Craftsman 42 in. High Speed Sweeper Review

This unit does mostly what it is supposed to do. The trick is getting the brush height just right so that you can sweep up the leaves that are down low or stuck to the ground without setting the brushes too low so that you get wheel skip or skid.  I didn't have to worry about leveling the hitch as this unit was level with my Craftsman DYS4500 without any issues.

I have a LOT of oak trees in my yard so I wanted to be able to pick up those small leaves that are a bit waxy as well as the sticks and acorns that fall out every year. I have a mixed yard with St. Augustine and Bermuda grass and it works on both, except where some of the leaves are stuck to the dirt.  If the leaves are on the grass and not the mud or soil, they come up a lot easier.   I do have to adjust to different heights between the front and back yards, so it takes a few passes.   If I use the sweeper when it's totally dry, I get a lot of grass clippings, too, but then the dust content goes up and I'm covered. :-)

The dump feature is nice, but trying to pull the string from the driver seat is difficult with a full hopper.  I'm not sure if I like having a rope attached for the unloading process.  A few times it has fallen off my tractor or dragged low enough that it got caught up in the brushes and became tangled.  Operator error.  :-O   It takes a few minutes to pull the rope out and get going again. I end up just getting off the tractor and dumping the hopper from behind. I also have to clear out the debris from the brushes and base once i dump the load as quite a bit gets trapped in there.  It's not as convenient as a vacuum unit might be, but definitely a good option to have for the leaf duty and getting those painful acorns up out of the grass.

I was a little concerned initially about the materials used for the hopper. I thought hopper material was too thin and would probably rip or tear. After my first season with it, everything held up so far. No stiching failures yet at the seams.  

It's a little confusing to get the all the poles together when assembling but it's not hard to do. The wheel-brush assembly is sturdy.