. Twigs didn’t present a problem. The most difficulty I had was with getting a the plastic collection bag on and off. I had difficulty attaching a bag to collect the shredded leaves. Once a bag was full I found I couldn’t pull it out between the legs of the stand. I had to unplug the power cord, lift the mulcher hopper up and to the side ,and then lift the stand off of the bag and drag the bag away. To continue I had to replace the stand, attach another bag, put the hopper back on the stand and plug it in. The stand is light but the hopper holds the motor in the bottom. It’s not real heavy, but the hopper’s size and design make it a bit awkward to handle when lifting it.I tried setting the mulcher on a plastic trash can, but it really didn’t fit well and was too heavy, wanted to collapse the can and fall off. I tried spreading a plastic tarp on the ground, setting the mulcher on the stand in the middle of the tarp without a collection bag. That produced a large pile of shredded leaves (and tended to blow a number of leaves off the tarp which I had to rake up later). When I stopped, I had the problem of transferring leaves from the tarp to a bag for disposal. I found it harder to get leaves off the tarp than raking them up on the ground.For me the results are mixed. Using the mower seems easier as I only had to dump the lawnmower bag once into a plastic bag. However if I don’t run the mower mulching the leaves first the lawnmower bag filled almost immediately. Also trying to mow a pile of leaves puts a big strain on the mower motor. Then when I run over the mulched leaves the small size of the mower bag means I have to stop very frequently to empty the bag.Raking leaves into a pile and then lifting a bunch into the hopper seemed more labor intensive. The Worx shredded leaves as fast as I could rake and fill the hopper. Ideally this is a two person job with one person raking leaves into a pile and another feeding the hopper. Mulching with a mower has the advantage that you don’t have to rake the leaves first. I can’t say there is anything wrong with the Worx Leaf Mulcher. It performed well The only issue is attaching a plastic collection bag and removing the filled plastic bag. I’m not sure it is worth the money, since I can mulch leaves with my mower. Once the leaves are shredded, I don’t have another use for the Worx. I don’t think it is powerful enough to shred shrubbery cuttings or other woody plants. I hoped I might be able to do that. It’s essentially a large string trimmer with a powerful motor. Storing it takes a lot of space in my tool shed. I may disassemble the stand to make storage a little better. I didn’t try it with anything other than Oak Leaves. I’ll try the mulcher again next season before decide whether I want to keep it or not. It seems an unnecessary expense for use only once a year. Hopefully I will find another use for it.
21 people found this helpful
GG –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Grinds leaves well
Works well but be sure to wear a cap, mask and eyewear to prevent dust/dirt from affecting you. Does a good job of grinding leaves. Be sure to check that your string cutters are the right length to do the job effectively. You get extra strings and can also use your own . It is easy to change them too. The unit is noisy but that’s expected since it is a plug in powerful device. It would have been good if it was somehow made with wheels though. All in all a good buy for someone who has a tree or two worth of leaves to deal with.
