Yard & Patio • 7 min readOver 55 and Still Raking the Patio? Read This Before Saturday.
Written by Glenn Hadley - Home & Yard Writer
It's Saturday, a little after eight. You carry your coffee out back and the patio has disappeared again under a wet layer of oak leaves. You cleared it on Wednesday.
So the rake comes out of the garage. You drag leaves out from under the chairs and scrape them out of the corners by the steps, then bend down and scoop the pile into the bin by hand. If you're anywhere near my age (I'm 64), your lower back has an opinion about every part of that.
By Sunday you're moving slow, and the oak out front still has half its leaves left to drop.
A rake is made for a lawn. A big gas blower is made for clearing an acre. The patio and the front walk fall somewhere in between, and most of us end up fighting them with a tool built for some other job.
Last fall that cleanup took most of my Saturday morning, every Saturday from October on.
What a patio full of leaves really costs you
Raking a patio means you bend and pull, then bend again to lift the pile, over and over, and most of the load lands on your lower back. Wet leaves weigh more and stick to the stone, so you end up scraping.
On grass a rake glides. On pavers it snags on every joint, and the leaves you most want gone are the ones wedged under the grill and along the bottom step.
Why the gas blower stays on its hook
I own a gas blower. It's a heavy machine, and starting it means mixing gas and oil, priming the bulb and pulling the cord four or five times, and my shoulder pays for it.
It's built to clear a whole yard. For a patio, a few steps and the walk out to the mailbox, that's a lot of engine to drag out and fuel up.
Hauling all that out for a ten-minute patio job felt silly, so most weeks I talked myself out of it and went back to the rake.
So why not sweep more often?
I tried that first. For two weeks last October I swept the patio every morning with a push broom. It looked fine for about an hour, and my back felt it every single day.
A broom only works while the leaves are dry and loose. After a night of rain they mat down between the pavers and you end up on your knees picking them out by hand. Sweeping more often spreads the same bending across more days.
What a patio-sized blower has to do
It needs enough air to lift wet leaves off stone, in something you can hold in one hand for the whole job. It should start the moment you squeeze the trigger, with no cord to pull and no gas can to fill.
It also has to run on batteries you already own. Nobody wants one more charger and one more set of packs cluttering up the garage shelf.
This fall I've been using one that does all of that, the VortexHaus MACH, and my Saturday mornings look a lot different now.
What the MACH did on my patio the first Saturday
It's small. The blower weighs about 0.7 lb before the battery goes on, and it slid right onto the DeWalt® 20V pack from my drill. With the pack on, it feels about like holding a good cordless drill, and I used it one-handed the whole time.
The first squeeze of the trigger pushed my hand back a little. It puts out over 2.2 lb (1 kg) of thrust, plenty to peel wet oak leaves off the pavers and push them out onto the grass. I had the patio and the steps done before my coffee went cold.
My back was fine on Sunday, and that's what sold me. I never bent down once. I walked the leaves off the edge of the patio and gave the corners by the grill a blast.
Clear the patio without bending over a rake
Get the VortexHaus MACHThree jobs it took over at my place
1.
Leaves off the patio and the deck
This is the big one. I start at the house wall and walk the leaves out to the edge of the lawn, then run the mower over them. On a wet morning it takes a second pass, but the pavers come up clean, and I can reach under the chairs without moving a single one.
2.
Grass clippings off the driveway and walk
After I mow, the driveway and the front walk get a quick pass so nobody tracks clippings into the house. It takes a couple of minutes on the same pack I charge for my drill.
3.
The patio furniture and the screen door
Pollen on the table, leaves stuck in the chair cushions, grit piled along the bottom of the screen door. I used to wipe all of it down with a rag. Now it gets a ten-second blast before we sit outside.
What the VortexHaus MACH gives you
About 0.7 lb without a battery, so it stays comfortable in one hand for the whole patio- Over 2.2 lb (1 kg) of thrust, enough to push leaves and grit off stone and decking
- Runs on your DeWalt®, Makita® or Milwaukee® 18–21V batteries, the slide-in packs already in your garage
- Five electronic protections with LED alerts, and it stops before your battery drains flat
The battery isn't included, on purpose. When you order you pick one system, DeWalt®, Makita® or Milwaukee®, and slide on the pack you already charge for your other tools. It won't fit 12V, 40V, FlexVolt® or stem-style packs.
