Agri-Fab 26 In Push Lawn Sweeper with 7 Cu Ft Hopper Bag, Adjustable Brush Height, Leaf and Grass Catcher for Small Yards

UPDATE: I received a great e-mail from Agri-Fab's customer service manager, John, regarding the below suggestions. John offered me a hat and t-shirt as a thank you. Not a hat/t-shirt person and wondered if a replacement hopper bag might be possible. Not expecting to receive this thank you gift, it was a huge surprise to find it on my doorstep this morning. Agri-Fab's customer service is the best that I've ever encountered. I fully expect that future versions of the product will most likely incorporate some or all of the below suggestions. Thank you, John!This is a great back to the century item that makes yard clean up a breeze. With about 1/3 of an acre, it took us less than 2 hours to sweep up all of the leaves with one important modification to the sweeper. Replacement parts are readily available from this US company and especially important for the brushes and bag, which will wear with use.For utility, it receives 5 stars. HOWEVER, see our below hacks to make it function as it should...There are some serious design flaws that require modifications to make it perform as expected. The most important design flaw is with the unit itself. The front of the plastic enclosure is too far off of the ground even when the brushes are set at the lowest setting. It kicks some leaves/debris out the front instead of all into the rear hopper. The fix is super easy, but Agri-Fab needs either a significant re-design for this sweeper to work as expected or leave it as is and manufacture our fix below as a bolt on solution. The fix?We cut a piece of rigid rubber 3.5"W x 26" long and bolted it to the front bottom about 0.5" above the bottom edge. This corrected the problem completely and doesn't interfere with the sweeper doing its job. Now the sweeper deposits 100% of the leaves/debris into the rear bag. It even sweeps up our crab apples.Next design flaw - the handle is way too thin to grip properly and a blister maker. We modified it with some high density foam zip tied to the handle. No more blisters and much easier to grip.3rd design flaw - the sides of the plastic brush enclosure are flimsy and should have metal plates to make the sides rigid and prevent the handle from eventually tearing away from the unit because the plastic cracked. We anticipate that the sides will fail - they hold the handles and stand in place - and we reinforced our with metal plates bolted to each side.Last design flaw and an irritating one - the metal ends of the bottom stand have 2 plastic caps supplied by the mfg. They fall off. Once lost in leaves, they're impossible to find. There's no reason to ever remove them, so we glued ours. But, for a few pennies Agri-Fab could have these permanently affixed at the factory instead of making the consumer do it.Finally, replacement parts are expensive. We think that it gilds the lily to charge $69 for a replacement bag made only of tarp plastic. C'mon...In Agri-Fab's marketing materials, they asked for a chance to make it right. It will only be right if they send us free of charge a new, re-designed unit and lower the cost of replacement bags. We received a free replacement and have no quibbles with this level of customer service. With the above hacks and a replacement bag, we now expect years of service from our lawn sweeper.

Ok I have a leaf problem. Basically imagine the largest Oak tree you can, and that beast's job this time of year is dropping tons of leaves and acorns on my yard, on my house, and its favorite mission: into my pool. I about killed myself with the blowing, raking, picking up and putting in the garbage can. (Here in Dallas we don't as of yet have yard waste disposal and I haven't been crafty enough to build a com-poster. Even if I were to build a com-poster, no way it would be able to deal with the massive volume of leaves my behemoth Oak taunts me with on a daily basis.I don't currently own a lawnmower,; I'm a recent transplant from California where I believe it's illegal to cut one's own lawn - we have always had yard service. Here in Dallas I think I have a yard guy, but I haven't seen him for about 3 months. Lawnmower is going to be next, but I wasn't ready for that major step as of yet - so after a couple glasses of wine I was "Priming" and today the Agri-Fab showed up on my front porch (along with a ton of other stuff - including a dozen or so iPhone charger cables - how do I go through so many of those?)The box is a little intimidating - you know, "Some assembly required." I'm at least a junior varsity home improvement guy and have a fairly respectable set of tools. Assembly took maybe 25 minutes and was pretty straight forward. Instructions were in English, and they had pictures. (The best part.) I assembled the Agri-Fab and took it outside for a test drive.The first key is setting the level of the bushes to the proper height. Too low and the sweeper will get bogged down, too high and it won't pick up anything. Once you get the sweet spot it actually does a pretty good job. I would wear eye protection the next time I do this. Also if your yard work includes a beer (like mine usually does) be careful because this little bastard really kicks up the debris up into the basket. Some hit me in the chest (gut) and I did have some beer penetration.Here is the good:Beats the crap out of blowing/raking. Hands down. I filled up a large garbage can in about 10 minutes and didn't have to bend all the way over like you do with the whole rake, pile, pick up maneuver.Here is the "could be better."That bag is pretty small and fills up quickly. disconnecting the bag from the sweeper thing to dump it could be easier. There are two elastic pieces that connect to hooks on the handle that are the most annoying - I ended up not connecting them on subsequent cycles.It's not the most heavy duty piece of equipment - pretty much what you would expect from a post-wine Amazon order. I think it will hold up ok.It bogs down with heavy lawn debris - that is to be expected. My yard basically has debris stalagmites. I worked out a technique of tilting and going back and forth at times.So am I happy with the Agra-Fab? Yeah, I would say so. It's not perfect, but it sure beats raking. It picked up some of my acorns - maybe if I get all the leaves up I can lower it down farther and let it try the acorns again. I'm not picking up acorns by hand again. I filled up a Home-Depot bucket with acorns by hand a few weeks ago and did such a number on my hamstrings I could barely walk for the better part of a week. Not doing that again.Hope this helps! Good luck.