Gary Scott –
4.0 out of 5 stars
PERFECT For My Needs – Maybe Yours Too
I love this product. To put my reactions in context, I am a male in my mid-50s with a very bad back living in an urban neighborhood with a ton of old-growth trees. I have an open brick patio out back with no yard, but the trees dump a thick layer of leaves each autumn/early winter and it is a serious & daunting chore to clear these each year.I should probably hire someone to do the clearing chores for me, but I not completely hobbled yet and I have been determined to do things for myself until the bitter end. I tried a leaf-sucking/shredding machine that was hand-held and also served as a leaf blower (not Worx, but another company) and it complete sucked. Or rather, it didn’t suck – THAT was the problem. Useless. I threw it away and decided to give this a try, based on reviews here and customer videos elsewhere.This thing is a miracle! Now I have to simply rake the leaves into large piles and feed this beast, usually a handful or two at a time. This unit chews through the leaf matter (and thinner twigs, too) in seconds and creates the finest, most lovely collection of bits perfect for composting that I have ever seen! Random observations, based on my experience and other reviews here:-The machine DOES easily handle thinner twigs, though I would pull anything a bit thicker out of my hand-full of debris before feeding the machine. I found this to be far more rugged than other reviews have suggested; it even put up with a goodly amount of pebbles and other harder debris that got tossed in with the leaves.-As stated by others, the chewing “blades” are actually a very thin plastic string of some sort. I did have to change mine once half-way through the job, but that was only after handling almost three large trees worth of stuff. There are maybe 20 or so replacement leads in the box, so I imagine it will take me a good number of years to use up the supply given. After that (or maybe even before) I may look into replacing with a thin wire of some sort – I’ve seen some good-sounding ideas here in the comments.-My unit handled wet leaves just fine. I had a goodly amount of matted, wet leaf “clumps” underneath the soft and dry top layer (my leaves sat out all winter & spring) and this chewed through them with zero complaint or problem. Maybe you don’t want to use this just after a heavy rain or something, I dunno, but I had no problems in this regard.-The power cord attached to the unit is very short – maybe 8 inches, if that. You will need an extension cord.-The unit packs up quite nicely in the box it came in, which is about to be taped up and stored in the basement until the coming autumn. Pay attention to how it arrives in the box so that you can replace in the same way. It’s quite simple, actually.-Yes, there is a fair amount of blow-back in this but it’s not crazy-stupid. I used it kneeling a couple of feet away, so that I could more easily feed it. I wear glasses, so I felt decently protected in that regard. Some wear a mask over their mouth & nose, but I never felt the need.-Not QUITE sure how to go about cleaning this, though most of it can be hosed off quite easily. I think I will simply use a soft brush to clean the part of the unit holding the motor & electronics. Generally though, this sets up in a minute or less and it is just as easy to disassemble. About as care-free as one could ask for.There are other units out there that do this same thing and maybe they’re better, I dunno. I came to trust the Worx brand after reading a ton online and talking to a few people I know who own different products from them, and I really liked this price point. The ONLY reason I gave it 4 rather than 5 stars is because they might supply a stronger “blade” mechanism and because they might have supplied a longer, more practical power cord.Highly recommended. Do your research and compare the above with your needs. It always feels great when you finally find a product like this that actually does what you want it to!
32 people found this helpful
Michael –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Works well for leaves
Bought this in the fall to mulch up my leaves. Worked very well for leaves from the trees in our neighborhood but not so well for leaves from our garden plants (cauliflower, brussel sprout etc). Easy to replace the trim line and easy set-up. All in all, I am happy with it but if you are mulching heavier material then this may not be the best choice.
AI –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Saves time, if used under perfect conditions
This product is easy to setup. It also mulches and compacts leaves better than any other product I have used.However, it has two flaws. First, it is really difficult to fit paper bags underneath it. The 30 gallon bags are too tall and it forces you to do origami. I had a Worx pop-up bag, which fits perfectly, but requires you to transfer the mulched leaves. Second, the leaves need to be dry and fluffy, and no sticks can be mixed in. If these conditions are not the case, the string will disappear.
Amazon Customer –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Satisfied Customer
This is essentially an inverted weed whacker at the bottom of a funnel mounted atop a stand with bag.I’ve used this tool 3 times, each time for about 90 minutes and had no problems. The first two times had only dry leaves but the third had a mixture of dry and wet leaves. The wet leaves take a few seconds longer but it did mulch them up nicely. Small twigs can sometimes reduce the flow into the bag but I didn’t find it to be problematic. I have no reason to believe it wouldn’t hold up under somewhat heavier use but doubt that it would last if you ran it 8 hours/day for an extended period. I did buy the warranty. I’d recommend it for typical homeowner use.Be sure to buy replacement string because you will need to replace them every thirty minutes or so. Otherwise, the mulching time is increased.
Niko –
5.0 out of 5 stars
It shreds those leafs!
