Photograph: Mark Wolfe
Anybody who appreciates a well-groomed garden might wish to contemplate including a garden sweeper to their secure of kit. These helpful units quietly choose up particles from the grass floor, together with extreme grass clippings, fallen leaves, pine needles, pine cones, sweetgum balls, and acorns.
At completely different occasions they’ll change a blower, a leaf rake, or a mower bagger. I lately examined the Agri-Fab 44-Inch Garden Sweeper to seek out out if it may deal with the trials of a typical panorama. Agri-Fab is an Illinois-based garden and backyard gear firm with a stable popularity for high-quality, reliable efficiency and worth, so my expectations have been fairly excessive.
My yard presents a lot of the challenges present in any panorama. It’s an acre of grass damaged up by plantings of timber, shrubs, and backyard beds. We now have quite a lot of timber within the yard and adjoining neighborhood, together with pines, oaks, sweetgum, hickory, and magnolia, which all drop their bounty on the grass.
The terrain varies from flat to sloped. I used a 22-horsepower using garden mower to drag the Agri-Fab garden sweeper. The sweeper carried out admirably, choosing up practically all of the particles in its path. It navigated pretty simply amongst some slim passageways between crops and was simple to dump with out getting out of the motive force’s seat.
Agri-Fab 44-Inch Garden Sweeper: At a Look
Photograph: Mark Wolfe
Score: 9.4/10
PROS
- Straight or offset attachment
- Excessive-speed sweeper brush
- Giant hopper capability
CONS
- Considerably sophisticated meeting
- Full hopper could also be too heavy to drag
- No clutch to disengage the sweeper brush
Get the Agri-Fab 44-Inch Garden Sweeper at:
What Is the Agri-Fab 44-Inch Garden Sweeper?
The Agri-Fab 44-Inch Garden Sweeper is a tow-behind garden sweeper for medium to large-size yards. It’s best used with a using mower, a garden tractor, or an ATV with a hitch peak between 7 and 13 inches from the bottom. The 44-inch sweeper brush meeting and the 5.6:1 brush-to-wheel turning ratio simply picked up moist grass clippings, fallen leaves, pine cones, and acorns from my grass.
The adjustable hitch can connect immediately behind the garden tractor or on both aspect of the mounting bar for an offset configuration. The 25-cubic-foot assortment hopper makes use of an progressive flow-through design to remove wasted area, so the hopper fills fully and ends in fewer journeys to unload. When half-filled with moist grass clippings, the hopper grew to become too heavy for my mower to drag uphill simply, however including extra quantity than that will be doable if choosing up dry leaves.
When it’s time to dump, the tubular metal dump deal with permits you to tip the hopper with out leaving the tractor seat. Heavy-duty elements embrace the metal body, dump deal with, brush peak adjustment elements, welded hitch brackets, bronze brush shaft bushings, and 12-inch brushes.
Photograph: Mark Wolfe
How Simple Is the Agri-Fab 44-Inch Garden Sweeper to Put Collectively?
The package deal weighs about 90 kilos, and it’s cumbersome. It’s finest to have the field delivered as shut as doable to the meeting location. Ideally, select an open space with a paved floor and quick access together with your using mower. Additionally, will probably be simpler in the event you work with a associate. Working alone, I opened the field and unfold the items on my driveway.
Within the literature and on-line, the unit is promoted as being simple to assemble with simply two instruments in about half-hour. That’s in all probability true for somebody who has beforehand assembled a garden sweeper. I had not. The directions have been at occasions unclear, and the pictures didn’t essentially assist. It took me someplace between 45 and 60 minutes to assemble the sweeper. If you’re not skilled with assembling merchandise, it could take longer. Additionally, constructing it on the bottom requires a good quantity of squatting, bending, and lifting. Not an issue for me, however some clients might wish to plan for a couple of breaks.
Is the Agri-Fab 44-Inch Garden Sweeper Good for Selecting Up Leaves?
For context, the directions say to set the 12-inch-long sweeper brushes to succeed in a half-inch under the guidelines of the grass blades. For taller grass, the sweeper brushes are adjusted upward, and for shorter grass, they’re adjusted downward. The identical half-inch setting was advisable throughout the board for all of the sweepers I examined.
This sweeper devoured up practically all garden particles in its path. With out hesitation, it simply picked up light-weight materials mendacity on the floor, in addition to heavier particles that was flippantly embedded within the floor. The notable exceptions have been small, heavy dense issues that had labored their method deep into the grass, particularly within the tracks of the mower. Nevertheless, it did a terrific job of choosing up complete and shredded leaves.
Photograph: Mark Wolfe
Is the Agri-Fab 44-Inch Garden Sweeper a Good-High quality Product?
Instantly out of the field, this sweeper felt extra substantial than the others I examined. Every element is fabricated from metal and different sturdy supplies, and the assembled product looks like it ought to final for a few years with regular use. The strengthened plastic/cloth bag will possible be the primary half to wear down however shall be simple sufficient to switch when obligatory.
The 5.6:1 brush-to-wheel turning ratio means the comb strikes sooner than the others I examined. This equated to higher pickup energy and materials being moved to the hopper at the next velocity, so it was higher capable of fully fill its hopper than the opposite garden sweepers. Additionally, this was the one sweeper I examined that included an extended steel deal with, quite than a rope, to dump the hopper. Lastly, the semi-pneumatic tires make for a clean trip throughout the work zone with much less bouncing and jolting. Briefly, this was the highest-quality sweeper we examined.
Is the Agri-Fab 44-Inch Garden Sweeper Definitely worth the Cash?
The under-$400 price ticket for the Agri-Fab 44-Inch Garden Sweeper locations it close to the highest finish of the sweepers I examined and in the course of the vary for comparable high-quality models. A heavy-duty body, robust adjustable wheels, a sturdy dump deal with, a excessive brush-to-wheel turning ratio, and different high quality options enhance the price. In case you want an affordable sweeper to assist with leaf pickup every year, this isn’t it. However if you’d like a high quality sweeper for constant year-round use, this might be a good selection.
Photograph: Mark Wolfe
Is the Agri-Fab 44-Inch Garden Sweeper Proper for You?
A garden sweeper is a comfort, not a necessity. A rake removes leaves and particles even higher than a sweeper, nevertheless it takes a really very long time. A leaf blower collects leaves and particles about in addition to a sweeper, nevertheless it doesn’t resolve the issue of shifting the pile the place it must go, and the sweeper may match higher on windy days. A mower discharge bagger can acquire grass clippings, however, in contrast to a sweeper, it is going to grow to be clogged if the grass is just too moist or too tall.
Whether or not you utilize it each week or a couple of occasions a 12 months, a superb garden sweeper might help hold your yard wanting its finest with much less work and time in your half. The Agri-Fab 44-Inch Garden Sweeper is a superb alternative for medium to giant lawns.
The place to Purchase the Agri-Fab 44-Inch Garden Sweeper
Get the Agri-Fab 44-Inch Garden Sweeper at:
