Reviews about Chipper Vacs

Ripsawbarkhide says "Chipper/Vac; works like a top!" about Craftsman Professional Chipper/Vac

Ripsawbarkhide — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 00:36:50 GMT

Too many leaves for the mower attachment. They pile up in front of the mower. It works great with just using the hose. It would probably do better if I had purchased the wand hose attachment. If it's on the ground and not very large, it will pick it up and grind it into powder. Anything larger, grind it in the chipper. Just haul the stuff away.

Nothing difficult, just takes a long time to assemble. If all else fails, read the instructions.

...

scapello says "Great piece of equipment. Saves HOURS of work raking." about Craftsman Professional Chipper/Vac

scapello — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:44:00 GMT

This is my 3rd autumn with this vac. It is FANTASTIC. Saw some reviews about a fabric top. They are reviewing the wrong item. This is a metal cart, tipable, with hard plastic top. Starts first time every time. I put it on the outlet of my mower, and mow my 1 acre of heavily wooded lot. Together, the leaves get reduced to shred (1/2" at biggest). I don't use for grass as it gets too heavy with all that grass in it (~9 bags worth of capacity). My only complaint is that the sleeve between the exit chute of the engine and the cart has worn a hole in it. Looking for replacement now, as duct tape only works for so long..... This engine is greatly powered. Chipper works too, but I don't use that much. With this vac, I do not rake anymore. Blow leaves from the gardens and mow over them. GREAT. One thing....notice the long tongue between the engine block and the hookup to the tractor. This makes the vac very long. So, if you have a lot of tight turns on your property, this becomes......

JohnnyD1 says "The Craftsman Professional Chipper / Vac is Awesome." about Craftsman Professional Chipper/Vac

JohnnyD1 — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:11:22 GMT

We have a smaller Craftsman Chipper and the new chipper vac made me smile the first time we used it chipping sticks. You just put in the sticks and they are chips in the cart in a very short time - Awesome. Works Great. On the downside the back door leaves a little to be desired ( or should I say a piece of dung). It really nice that we can mow the whole yard now / pick up leaves and don't have to dump the baskets every 5 minutes as with our bagger system on our old mower. I would recommend this unit to anyone that has a larger yard to mow.

...

Chris1837 says "Powerful vacuum action and chipper is too for size intended. " about Craftsman Professional Chipper/Vac

Chris1837 — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 22:06:19 GMT

Being a retired mechanic I had little trouble with assembly but would expect it to be a bit much to contend with for those without a bit of experience in repair or assembly of such equipment. It did take a good 4 plus hours to put together with laying everything out and reading directions beforehand. I did use pneumatic tools where ever I could to take some of the monotony out of assembling the cart. Cutting out the intake box to fit the mower deck is not for the faint of heart but do not worry if you have an 1/8 of an inch around from a perfect seal to the deck as the vacuum fan is quite powerful enough to not even notice the gap and will still pick up the loose topsoil from under the deck. If fabrication isn't your strong suit you may wish to seek a professional for that step. Operation of this unit is very straight forward and I use it behind my 06' Craftsman 6500 GS 54" deck tractor and care for my 3 acres as well a couple of acres of elderly relatives. If you have never vacuumed......

sstork42 says "Does what we need it to." about Craftsman Professional Lawn Vac

sstork42 — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:00:11 GMT

Compared to other products on the market this lawn vac appears to be fairly priced and it certainly has plenty of vacuum power.

All in all I like the machine and would recommend it to others with two caveats:

1). Assembly of and assembly instructions for the cover were horrendous. Total assembly time was probably 2 hours but over an hour of it was spent trying to figure that out.

2). The one size fits all deck attachment is ridiculous. The instructions are unclear, the multiple cutting templates with different, sometimes contradictory instructions are confusing, the fact that it is designed to be held on by bungee straps but there are no directions as to where those straps should be placed. The plastic material that you need to cut to fit the template is very thick and not easy to cut and the templates are not well marked and are difficult to line up correctly... all very frustrating. Maybe especially so because I bought this new Craftsman Lawn Vac to use on my new Craftsman mower you...