Did you grow up in the 80’s? Did you shred the park on your BMX or skateboard? Well, this leaf muncher doesn’t quite shred like that… but it will shred and mulch your leaves! Clean up and bag those pesky leaves with ease. Use them for bed mulch and put those nutrients back into the ground where they can do the best for your plants and trees. Then, when your done, it packs up and stores in the shed..
Anthony P Rizzuto –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good product but cutting wires don’t last long and motor burned out after 3 years
This product has the highest rating and is great for mulching leaves. I use it to create leaf mulch and it does a good job. The only issue is that the plastic lines that doe the cutting don’t last long and have to be replaced frequently so keep many on hand. I have used it for three years but today the motor burned out literally was smoking like a major fire. Disappointed in the lack of durability of the motor it should last longer. But I need the product and will likely replace it. Nothing is built to last now a days.
Patricia Ann Ferguson –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Reduces a pile of leaves easily
But it discharges rom the top a lot of dust and left chips! Operator gets covered with mess!
Dave M. –
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a great product
I was a little skeptical about this product but the reviews and videos swayed me to give it a try. What a great product. It did exactly what it was supposed to do reducing tons of leaves. Last year I raked the leaves onto a 12×12 tarp and pulled the tarp to the back of my property to dump them. It took 12-13 trips and most of the day. With this product, it reduced the same volume of leaves into six bags of leaves. I used these bags (Professional 2-Pack 137 Gallon Lawn Garden Bags (D34, H34 inches) Yard Waste Bags with Coated Gloves, Large Leaf Bags 4 Handles,Yard Debris Bags,Gardening Clippings Bags,Leaf Container,Lawn Trash Bags) which worked great too. I opened the bag and placed the mulcher tripod in the bag. When the bag was full, i took the mulcher off of the tripod and then lifted the tripod out of the bag. With the handles on the bag, I dragged the bag to the back of my property. Could not have been any easier. Ten star product if you hate to handle leaves (like me).Also – I saw negative comments about clogging. As soon as I noticed that it was starting to clog, I turned it off and looked at the length of the cutting strings. They had worn down and lost about 30% of their original length. Changed the strings (replacements come with the mulcher) and the clogging stopped.
Rich L –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very Good Mulcher
Did an excellent job shredding softer leaves like Japanese maples and crepe myrtles provided they are dry enough. Other leaves that are more recently fallen don’t get pulverized as well but, still better than my AC powered vacuum mulcher/blower. As indicated in other reviews, it won’t do twigs well but that is not what it designed to deal with. As advertised, it does reduce the volume of the leaves by at least 8 to 1 – probably could do the 10:1 if your leaves are definitely aged. The life of the shredding lines are reasonably long. Ran it for a cumulative couple hours and the lines shortened by about 10-15%. Haven’t replaced them yet but appear to be a relative easy maintenance. Weight is reasonable and transporting it to different parts of my property was not difficult.
Kevin jarchow –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good machine. Does what it should
This device works great on chopping up leaves.It uses plastic wires similar to those found on many lawn trimmers. That’s ok for leave, but if you happen to get sticks mixed into the leaf pile like I did, you can quickly destroy the plastic wire. Fortunately, there was a package of plastic wires included.Of note, and I missed this, the unit does not come with a bag to catch the ground up material. A Home Depot yard waste bag was used instead. It worked ok, but not great.Last year the two large piles of leave required me to take six of those HD bags to the yard waste drop off.This year because of the grinder…only two.So…over all, a win.Plus the unit breaks down for easy storage.
