Ah, there’s nothing like the smell of a shootout spotlight review in the morning (or whenever you’re reading this)! If you’ve been following along with us for the last few weeks, you know that we recently conducted a big ol’ shootout among 16 cordless blowers. If you didn’t know that, be sure to go back and check it out right after this review. Since then, we’ve broken out individual spotlight reviews of some of the blower competitors to take a closer look. What’s good? What’s not so great? You probably won’t get the opportunity to put 16 blowers to practical use before making a purchase decision – but we’ve got you covered. Today, we’re zeroing in on the Greenworks 60V Blower 540 CFM.
Greenworks is a bit of a whippersnapper in the power tool world, having just been born in 2007. But the company rose rapidly from corded, DIYer-level tools to launch, among other things, a popular pressure washer and dual blade lawn mower before targeting professional grade tools with a 40V line, then 80V, and in November 2016, a 60V line of tools. Today’s blower comes from that 60V line. Does it have the chops to hang with the old(er) guard? Let’s find out.
Motor, Battery, and Power
As the name gives away, the Greenworks 60V Blower 540 CFM features a brushless motor. In fact, most of the shootout’s contestants had brushless motors, which extend tool life and support “smart” electronics. Smart electronics is general phrase which means that the tool and battery communicate to protect components by preventing thermal overload. Brushed motors are cheaper, but they require more maintenance and can be pushed past safe limits for the motor and battery.
Battery power comparisons are misleading if you only consider nominal voltage. After all, a 20V battery isn’t necessarily less powerful than a 60V. To make a fair assessment, we need to know watt-hours (Wh). Watt-hours is calculated by voltage x amps x hours. All major manufacturers’ batteries have amp-hours (Ah) printed on them, so to find watt hours, you’d multiply amp-hours by the nominal voltage. By this measure, the Greenworks blower does have quite a powerful 5.0 Ah battery – coming in third out of sixteen. It was bested by a long shot, and understandably so, but the only two backpack battery style blowers in the competition from Husqvarna and Stihl.
The Greenworks 60V Blower 540 CFM Axial has an inline, axial fan design found in 10 of the blowers in the shootout. In contrast to a side intake design (which on the DeWalt blowers had), an inline setup accelerates air straight through the blower, reducing friction and boosting efficiency. As powerful as batteries are becoming, blowers like the Greenworks have to wring every ounce of power from their systems to approach their gas-powered counterparts. In this case, Greenworks is capable of 540 CFM and 140 MPH.
The whole package – blower and 5.0 Ah battery – weigh in at about 9.75 pounds, which is comparable to the competition.
Variable Speed, Cruise Control, and Turbo
Even if you have a powerful blower, you don’t always need it on full blast. In fact, that can be downright counterproductive as the strong blast relocates the mess instead of dissipating it into the grass. For that reason, we like variable speed triggers like the one on this Greenworks blower. Modulating the speed will make the job much easier.
Just as useful is a cruise control option. Homeowners with smaller areas to blow might not have the need for it. But keep in mind that Greenworks – and all of the other manufacturers – want to sell to the Pro as much as the homeowner. Big jobs and long days of extended use mean extended trigger squeezing and fatigue. Greenworks cruise control slider mechanism makes that stuff just a little easier.
And sometimes you just need let loose on some wet and heavy debris – or simply just blow it as far as possible. For those short bursts of max power, the Greenworks includes a Turbo option. At the press of a button, you’ll create a short gust more powerful than the fully depressed throttle can normally muster. It’s not an efficient use of battery power, but sometimes you need a little “umph.”
Other Notable Features
A few less powerful blowers have a scraper – a metal ring or plastic – that helps to loosen stubborn debris. But as if for good measure, the muscular (at least on paper so far) Greenworks 60V 540 CFM Axial Brushless Blower has one, too. It looks like it’s ready for action!
Performance
Regular readers will know that we like to start with “softer” impressions of a tool before moving on to the hard performance data. It helps us separate the stuff that’s just different from what’s not-so-great. That way, we don’t end up penalizing a tool for a feature that we simply find unfamiliar. In short, we familiarize ourselves with it like talking to someone we’ve never met.
I Got A Feeling
We found that several of the blowers in our shootout – this Greenworks included – had an irritating protrusion of plastic or overmold where the halves of the handle join. We hope there’s some simple manufacturing fix because comfort in the hand wasn’t that great.
Something Hear
Gas-powered blowers have always had a take-no-prisoners approach to their sound level. “Just wear some hearing protection!” they’d seem to yell at you over the deafening sound. But with the advent of battery-powered tools, we’ve heard of more communities instituting noise abatement rules. These rules fall, of course, on lawn equipment.
At the user’s ear, the Greenworks 60V Blower 540 CFM produces 89 dBa. By way of comparison, the shootout’s contestants ranged from 82 to 95 dBa. Although that’s almost smack dab in the decibel range, there were only four blowers that were louder than the Greenworks. Still, that’s pretty quiet, especially compared to gas!
Common Ground
Have you ever been confused when blower manufacturers emphasize either MPH or CFM as the end-all, be-all? In reality, a blower needs the right combination of both MPH and CFM to do good work. Just as watt-hours was a common denominator for battery power comparison, Newton Force is that common denominator for wind speed and volume comparison. A blower’s Newton Force accounts for both measures in their proportions.
Related Quick Read: Blower MPH vs CFM – Which is More Important?
The Greenworks blower was tied for 5th place with a few other blowers at about 10.5 Newtons at Wide Open Throttle (WOT) and moved up to 3rd place with 14.5 Newtons in Turbo Mode. So how does that compare with gas-powered commercial blowers? Well, there’s still a gap: the Pros’ gas blowers reach 900 CFM and 200 MPH – and about 40 Newtons!
The Bottom Line
Mr. Cool J warned us a long time ago not to call it a comeback, but the solid specs, performance, and value have redeemed the Greenworks 60V line from its shaky chainsaw review a while back. We think it was a poorly spec’d chain that contributed to most of the tough row. But in any event, the Greenworks 60V Blower 540 CFM deservedly rounds out the good buzz surrounding the mower and trimmer. It placed 7th place out of 16 competitors in our shootout – middle of the pack, sure – but with a high Newton Force rating and fairly low price, it’s in the upper tier of value.
Greenworks 60V Blower 540 CFM Features
45 minutes average run time on a fully charged 2.5 Ah battery- High efficiency brushless motor engineered to provide more power, torque, quiet operation and longer motor life
- 250 – 470 CFM with 540 CFM Turbo boost button
- Variable speed trigger with cruise control
- Cushioned over mold grip
- Less than 8 lbs. with battery reduces fatigue
- Convenient push-button start, no messy gas
Greenworks 60V 540 CFM Axial Brushless Blower Specifications
- Model: Greenworks BL60L2510
- Air Speed: 140 MPH
- Air Volume: 540 CFM
- Tested Noise Rating: 89 dB(a)
- Tested Runtime: 31:04 (5.0 AH battery)
- Bare Weight: 5.31 lbs
- Battery Weight: 4.38 lbs
- Tested Battery: 5.0 AH
- Warranty: 4 years limited
- Price: $199
- Included in Kit: Tube, 60-volt 2.5 Ah Battery, Charger