...

HipGranny says "Does the job!" about Craftsman Professional Chipper/Vac

HipGranny — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 14:51:08 GMT

Why did we wait so long to make this purchase!! We've lived in our home for 20 years and we have lots of mature trees. Even though it is only an acre it was lots of work, especially in the fall with all the leaves. Now it is a breeze to keep it looking nice. And no more nagging from my husband to come help him rake and bag leaves!

He did have to rig something to keep the hose and the back door secured, but other than that it works great, so far.

...

whyneedcreateaccount says "Unreliable, but great when working" about Craftsman Professional Chipper/Vac

whyneedcreateaccount — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 20:40:02 GMT

This is my second fall season with this machine and when it works it does a great job - it leaves a clean lawn in its wake, however keeping it running and perfoming is making me start to wonder if I wasted money. Everytime I get it out a problem arises or repeats. I am Joe Homeowner with just 2 acres to care for 4 or 5 times a fall season - but this is labeled professional - I can't imagine a professional would even think about using this - it's in the shop as much as it isn't. Most of the mchanical issues are under warranty, probably, but who has the time to keep sending to or calling sears out. I just keep fixing the problems hoping to get my money's worth out of it. I was looking at getting 5 - 8 years of use out of this, now I am not sure if I will even get 3. I wouldn't buy this again.

1)The safety cut-off wire where connecting to the engine comes lose anytime I use the stick chute or go over too many bumps - I finally tore off the top parts of the egine to get to it and...

...

paramuzic says "Nice machine, assembly is miserable" about Craftsman Professional Chipper/Vac

paramuzic — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 15:53:37 GMT

The capabilities of this equipment is oustanding but the assembly & directions are among the worst I've ever encountered. Total assembly took 6.5 hours. The harware comes mixed in several different packages within the shipment box. There are approximately 35 different hardware pieces. I spent the first hour and fifteen minutes of assembly unpacking boxes and sorting nuts and bolts.

After an hour of sorting nuts & bolts by the letter referenced on the first page of the directions, I discovered that the assembly directions do not use the hardware reference letter, rather the actual size of the nut/bolt. This was extremely frustrating and time consuming. The directions are not layed out very well to facilitate easy reference during assembly.

For assembly, you will need an assortment of sockets, wrenches, pliers, grease gun, drill, and a jigsaw (to cut out the pattern for attachment to the mower deck).

Lastly, the vacuum hose does occasionally clog. The clamps provided to secure...

...

Craftsmanbuyer says "Works as described, excellent lawn vacuum." about Craftsman Professional Lawn Vac

Craftsmanbuyer — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 01:20:41 GMT

This is my lawn vacuum that I purchased for 1 acre land. I have many trees, mostly full grown tall ones, no cones, just leaves.

I have the need for this type of system as all the leaves go to the back as mulch. It reduces all the yard leaves to a manageble amount to decompose.

The assembly took me 6 to 8 hours. The cart was the most time consuming. For the adapter you must have some cutting tools or know someone who does. I must give my brother in law due credit since he owns a similar yard vacuum. Everyone must own a system likes this in an area with a lot of trees.

I recommend placing the hose tightly onto the adapter end. I put the vacuum engine on maximum taking care to drive slowly because of my slight grade in my back yard. I recommend turning left more than turning right with this system since the hose will bunch up on the right.

...

FNM says "Very useful but could be better" about Craftsman Professional Lawn Vac

FNM — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 01:13:45 GMT

I bought one of these as I literally live in the woods and spend around 5 weekends a year as year cleaning up the mess my trees dump on my lawn. When buying I was hoping for a massive time saver and it is in a way but here's my 2c on this product. I'll start with the Cons:

Cons:

1. I have many tight turns on my property. This unit makes you less agile and very wide and long on your mower (with the hoses connected). Don't expect to be able to u-turn while towing!