a reader –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Works great with some caveats
I have a vegetable garden, and I use shredded leaves for making compost, mulching, and making leaf mold to supplement the soil in late Fall. Living in upstate NY, there is no shortage of leaves. Every fall I shred 80 to 100 large 40-gallon leaf bags, so having an efficient shredding setup is important to me. This Mulcher fulfils my needs, more or less. It is a little noisy, and a larger size and more power would be nice, but overall it does great. Some tips:1. Use a mini-drill bit and carefully slightly enlarge the opening for the shredding line, and then use thicker line. I am using Oregon 22-895 Magnum 095-Inch Gatorline Square Trimmer Line and, having sharp square heavy-duty edges, it slices through leaves like hot knife through butter, as if the leaves are not even there.2. The Mulcher works best with dry leaves. It is a pain to shred when the leaves are wet. So I make sure to collect my leaves when they are dry and then store the bags in my garage and shred them maybe 10 at a time later.3. Wear a mask and protective glasses when shredding dry leaves. A few times small bits of wood flew out of the shredder and hit me in the face.4. Replace the trimmer line often. I replace it after every four to five bags. A few extra minutes spent replacing the line are more than compensated by the ease and speed of improved shredding. Unplug the power when replacing the line.5. Finally, the compression ratio is absolutely NOT 1:11. It is 1:2. When collecting leaves, I press them tightly into the leaf bags, letting all extra air out and stuff the bag pretty densely. After shredding, two bags of leaves turn into one full bag of shredded stuff.Have fun shredding!
One person found this helpful
Regina Greene –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pleased with this product
This leaf mulcher is very easy to set up, not heavy to move around the yard. Does a good job considering the trimmer line.When leaves are wet or damp it still mulches but tends to clog to some degree. However I discovered that one can use a long thick stick to unclog it from the bottom.I have nine oak trees, a huge amount of leaves that I was able to chop and use to properly mulch my beds.There’s not a perfect product. If one is looking to making own cold compost this is one’s best friend! Saves a lot of time.I don’t give it a 5 star because of some clogging but easily resolved. Also one has to watch out for sticks, but it’s very easy ti remove them too.
Jon Duffy –
4.0 out of 5 stars
So Close to Great
Works great when you only have dry leafs. If leafs are wet the mulcher clogs up right away. If there are things like pine needles mixed in that is a problem too–it breaks the line trimmer cords. They need to make two changes to the design to fix both problems.Change 1 – Get rid of all that plastic and open up under the lines. You only need 4 struts to support the spinning cutting surface and it will not clog! Please make that change!Change 2 – Line for cutting is great with dry leafs only. I know you cannot put a blade because of all the liability government safety crap. Stupid people will find a way to cut a finger off but put an optional attachment that supports a 3rd party wimpy plastic blade that can at least handle pine needles and tougher stems. I get it you have to protect stupid people but give people with common sense a way to chop up more stuff. Make these two changes and I will buy another one of these!
Kia Silliman –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Works but have to change the Cord often…
This Leaf Mulcher does what it says. May bag ratio was around 6 bags to 1 bag.Definitely advise wearing ear & eye protection, as suggested.My biggest knock is that I have to change the plastic cutting line a lot. I do not have just leafs in my backyard, so that may be the issue. All in all, good product.
Mark T. –
4.0 out of 5 stars
It works, but….
It works without any problems. I used a 20′ 14ga extension cord for a runtime of about an hour. Most of my leaves are from a Zacovan. Relatively small and mine were dry. Some have said the air filter for the motor cooling gets clogged quickly. Yes it does. Not so great engineering. A simple way to remove and clean after each use would be nice. The 11 to 1 bag spec is not even close. I would say 6 to 1 is close. Maybe even 8 to 1. The strings in mine were about 3″ short of the cutter. (Must be cost saving measures). Fortunately they are easy to replace and the same dia as my trimmer. It is louder than a string trimmer but I would not consider it abusive. It does create a bit of a cloud around it but it drops to the ground quickly.For the most part I like it. Typically I remove 2 heaped pickup loads of stomped down leaves from my yard. Pickup is gone and if I can cut the number of bags in half I’m good. For this price I would expect several years of trouble free use. We’ll see.
