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Got a three position switch for gentle, huff and puff, and blow. It works very well blowing stuff. Just pick it up and blow. I was setting the sill bolts for new framing, drilling holes and cleaning out with the blower. I love it. Stop now and again for a dust break and blow the crud into the bushes. Neither did my brush. That done, you can see the work area again.
At rollup it cleaned off the driveway, the cut station, the garage, etc., etc. This blower would have been great. I bought it because on one job I was there on a ladder, trying to blow the sawdust off an opera balcony (very tiny width) by going Puff., Puff. It's great for cleanup for a carpenter. Look, Maw.
(Many repair jobs are all cordless, no air compressor - which would have worked well). When done we picked up the blower and cleaned the table, the saw and us. I bought this as a naked tool to add to my Makita LiOn collection.It turned out to be a compact little blower. This did not work well.
Today it was a rotted porch rebuild. It goes out on every job and gets used through the day. Works well as I grind through the composite decking with a diamond blade. No cords. Yesterday it was an 8' door install.
I use it on the job site to clean things off. Worked fine. A side shot to get the mound of debris off the hole, then straight down to blow the hole out. I finally got a can of air, which did not work very well.
@@@ Update - 2/20/09 Still in love.The blower is becoming one of the most used tools in my Makita collection. Today we were cutting Hardie Plank with the saw (dust, crud, etc). It's cute, which is nice, but I love it 'cause it blows stuff. Very handy.
The vacuum is useless since the impeller is blocked by a non-removable guard under the intake by a plastic cross. The blower portion works real well. I laughed at the size when I saw it but it works good for small quick jobs. One small leaf blocked it immediately. The hose could be longer so as to not have to stoop at times. An extention wand would be great.
Instead of pulling out 100 ft of cord or gassing up the really loud gas blower--I can just pull this compact, light blower out and get the job done in 5 minutes instead of 20.Battery usually lasts long enough to do several cleanups after mowing and trimming front and back yards. A joy to use. I really like it. Should be available with charger and 18V battery included. Much quieter than plug-in electrics, but a little less powerful. It really gets the job done easily.
My only complaint is that the blower won't stand upright when set on a flat surface. The 18 volt battery lasts for several days when used in this mode. I wish Makita had built the blower with the weight distributed such that it would stand up when set on a surface. I do woodworking on the weekends and bought this blower to clean up my shop. The variable speed on the blower is very useful; I can use the blower with just enough force to blow sawdust off of my tools and work surfaces without creating a dust storm in my shop.
I am a contractor who really needs a small cordless vacuum and blower. It cannot be used to vacuum a van or car. There is a really aweful reason why you only ever see the photo of this set up in blower configuration. To convert it to a vacuum you have to put the dust bag on the front in place of the nozzle, then you put the nozzle on the side of the maching sticking out at 90 degrees from the handle.
They should sell it as just a blower or give a photo of it in both configurations to warn people.I never even bothered to put a battery in it or turn it on. It cannot be used to vacuum inside cabinets or anything else. You would probably have to use both hands. Five minutes after opening it and reading the instructions, it was back in its box and on its way to Amazon returns.If you ONLY want a blower, then maybe it would be fine for you. I can't believe anyone could be stupid enough to design this. I already have many corded and cordless 18v Makita tools, so I was really looking forward to this arriving.
I am not even sure how you could hold the trigger while holding the machine so the nozzle aims in front of you. If you want a cordless vacuum, then don't even consider this Frankenstein designed machine. It's because that is all it is any good for. Obviously, the machine is now such a weird shape it is now basically useless as a vacuum.
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