The assembly is about a 30-min job if you have all your own tools and are really good with DIY assembly.Once assembled, this item screams to you that it was made out of the flimsiest, cheapest, lowest overhead materials ever discovered by man. The design is also frustrating. Its function is completely tied to having the machine set at the exact right height. Too high and it doesn't pick anything up. Too low, and it locks up because the brushes encounter too much resistance and you can't exert any real force in pushing for fear of bending or breaking the micro-thin tubing. And forget the idea that once you find the right height, it'll be the right height for your entire lawn. Any bumps, slightly longer growth or bare spots leave you with an ineffective tool because of the height-sensitivity. As a result, you're constantly having to stop and adjust the height for each subsection of your lawn.The supports for the catcher bag are so flimsy, thin and cheap, the 2nd time using it, it's already bent to the point where it's no longer held in place by slight tension & the 2 ridiculously cheap elastic straps. (Elasticity gone after 1 use.) The frame & supports aren't much stronger than a wire coathanger.Finally, emptying the collection bag is terribly inefficient. There's no good way to pour the contents out with any control. A "trap-door" panel or zippered/velcro opening or flexible base that could be shaped into a spout for emptying would've cut into profits too much, I assume, so you end up dumping half the contents on the ground around your garbage can, unless you want to empty it by hand with a dustpan as another reviewer suggested.In short - don't buy this piece of junk. By the time you work out how bad it is, you won't be allowed to return it because it'll be used and dirty. Waste of money.

After careful assembly (maybe half an hour or so) I began using my sweeper on its maiden voyage. To my chagrin I saw more leaves being propelled forward by the brushes underneath the sweeper than we're making it into the basket. I thought it might have been a mistake I made during assembly. Nope. Everything was correct. Customer service was baffled. I found the answer in the way I positioned the handle when I pushed the sweeper. I noticed leaves being "pushed" in front of the unit from underneath when I pushed the unit keeping the handle down (so the back legs nearly touched the ground). When I raised the handle so the poles on the side were closer to perpendicular to the ground (maybe 160 degree angle or so) and the "legs" in the back were lifted about six inches or so off the ground the leaves actually went into the basket! Now my sweeper works like a champ, after I nearly returned it. Customer service was little help when I called them about the leaves being pushed forward. That said, the lady I spoke with was courteous and polite.The leaf catcher is pretty easy to remove and replace so leaves can be dumped in the trash when the hopper fills up. The assembly directions were decent for the most part, with the entire process taking about half an hour (having done one assembly that time could easily be cut in half). However, never having used a "palnut" before and the directions leaving this detail out, I was forced to figure this step out on my own. It DOES NOT just push on by finger pressure. I had to turn the Palnut over on a hard, level surface, align the rod with the open end of the palnut, and tap in the rod with a hammer from the opposite end. I did the same to install the second palnut.Also, for anyone wanting to use this on artificial grass, I say GO FOR IT! I have artificial grass and with the brushes properly adjusted the sweeper makes quick work of picking up leaves while leaving the silica sand in place. I can sweep my yard in about a quarter of the time I can blow it with a leaf blower. The sweeper also does a better job of picking up small twigs and seeds than the blower (much quieter too).Photos of yard are of uncleared yard, then just one pass over whole yard with sweeper, then an additional minute of cleanup. Total time less than five minutes. Sweeper photos are included to show a couple of the details for the rods and clips for proper installation.UPDATE:. Minus one more star for the hopper, which after two seasons is completely deteriorating just like cheap sandbags do. My sweeper is stored out of the elements, in a protected area and the hopper is still coming apart. Good luck finding another one as replacement parts seem difficult to find and exceedingly expensive when you do for the quality (or lack thereof) of materials.After two years the sweeper itself still does a good job, but the hopper is definitely on its last legs. If the hopper were sturdier, or replacement hoppers reasonably priced and readily available, I'd definitely add a star back.