MC –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic, worth every penny, but…
Ok so this thing works so much better than the red Toro that converts into a bagger/mulcher. Saved me a ton of time, and a ton of bags, and some money. Our collection charges 50 cents per bag when they collect, on top of whatever the cost of bags are. Despite the videos showing folks collecting leaves in plastic bags, it’s been a few decades since I’ve lived anywhere that let you put leaves at the curb in anything other than paper.Cons:This is the biggest one, it shows that you can use standard lawn and leaf bags with this, but be prepared to have to rip the bags to fit them on the rack. If you do it this way, you won’t be able to pack as much into the bags. The bags are too tall for the legs.Pro tip for the con: DO use a heavy duty black plastic bag for collection, they hold significantly more than the standard lawn and leaf bag, and allow you to run for longer before stopping to empty the bag. My personal preference is to have a pair of bags set up with leaf chute in each, then use a couple spring clamps to clamp the pair of chutes together into essentially a big funnel. When the plastic bag is full, dump them into the dual bags, use a flat shovel to mash the leaves down in the paper bags, rinse and repeat. I swear I fit double what I used to in the bags using the Toro for mulching. I normally carry two bags to the curb at once, and I had to carry them one at a time because they were too heavy for me to grip.Expect to go through string trimmer string. You’ll notice a major throughput decrease as the string shortens, I replaced it “early” in the interest of time. But, any appropriately sized spool of string will work fine if you just want to cut your own. I *believe* the string size is supposed to be 0.9 and I squeezed the Ego .95 string into it just to see if it would work. It worked, and I think it lasted slightly longer, but I think I agree with the “Lawn Ginja” on youtube ,that if you sub in thicker string you get slightly larger pieces of mulch. Ginja claims the sunjoe won the head to head test, but my wife and I were both looking at the results and were like “uh, no… definitely the Worx wins”.Lastly, I cannot recommend enough to wear a mask and possibly eye protection. I wear glasses and it’s been weeks and I swear I still have leaf particles in my eyes. You might feel silly with the mask but even with it I felt like I was blowing leaf dust out of my nose for days. Dry leaves will be turned into powder that blows around like crazy.I realize this probably sounds like a negative review, but it’s not, I’m just trying to give a few tips that took me some time to figure out. I also have the Worx “ultimate leaf collection kit” or whatever it’s called. It’s the universal kit that replaced the bag on my Toro with a hose that instead blows them straight into a barrel. That was significantly better than the bag, but still doesn’t at all compare to using this. It saves me boatloads of time, and I believe over the next couple leaf collection seasons will pay for itself. I 1000% wish I would have bought one of these my first leaf season, instead of the blower/vac/mulcher Toro the first two seasons. So much faster to scoop up leaves with a plastic rake and shovel em’ in!
61 people found this helpful
Bootsrapper –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Easy to set up and compact for storage
It takes a little to set it up. But my favorite part is that it’s easy to breakdown into a compact set and store. Grinds down mountains of leaves into much smaller pieces and makes quick work out of it. Must use face mask and goggles due to the dust generated . Not recommended to be used by people with pulmonary issues because of the fine leave dust generated. Most definitely not for asthmatic people!
billski –
5.0 out of 5 stars
When used properly, it performs
I bagged by hand 350 recycle bags (50 gallon) last year, pressed and compressed. Beautiful scenic Massachusetts leaves. Do I have your attention now?When this device is properly used, it performs. I have now been through three weeks of leaf season, with a total of mulch in 25, 50-gallon recycle bags. The first few bags were done with the product as designed, the remainder with a couple of modifications. First, let me thank all those who offered constructive suggestions in the prior 25 reviews. I picked some good ideas out of there to make a solution that worked well for me.Let me set the stage: $1,000 for a commercial shredder/chipper is out of my budget. But I needed to do something. I have 12 very large, mature, 50-year old oak and maple trees in my yard. My landscaper quit fall cleanup on my 7-years ago, after his crew of five spent an entire day cleaning up. It’s “too much” he said to me. A crew of three high school football players hardly made a dent in my yard, after laboring for six hours. It has been taking me six full weekends by myself to bag the leaves. There are no other options in my town, I don’t own a truck. In a typical year, 250 bags was average. 