2. You have to put a lot of effort in for this to work. The hose will constantly pop off unless you shove it on with all your might and tighten until you loose breath. The clamp system is terrible. Might modify somehow.

3. I've still not worked out if it's possible to vac without the blades being on. I bought this hoping you would be able to but it doesn't seem to suck next to anything up unless the blades on the mower are whirring. I will be checking the adapter deck though.

4. Assembly and the instructions SUCK. Mine came...

...

LeafMan says "do yourself a favor and DON'T buy this machine!" about Craftsman Professional Lawn Vac

LeafMan — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:47:22 GMT

We waited until Sears friends and family sale to get the extra 10% off this machine. We were very excited when Sears called to say it was at the store. Our salesman had told us it came assembled. It was in a box with many, many small parts, and unassembled. They said they would assemble it for us and call us when it was ready. The guys in the warehouse couldn't put it together...even the salesman pitched in to help and couldn't get it to fit together correcly. They wanted to drill some holes in it to "make it fit". Of course we weren't about to void the warranty on a $900 unit. AFTER we insisted and got our refund and purchased a leaf sweeper, the salesman told us we had made the right choice....that the axle rod was so weak and small and flimsy w/ no support that it would have broken through after just a few uses. Read the other reviews and see other users who found that out TOO LATE! Luckily we found out BEFORE our money went down the drain. We've yet to put the...

...

stoneandtimber says "Defective design causes carriage failure via axle & axle support" about Craftsman Professional Lawn Vac

stoneandtimber — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 15:24:30 GMT

This particular model is way under built as to the wheels, axle and tongue. The motor is mounted with almost all the weight to the right of the tongue. The motor and vac wheel is quite heavy and constantly torques to the right putting wear pressure on the right wheel and that side of the axle. One season, axle scored and holes now elongated from excessive wear. Whole trailer leans right putting a lot of pressure twist on the back of the mower as well. No way to remedy because the flaw is the mounting of the motor. Change that and the vacuum tube doesn't line up. Looks like in the next model up they may have remedied this with an adjustable large motor mount from the picture. Mine is going back to Sears as a manuf defect. Also hose breaks about 6 inches back from each end from the flexing. No complaints re vacuum use.

...

Dunavant says "Craftsman Professional Vac" about Craftsman Professional Chipper/Vac

Dunavant — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 02:37:48 GMT

I mow 3 acres and needed something to pick up the grass that I didn't have to empty every 100 yards. This product looked as though it was my answer. As I put it together I was disapointed as to the lack of direction in the instructions, but I got it done. The cart is plastic and the top in fabric. The top does not cover the back of the cart. The fabric is too short so there is a gap between the cart and the top where the grass blows out. I used a couple of ratchet clamps to close the gap and that worked. On my first left turn I realized that you can't make a sharp turn or the tube pulls off. I made an extension for the tube, but it drags on the ground so I made a support to hold it off the ground. Now it is hard to make a right hand turn or back up due to the extra length. If I am going to have to fabricate everything I might as well start from scratch. It is going back.

...

biggest says "The Chipper/Vac works great. I only wish the hose would stay on " about Craftsman Professional Chipper/Vac

biggest — Fri, 07 May 2010 15:28:40 GMT

Works fine, but the large hose comes lose too often. It needs a better way to clamp on or less slippery surface.

...

MillardJC says "A real time and effort savor." about Craftsman Professional Chipper/Vac

MillardJC — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 22:39:56 GMT

We have 5 acres in the Pacific Northwest and we were tired of blowing and raking. After reading several reviews and physically comparing the actual machines, we decided to give this product a chance because it seemed like the best balance between performance, features, and price. After using it to keep up with this years falling of the leaves, we have not been dissapointed.

We use it without connecting the hose to the yard tractor and I can confirm that the machine does clog when used in wet conditions. I'm not so sure this would happen if we connected it to the output on the tractor, but then we couldn't get to the sections that are in most need of debris removal.

We have been very pleased with the results. We can do in two solid hours what used to take an entire weekend. The yard looks great and we have more time to enjoy it.

...