I thought this sweeper worked very well. It doesn't pick up every little leaf/twig, but it does a really great job of picking up most easily. I read a lot of mediocre reviews for this before I bought it, so I was skeptical, but it's better than many reviewers give it credit for.Make sure to adjust the height correctly. That's the most important thing, and it's very easy to do. You should be able to feel the brushes brushing the ground. You want that to add a little resistance to your pushing but not so much that it's difficult to keep the sweeper moving. Level ground also helps as plenty of other people have mentioned, but it works fine on hills and slightly uneven ground.I disagree that it's only for light jobs. Our house backs up to a wooded area, and we get tons of leaves. But I could raise the sweeper to its largest height and pretty much tackle any pile of leaves. You won't get it in one pass by any means, but go over it a few times, lowering periodically if needed. It'll work. I actually think piles were easier than a large, light spread of leaves.The hopper is plastic and it fills up quickly. I don't get why this is a common complaint. It's a leaf collector. You want to it collect quickly. If it was any larger, it'd be unmanageable. It's a good size for transferring into a trash can/bag. You can fill up the hopper in about a minute, so you will spend most of your time emptying the hopper rather than sweeping. But that doesn't mean the hopper is too small. That's just how fast the sweeper works. As for the plastic durability, I haven't had mine very long at all, but it seems durable enough. It's made out of material like a common tarp, and we're just temporarily holding leaves here.The assembly isn't bad. Set aside an hour and you probably will be done early. The instructions aren't that difficult. You need some basic tools, really just a couple of wrenches. A hammer and needle-nose pliers will make your life much easier on the palnuts.This sweeper doesn't 100% pick up everything or eliminate the need to own a rake. In fact, it really works best if you rake leaves into little piles or rows that you can sweep over. My wife raked into rows that I swept over and we finished both of our seriously neglected, leaf-covered, not entirely level lawns in about 2 hours. That was 6 completely full 39 gallon trash bags of leaves. That would have been an all day project before.Clearing your lawn still takes some work, but this provides a massive reduction in the amount of that work. And it really doesn't take a ton of storage space when you're finished with it. It's easy to use and very effective. I highly recommend this product.

This machine is a work of genius! I bought this sweeper after four seasons of misery, not just having to deal with the clean up of these clingy, messy ferns but also the continuous frustration of my 3 Yorkies constantly having to be groomed after each visit to the yard to do their business.Each year as the the Bald Cypress has grown in size and amount of shedding the clean up has also increasingly got harder. So, after reading the many reviews of this machine I made my purchase and it arrived today. I was a little disheartened by the small size and weight of the box, expecting something more grand and sturdy I suppose, let me tell you the parts that matter are extremely well made and very sturdy ( wheels, axle, bearings and sweeper brushes ) and the none essential parts such as the cowling and leaf cathcher are lightweight and do the job they are supposed to do.After assembling the sweeper ( about 15 minutes, would have been 12 if I'd read the instructions properly ) I proceeded to my back yard to test the sweeper. All I can say is that this piece of machinery is pure genius! Simple in construction and application and took me less time to clear the yard of the dreaded fern leaves in less time than it took me to put it together! Seriously!I thought the price was a little high before I recieved it but now consider it an absolute bargain, it took me over an hour last year of back breaking effort to clear the ferns and this year I did it in less than 10 minutes, easily. I did have to adjust the height several times while using it but I also have a very uneven yard and the adjustments were easy to make and the brushes were extremely effective when the correct height was attained.Great sweeper, truly great price, awesome purchase!!

The sweeper is definetly much faster and easier than raking. The first time I used it I thought the sweeper was crap. But after using it a few times, I now appreciate that it is an effective product. It will take some time to figure out how to use it most efficiently.Pros.1. Faster than raking and bagging.2. Light.3. Does what it advertises, that is, sweeps up leaves.4. No cords or gas/oil mixtures to worry about.5. The bag is easy to remove and reattach (which you will have to do a lot of if you're picking up a large amount of leaves).6. Can even be used on pavement (has to be relatively level).Things to look out for:1. The sweeper will not work well on hills or lawns with chunks or divets.2. It took me a few tries to figure out the best height to use for my front and back yard. Luckily, the height adjustment is pretty easy to change (just don't tighten it too much).3. The sweeper works better when not pushed like a mower (tip it forward and up as you push it).4. Relatively easy to put together (in spite of the confusing instructions).Cons:1. The bag doesn't hold a lot of leaves and requires frequent changes. However, I guess a larger bag would make the sweeper heavier to push around.2. The attached bag doesn't empty easily into paper recycling bags.3. Does not work on edges (think where a mower is not effective). You will still need your rake.Bottom line: I am glad I bought it. Now my neighbors want one.