200 after we pruned the trees, but soon after than the trees took off again, up to 350 bags last year.I started using it out of the box as-is. Rule number one: READ AND COMPREHEND THE !@$% INSTRUCTIONS. It is very clear it that it is only intended for leaves. Period. End of Sentence. Leaves. RULE NUMBER TWO: Pick up all the sticks and twigs from your yard BEFORE the leaves fall.Case 1: I want the leaves right into the 50-gallon bags.I tried the 4 corner tear mentioned, I did not like the results, especially since I have to lift and drag the full bag.MODIFICATION #1: I went out and got some aluminum tubing that fit over the legs, extending the height by somewhere around 8 inches.Result:I filled about 10 50-gallon bags of mulch with this method. Used the expander ring to keep the bag open. The bags barely touch the bottom of the orange chassis. I was extremely careful to keep the sticks out. I went through 2 or 3 sets of cutting line. It went fine, but a little slower than I had hoped. You have to “sprinkle” the leaves in, no pushing and cramming. The jury was still out on whether this was any faster than than bagging by hand. However, it reduced the bag count and cost and it saved me a lot of pushing and shoving. There IS leakage from the side but it only amounts to a few handfuls, definitely worth the convenience of having a bag setup to go in a minute.Case 2: Windy day, one more modification.MODIFICATION #2: Upgrade the cutting line to .105 inches (2,7 mm). I bought a 220 foot refill from Home Depot for a bit under $15 if I recall correctly. I came with a littler cutting tool right atop. I cut them to identical size. They fit into the WORX slot snugly, with a little force. If you want, you can ream/drill out those holed a little bit.Result:The thicker line eats leaves MUCH FASTER when all things are the same. I then got brave and went to a section of the yard and tried a pile full of mixed twigs (up to 1/8″) and it just chewed them up. Granted, there was some line reduction at that time, but it’s clear, that .105 line will make the job go much faster (I’ve done 4 bags so far with the .105) and it will handle small twigs so you don’t have to obsess over every last one.Other observations:The stand, when used to hold the bag upright along with the ring to expand the bag top, make for a GREAT stay-in-place bag retainer on a windy day when you still have to hand-bag a few things (like pine needles). This is a very, very useful feature for windy days. I know I waste a lot of time on windy days trying to keep it open.Use a 12-gauge extension cord. Don’t fool around. This is a 13 amp motor. You don’t want the motor burning up because it can’t get enough juice while you’re pushing leaves in.Use goggles and be sure you position your shredder DOWNWIND OF YOU. I don’t think a mask is required unless you have respiratory problems.Never, never, never stick you hands in to the rotating string. I did, it’s not nice.I do not recommend wet leaves. wait for a windy day to dry them out first.SUGGESTIONS FOR THE MANUFACTURER1) Include leg extenders to accommodate a 50 gallon recycling bag.2) Include a skirt below the orange chassis which would go down the interior of the bag.3) Upgrade to .105 cutting lines4. Include Stupid Stickers all over the outside of the product just like ladder manufacturers do. DO NOT PUSH LEAVE DOWN IT. DO NOT INSERT STICKS. USE GOOGLES. USE A 12-GAUGE EXTENSION CORD.I have four more dreadful weeks of leaf bagging ahead. I cannot tell you what the reduction rate is because leaf fall varies by weather conditions each year. It still won’t be easy, and it will take a lot of time. I’m hoping it saves a) money on bags, b) fewer bags to manhandle, c) less hours bagging d) less bending, pushing and shoving.The jury is still out, I will have my final verdict in December. So far it’s a 5-star. It’s no saviour, but it does appear to have some benefit.
144 people found this helpful
Tom –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Works well, but dusty and eats trimmer line
Finally got to try this out. It works as advertised, and is certainly easier than stuffing leaves into a bag and trying to compact them. And you can get a lot more into a single bag. It does seem to handle small twigs fine. The downsides? It makes a LOT of dust (it has been dry here for a while and the leaves are crispy). A mask is mandatory. It also goes through the trimmer line very fast – I barely get two 55 gallon bags (not completely full) before I have to change the line. Changing it is not difficult. The filter will get pretty clogged with dust quickly. The manual says to “clean frequently” but it does not tell you how to get at the filter, nor what “frequently” means. To get at the filter you have to remove the 6 screws that hold the motor cover on. It was VERY dusty inside there, after only 5 bags of leaves. Maybe with a strong air compressor you could blow it out without doing that. But be prepared for some regular maintenance.
