Harbor Freight Reviews

Link: http://HarborFreightReviews.com

Item: Electric Leaf Eater and Shredder
Item number: 66133
Retail price: $89.99
Frequent sale price: $69.99
Best price: $59.99
Target price: $59.99 or less
Item Link

We have mixed feelings about this item so it doesn't make our "Hot Buys" list but neither does it make our list of "The Junk." It works, shredding leaves to mulch-sized particles quickly and effectively. Its two problems lie in the durability of its housing and in its price. The housing seems to deteriorate and break apart rather easily, and the price is simply $10 or $20 too high even on sale.

It uses a string cutter basically the same as the line cutters used for grass trimming except it has a larger motor. The lines break frequently but they're cheap and easy to replace. Just keep a bunch of pre-cut lines nearby and replacement is a snap. The housing, on the other hand, is potentially a problem.

Harbor Freight's copy writers were overly generous in writing this item's specifications. It doesn't really have four blades as stated, but rather, it has two strings each with two ends. The string cutters work OK, but they're a long ways from being blades.

The unit's housing is a hard plastic that can be chipped fairly easily. Once it starts cracking, the drum is gone. (Notice how I avoided saying "it's a drum roll for the drum?" Oops, it slipped out. ) Also, the blades do not reach the entire diameter inside the drum so mulched material accumulates along the edge which has to be periodically dislodged manually. This doesn't present a significant problem, just any annoying one that could have been prevented through better design.

The shredder only has a 90-day warranty, so you'll want to fully assess the condition of the drum during the first 30 days in case you want to return the item under Harbor Freight's 30-day satisfaction guarantee policy. If it's starting to crack, dump it; the cracks develop faster after the first few emerge.

We use the mulch in our garden so we are more concerned with how well it mulches than with how much it reduces the volume of yard waste to be removed by pick-up services. For our purposes the final product is terrific. We really like being able to recycle our own yard waste and gain the benefits of free mulch. And not having to work on the city's yard-waste pick-up schedule is bonus.

Be well aware that this is a leaf shredder -- no sticks or twigs, please. It only has the cutting ability of its string-cutter blades and can't handle small sticks any better than the string trimmer many people use for grass trimming. Harbor Freight sells a separate product which works well for small sticks (see our review of their 2.5-hp Chipper Shredder). And it works well with DRY leaves, the kind that gently fall in abundance in the fall. The leftover, wet-mushy leaves revealed after the winter thaw aren't shredded well with this machine, but then you didn't really expect it to work on that crap, did you?

Hint: Using one of Harbor Freight's 20%-off coupons brings the sale price down to $55.92 which is close enough to our target price to make it a "buy" if you think you'll enjoy shredding your leaves. Don't know about Harbor Freight's 20%-off coupons? You should read our Notes for the Novice Shopper to learn about this and other pointers for shopping at Harbor Freight.

Bottom line: Watch for this item to go on super-sale for under $50 and then give it a whirl (pun intended; it just slipped out ). It's probably worth even $60, but we feel its current low sale price of $69.99 is just a bit too much for its cheap construction.