I have a mature lot with many trees. Some drop nuts, so I was interested in the reviews that indicate this lawn sweeper not only works well on leaves but manages to pick up nuts. I have to say I'm not "nuts" about the results. It did an adequate job on leaves, but that's about it.Couple issues:It's not sturdy. Except for the axle between the wheels, the brush housing is entirely plastic and the thin metal handle attaches to the plastic housing directly. No mettle frame. So if the brushes meet any resistance the whole thing tends to start to twist.You are supposed to adjust the brush height to just barely below the tips of the grass, but unless your lawn is perfectly flat (Never seen one yet), that's impossible to do and you end up having to adjust the brush height repeatedly or you bog down every few feet. I mean you literally come to a complete stop because the brushes that were spinning so well a second before are now unable to handle the slightly deeper grass where you are. BTW I mowed a day before using this, so it's not like the grass was overgrown.If you'll watch the product video, you'll notice it doesn't seem to leave the lawn very clean. Wish I had paid more attention prior to ordering.So, if you don't mind making SEVERAL passes to clean your yard, and constantly stopping to adjust the brush height on your imperfect lawn, this little sweeper will pick up most (no where near all) of your leaves.All in all, a lot of effort for very little benefit. I ended up grabbing my rake to finish the job. For 200 bucks I expected more.

Fácil de usar cumple muy bien con su objetivo

The Agri-Fab 26-Inch Push Lawn Sweeper has made picking up the cut grass and fallen leaves on our acreage property so much easier. No more garden rakes and back breaking picking up.

Eine der besten Anschaffungen für meinen Garten. Was mein Rasen angeht bin ich schon ziemlich pingelig, mähe sehr oft und wässere reichlich. Das Wegharken der Blätter und vor allem der Kiefernnadeln hat immer viel Zeit gekostet und trotzdem blieben noch eine Menge Nadeln liegen.Dieses Gerät hingegen:- sammelt die abgemähten Grashalme nach dem Mähen (benutze einen Spiendelmäher der keinen Fangkorb hat)- sammelt die meisten Blätter bereits beim ersten Durchgang auf.- sammelt Kiefernnadeln zu über 90% pro Durchgang auf- reisst auch Fruchtkörper von Pilzen raus und sammelt diese- hinterlässt ein super gepflegtes Rasenbild und dazu ein schönes Muster...dicke breite Streifen, die an einen Fussballrasen erinnernAll das kann man natürlich auch mit einer Harke erledigen, aber mit diesem Gerät geht es deutlich schneller und besser. Gerade Kiefernnadeln sind mit der Harke ein Grauen.Wichtig ist allerdings dass man bereit ist die Bürsten auf eine niedrige Stufe abzusenken, wodurch es wirklich brutal schwer wird, das Gerät vor sich her zu schieben. Ich komme nach 2 Bahnen schon außer Puste und bin eigentlich recht sportlich. Wer dazu bereit ist, wird mit einem Traum von Rasen belohnt der direkt aus einer Gartenzeitschrift kommen könnte (und tatsächlich bekomme ich viel Lob von unseren Besuchern zu hören woe schön der Rasen aussieht). Ach so: bei so einer niedrigen Einstellung ist das Gerät leider auch sehr laut.Wenn man mogelt und das Gerät am Bügel anhebt, geht das Aufkehren wesentlich leichter. Und leiser. Natürlich bleibt dann etwas mehr liegen, aber das Ergebnis ist immer noch deutlich besser als Harken.Zusammenbau war einfach, das Entleeren und Einhängen des Auffang-Sackes ist schnell erledigt. Würde mir das Gerät jederzeit wieder kaufen und glaube auch dass es im Vergleich zu ähnlichen Modellen qualitativ hochwertiger ist, die Stangen und Räder sehen solide aus und bis jetzt wackelt und klappert nichts.

Oh my gosh, I can't rave enough about this lawn sweeper, I bought it for my 71 year old mother who insists on raking her own leaves every fall. I bought her a leaf blower but the bag is so heavy she always has a sore back after using it. I thought I'd try this sweeper just to see but didn't have a lot of hope and WOW, it's pretty easy to put together and it works like a dream, glides easily across the lawn and picks up all the leaves, she is so thrilled.

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