Ghostbusters accessory (Power Devil Pdg4016 Shredder Blower Vac)

Member Name: Gary25

Product:	Power Devil Pdg4016 Shredder Blower Vac
Date:	15/09/08 (108 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's red (if you like red)

Disadvantages: Heavy, unwieldy and poor quality

This is not the sort of item I would buy but had this as a Christmas present the year before last and having a lot of deciduous trees around, was rather glad to get it.

Once the trauma of Christmas was out the way, I decided to give it a go. The initial assembly was straightforward enough, it's no more than clicking the attachment on just below the handle to hold the collection bag and fitting the bag around that, zip it up and off we go -or so I thought.

There is a dual use button - push one way to suck up, the other direction to blow and you have to move it with your thumb. Only problem was it wouldn't stay in the position to suck the leaves up. It took some pressure to hold it there and with the weight of the machine was difficult to maintain. Got my father-in-law to look at it in case I'd missed something vital but he got no further than me.

Off to Argos to get a replacement, which they did, no bother. I was relieved to find that this worked as it should, and it wasn't down to my stupidity. Although it has wheels on the bottom to take the weight as you move around, when the ground is muddy or wet it's not really much good as it takes some pushing. It is also very heavy even using the supplied shoulder straps and I felt a bit like Dan Ackroyd in Ghostbusters. Another thing - the manual says not to use it if it's wet. OK, it's electric, and water and electricity doesn't mix, but in Autumn and Winter it's nearly always wet and so are the dead leaves. You also need to use it on a regular basis as leaves drop continually so get used to the hassle of dragging it out of storage and unwrapping the cord.

Another function is that it is also supposed to shred, so small shredded pieces of twig find their way through to the bag. After using the replacement model no more than six or seven times, the stitching around the bag started to rot from the damp, and small holes began appearing where the sticks were poking through. The quality and durability of the bag is useless and without that part you're pretty much stuck.

If you have to buy a shredder vac, I'd go for another make/model as the prices are pretty similar. Having experienced a vac though, irrespective of my problems, it's better for your health and wallet simply to buy a good old fashioned rake with tines and get the kids to help. P.S. It was a nice colour red though and matched my cheeks!

Summary: A vac, blower and shredder for use in the garden.