When my military husband was deployed for months at a time, I had to take care of the house and yard myself. That meant I needed lightweight, easy to use lawn tools. The ones we had were all big, heavy and gas-powered, so I got myself a lightweight Black & Decker cordless sweeper and weed whacker combo and I love it. My husband and male neighbors, however, enjoy poking fun at my “little leaf blower.” Guys always think bigger is better, but the truth is that size doesn’t matter. What matters is how it performs.

*Post contains Amazon affiliate links, in case you are in the market for a an easy to use sweeper/blower

It’s Not a Blower, it’s a Sweeper

What these guys don’t realize, is that it’s not a miniature blower, it’s a sweeper and it has a specific purpose. It’s basically made to use wherever you would use a broom. I often use it to clear leaves off my garden path, where I want to blow leaves but leave the pea gravel untouched. If I used a gas powered blower, I’d blast everything away.

A sweeper is lower powered and has a more direct nozzle. So you can easily blow leaves off the driveway, paths, the garage, etc. This one is battery powered and I keep it charged up, with an extra ready to go. It’s easy to grab and do a quick yard sweep whenever I want. However, every time I’m out in the driveway blowing off the path, my husband feels compelled to say, “I can blow that out later.” And I’m like, Why? I want it done now. (I don’t say that. I actually say something nicer like, “Thank you, but I got it.”) Because my sweeper is so easy to use, I actually enjoy using it. And I like seeing how nice and clean everything looks afterwards.

The exact set I got is this one on Amazon: BLACK+DECKER 20V MAX* POWERCONNECT 10 in. 2in1 Cordless String Trimmer/Edger + Sweeper Combo Kit

I’m not sure if my sweeper is particularly light, because it came as a set. It was $100 for them both. I’m totally happy with my “girly” lawn tools and those guys can keep laughing…at least my front yard looks nice! And I don’t usually blog about lawn maintenance tools, but I’ve been out working in the yard for a couple hours each day, getting it all nice for spring so lawn tools are on my mind.