2 people found this helpful
brenda t. colegrovebrenda t. colegrove –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Leaf-shredding beast
This converted weed whacker was just the thing to help in our need to cut down the volume of leaf storage necessary each fall. Turn the system on and drop the leaves through by the handful. And the product can also go strait to your planting beds. Worx works. Two trimmer polymer strings do the work in the rotation bin. There is no air current so the shredded leaves just drop into a bag or – in our case the green “yard cart”. The polymer strands down with a filled green cart, and I will pegs Lu replace them with a slightly stronger polymer thread but the threads are easy to replace. Eye protection is a must have as occasinal bits can fly out of the upper part of the bin. It’s dusty to we had to use masks. The hearing protection may not be considered necessary by some. It’s not that loud, but hearing protection is not a habit I intend to break.
John Mitchell –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Does the job
Does the job on a quarter acre lot. Sturdy enough and easy to assemble. Pretty loud so get hearing protection. Goes through string quickly, so buy extra. Went through a set in an hour mulching oak leaves. If it starts to clog, it’s time to change string. Makes nice mulch. Overall it seems to work as advertised.
Victor H. –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Highly effective for very dry leaves, very sensitive to moisture
Does a good job even with my big leathery oak leaves. Plenty of power. Line seems to last a very long time, probably dozens of bags worth of leaves if not more.Doesn’t do too bad with very small twigs. Definitely not designed to handle them and can clog the unit, but was pleasantly surprised it doesn’t instantly lock up when a few small twigs went in.Performance greatly reduced even with SMALL amounts of moisture in or on the leaves. It will still chop them up fairly well, but then the chopped bits tend to clump up around the inside of the chute and not fall through, building up quickly, greatly reducing the feed rate. This means stopping and pushing the clumps around so they fall through.You will need to be sure to use the unit when the leaves are as dry as possible. When very dry, it works supremely well.Quoted reduction rate of 11:1 seems perhaps unlikely unless measured as a very freshly blown pile in a very “fluffy” state but I’m still fairly impressed with the reduction rate overall. It does produce fairly fine bits with sufficient dry leaves.You must use a bag, you cannot just put a tote or something else under as this product acts like a giant fan. I’d love to just put this over my compost bin and feed it, but it sprays bits EVERYWHERE if no bag is present and “sealed” over the edge of the legs with the top unit on holding it in place.It would be INCREDIBLE if they offered or included a reusable fabric bag of some sort like you get with a lawn mower for composting instead of mulching. I can’t find anything appropriate, and plastic bags simply don’t hold up well to the weight and a single small twig can easily tear a normal plastic garbage bag making their reusablility extremely poor. I have a few dozen 50 gallon bags of leaves every season to deal with and I’d prefer not to use waste that many plastic bags as I create my compost.Noise level is very reasonable. The motor is roughly silent and all the noise is the line whipping the air just like an electric weed eater. Definitely would not consider a gas powered unit if such a thing existed. This has plenty of power and torque and does not bog down.Use eye and hand protection, it will spit out acorns and bits of twig with extreme prejudice back out the chute!
One person found this helpful
Amazon Customer –
5.0 out of 5 stars
This leaf mulcher works
I really like this device, I received it about a week ago and have used it three times. It was simple to assemble. I don’t believe it reduces 11-1, more like 5-1 but it’s still a time saver and if you have shade trees try it.
Richard Raleigh Miller –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worx Leaf Mulcher
It works just fine. I filtered out big sticks and just break up the smaller ones. Works better that I thought it would just using plastic weed eater type twine.
