4 ms·

As I recall, the average electric leaf blower emits around 70 dB, while the average gas blower puts out 80-90 dB (although some advertise themselves as quieter,

by proggy 3y ago

As I recall, the average electric leaf blower emits around 70 dB, while the average gas blower puts out 80-90 dB (although some advertise themselves as quieter, I am dubious but have not verified by running these tests myself). The electric leaf blowers are noticeably quieter, and what noise they do make is much more concentrated on a smaller set of frequencies than a gas blower, which is kind of all over the spectrum when it gets going.

hgsgm 3y ago
Full spectrum is less mentally distracting than narrow spectrum.
- RoyGBivCap 3y ago
  Not when it's bouncing up and down the spectrum seemingly randomly. The "random" nature of the operator repeatedly gunning the engine but not just holding there is way, way, way worse than if it was just the same spectrum, but continuous.
bluGill 3y ago
The average electric blower is a lot less powerful than the average gas one. When you find an electric with comparable power the noise is similar. You cannot move a lot of air through a small pipe without making a lot of noise, this is physics (there are things you can do to make it better, but they have limited ability). Old electric just couldn't get the power out of mains or a nicad battery. Newer li ion batteries can deliver more power and thus electric blowers are useful. Don't get me wrong, gas engines are noisy as well, and so gas blower are louder, the difference isn't that much though.
rektide 3y ago
I do think there's much much more open design space for electric leaf blowers to explore, where-as gas blowers just have terrible conflicts. You can make a quieter efficient 4-stroke gas blower, but it's going to cost a ton, have way more mechanical complexity, and probably weight more than you want. Where-as I think we're really only starting to learn about how to optimize electric leaf blowers for sound. And I think electric blowers in general do a bit better. The top rated Ego LB5804 is supposedly 65dB, which is significantly quieter. Ryobi Whisper has a professional-grade backpack model that still is 59dB. It looks like it might need a little more oomph, but random shout out to Moxie Marlinspike (creator of Signal messenger)'s ultra-quiet leafblower. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33324195 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33324195 https://twitter.com/moxie/status/1582154037700399104 https://twitter.com/moxie/status/1582154037700399104
- bluefirebrand 3y ago
  > Where-as I think we're really only starting to learn about how to optimize electric leaf blowers for sound. We could also collectively as a society realize that leaf blowers are low value tools that we could probably just do without. Leafs on the ground aren't harming anything.

by proggy 3y ago

hgsgm 3y ago

Full spectrum is less mentally distracting than narrow spectrum.

RoyGBivCap 3y ago
Not when it's bouncing up and down the spectrum seemingly randomly. The "random" nature of the operator repeatedly gunning the engine but not just holding there is way, way, way worse than if it was just the same spectrum, but continuous.

bluGill 3y ago

The average electric blower is a lot less powerful than the average gas one. When you find an electric with comparable power the noise is similar. You cannot move a lot of air through a small pipe without making a lot of noise, this is physics (there are things you can do to make it better, but they have limited ability). Old electric just couldn't get the power out of mains or a nicad battery. Newer li ion batteries can deliver more power and thus electric blowers are useful. Don't get me wrong, gas engines are noisy as well, and so gas blower are louder, the difference isn't that much though.

rektide 3y ago

I do think there's much much more open design space for electric leaf blowers to explore, where-as gas blowers just have terrible conflicts. You can make a quieter efficient 4-stroke gas blower, but it's going to cost a ton, have way more mechanical complexity, and probably weight more than you want. Where-as I think we're really only starting to learn about how to optimize electric leaf blowers for sound. And I think electric blowers in general do a bit better. The top rated Ego LB5804 is supposedly 65dB, which is significantly quieter. Ryobi Whisper has a professional-grade backpack model that still is 59dB. It looks like it might need a little more oomph, but random shout out to Moxie Marlinspike (creator of Signal messenger)'s ultra-quiet leafblower. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33324195 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33324195 https://twitter.com/moxie/status/1582154037700399104 https://twitter.com/moxie/status/1582154037700399104

bluefirebrand 3y ago
> Where-as I think we're really only starting to learn about how to optimize electric leaf blowers for sound. We could also collectively as a society realize that leaf blowers are low value tools that we could probably just do without. Leafs on the ground aren't harming anything.