It stays under 90°F at the grip even on a full battery run, so your hand stays cool, and it hands your pack back with charge still in it.
You get 90 days to send it back for any reason, even used, plus a 1-year warranty and VortexHaus's Bulletproof Build replacement if it fails under normal use.
What's packed into a 0.7 lb blower
- 0.7 lb without a battery
- Over 2.2 lb (1 kg) of thrust
- 18–21V slide-in packs
- Cordless, no gas or oil
- Over-voltage protection
- Under-voltage protection
- Over-temperature protection
- Motor-lock protection
- Over-current protection
- LED alert for each protection
- Under 90°F at the grip
- Stops before deep discharge
Patent-pending designIndependently lab tested90-day money-back1-year warrantyHow a Saturday cleanup goes now
1. Slide on the pack you already own
Use the same DeWalt®, Makita® or Milwaukee® 18–21V pack that runs your drill, on the charger you already have.
1. Slide on the pack you already own
Use the same DeWalt®, Makita® or Milwaukee® 18–21V pack that runs your drill, on the charger you already have.
2. Start at the house and work outward
Walk the leaves away from the wall, off the edge of the patio and out onto the lawn.
2. Start at the house and work outward
Walk the leaves away from the wall, off the edge of the patio and out onto the lawn.
3. Finish the corners and the furniture
Hit the steps and the spots under the chairs, then set it back on the shelf.
3. Finish the corners and the furniture
Hit the steps and the spots under the chairs, then set it back on the shelf.
Made for the jobs between a rake and a gas blower
- Light enough to use one-handed
- Clears leaves and grit off pavers and steps
- Starts the moment you squeeze the trigger
- Hands your battery back with charge still in it
VortexHaus MACH versus a gas leaf blower
| Feature | MACH | Gas Blower |
|---|---|---|
| Weighs about 0.7 lb before the battery | ✓ | ✕ |
| Runs on drill batteries you already own | ✓ | ✕ |
| No gas or oil to mix and store | ✓ | ✕ |
| No pull cord to yank | ✓ | ✕ |
| Small enough to sit on the shelf next to your drill | ✓ | ✕ |
| No fuel going stale over the winter | ✓ | ✕ |
| No fuel smell in the garage | ✓ | ✕ |
What other MACH owners say
"bought it to dry the car and now he uses it more than i do. garage floor, the deck, even the dog beds. light enough that my wrist isnt sore after, which the gas blower never was."
"Bought it for the driveway. Ended up using it on my keyboard, the vacuum canister, the pollen on the porch furniture. It has become the thing I grab for everything. Quiet enough indoors too."
"Contractor here. Sawdust on the miter saw, wet decking after rain, I hit it and move on. Same batteries as my drill so nothing extra to carry. Held up on site every day for a month. No idea why it took me this long."
"It works exactly like they show, no exaggeration there. The price is a little high and I get that it costs money to build properly. Still, for what it does I understand it. Runs great on my Makita® battery."
VortexHaus MACH
Clear the patio before your coffee goes cold
You get 90 days to try it on your own patio, even used. If it isn't for you, send it back.
Get the VortexHaus MACHKeep the rake for the lawn. On the patio and the front walk, the MACH does in a few minutes what used to take my whole Saturday morning, and my back gets to sit this one out.
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: DeWalt®, Milwaukee®, Makita® and FlexVolt® are registered trademarks of their respective owners. VortexHaus is an independent company and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by these trademark owners. Products are designed for compatibility only.
Weight, thrust and grip temperature figures come from VortexHaus product information and testing by an accredited independent laboratory. Use only genuine DeWalt®, Makita® or Milwaukee® 18–21V slide-in packs. Batteries are sold separately.
This page is a paid advertisement. It is not a news article or a blog. The story and any person pictured here are illustrative, and individual results vary. The publisher of this page may receive compensation when you click a link on it or buy a product it features.
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