D Pelletier –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than ever expected
I have a 1 acre property that is moderately wooded. Fall cleanup has always been a struggle because I do not have a truck and have to borrow one from family. This fall however, I have purchased this mulcher, and to say that I am more than satisfied is an understatement. I keep up with my leaves, putting them in piles and then using the mulcher it condenses them to practically nothing. I had purchased leaf tarp bags from Amazon and I set the mulcher inside of a tarp bag and when it’s full, I take the tarp bags to my local transfer station in my SUV. As other reviews state, it will accommodate small sticks, probably less than a quarter of an inch. The string last for quite a bit of mulching before you have to replace it.
Amazon Customer –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Really works?
I was skeptical but after having tried it I was very impressed. It’s not designed for sticks but a couple of small pieces got in and it still did a great job with that.
Brandon –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Work wonderfully!
I have 2 black walnut trees and 3 oak trees around my house and they’re all mature so my yard ends up looking like the deep woods in fall. I’ve tried mulching blower combos, bag mowing and mulch mowing and none are as effective as this. I’ve had this for over a year now. It’s incredibly effective at mulching up the mountains of leaves and twigs I get dumped on my lawn. Totally worth buying if you have heavy leaf drop every year.Just blow them all into a big pile, get yourself some kind of scooping tool and just drop them all in.I do suggest buying a spool of trimmer line that has a steel core. It lasts much longer than the standard trimmer line or the Worx pre cut replacements.10 out 10 from me!
ava k –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pleased
This reduces the number of bags of leaves to bag. We also like to spread the mulched leaves in the garden to return nutrients to the soil.Glad we bought this
Neil Larson –
4.0 out of 5 stars
Manage your expectations
This is kind of a weed-whacker in a bowl, and you need to realize that it can only do so much. Before buying this or anything else described as a leaf-mulcher, please concentrate on the fact that it works best on LEAVES. Not little branches, not sticks, not chunks of bark, or little stones… but leaves. Anything else you toss into the bowl will shorten the life of your plastic cutting line inside. Speaking of the line (and loads of other reviewers gripe about the fragility of the line that comes with it), it truly doesn’t last all that long… yet, I tried 1/8″ coated aircraft cable and .095 cutting line as well and they didn’t last long either. So just resolve to yourself that you’ll be changing it on a regular basis. Thankfully, it’s is easy to change and I’m sticking with the .095 plastic stuff as it lasts a hair longer (btw, I did not have to drill out anything as one reviewer did, it slipped in the plastic holder just fine).Other things: You’re going to be happiest if you just want to reduce the amount of bags you have to use. This really does a great job reducing the leaves so that quite a big pile can fit in one bag. I happen to be one of those “waste not, want not” guys so I was all jazzed about raking up my leaves, turning them into instant mulch, and saving myself $50 from buying it. Well…There are trees all around my yard and they not only bless me with their leaves but also with little sticks. Those sticks have to be picked out as well as possible, although invariably some get in the hopper. The sticks tear up the line, and then the latter half of the leaves don’t end up as nicely chopped as the former. So, I change the line and carefully rechop everything to make sure the mulch looks like mulch and not the leaves that I just spent so much time raking up. It ends up being more work than I thought, but it finally looks pretty good and from what I hear, the leaves have a lot of nutrients in them as well.Finally, it is dusty! Wear a respirator, ear protection, and some sort of eye protection because it will throw stuff back at you. I like the fact that it’s really light-weight and holds a big trash bag beautifully. So, if I do my job great, this thing does its job great. Keep your expectations moderate to moderate-low and you’ll be happy.
4 people found this helpful
F.J. Foster –
5.0 out of 5 stars
Does what it claims to do
I have only used this once, but it did a great job eating through three large piles of leaves. The trimmer lines don’t last long, but I’ll probably try other trimmer lines that are designed to last longer, and just cut my own lines to fit the machine. I have not tried this with wet leaves yet, but dry leaves are no match for this device. I wear eye and ear protection, so the noise is no problem, and there is no fear of flying specks getting into my eyes. The mulch is very small with only a tiny amount of leaves slipping past the trimmers. Overall, I am quite pleased with this machine, and I can highly recommend it. I would definitely buy it again.