MakitaXBU02PT 36V (18V X2) LXT® Brushless Blower Kit, Teal, (5.0Ah)

I am invested in Makita power tools and battery packs, so I purchased the Makita XBU02Z blower back in October 2015 with roughly 9 months of ownership. I used it mainly to sweep my garage and other tasks like sidewalks, drying cars and occasionally leaves. I really wanted to stay with Makita for all my OPE, but they do not have a 36V mower readily available in the USA. EGO, on the other hand, has one of the slickest cordless mowers along with a compelling product portfolio with great reviews, so I recently purchased their 2nd gen 530cfm blower, mower and trimmer. There was no way I could justify 2 blowers so I sold the Makita...but prior to the sale, I had about an hour to compare both so for my first quick test, I told my daughter to stand 20 feet away and tell me which blower felt stronger - the Makita subjectively came out on top. I continued to blow different items for comparison, and in general found that the Makita could more efficiently push smaller items. Not saying the EGO couldn’t do it, I just had to increase the speed a lot more. Still in somewhat denial that the highly acclaimed EGO was inferior, I eventually conceded that it could still meet my requirements so I sold the Makita.Now that I have been using this EGO blower daily for roughly 3 months now, I can honestly say that I miss my Makita. At first, I didn’t know why, but then I felt compelled to identify the differences and reasons why the Makita offers a better user experience for my needs - repeat, for my needs. Do not read further if all you care about is performance - it will bore you. But the following (in order of importance) is why I have come to appreciate the design of the Makita XBU02Z.Air velocity/focus - EGO has been boasting CFM, and I don’t doubt that it’s important for leaf blowing, but the energy of the Makita seems to be more focused, like a flashlight that throws. On low, the Makita blows small rocks with less effort, and would create havoc on shoes, slippers, and other items near the garage entry. I don’t get that same effect with the EGO unless set to at least medium speed – in fact, any speed less than medium and it feels like I’m carrying a carpet dryer. Could the extra claimed air velocity of the Makita make that much difference? Observations: 1) the business end of the Makita is smaller in diameter than the EGO, 2) the Makita has 3 aggressively angled turbine blades as opposed to the EGO’s 12, and 3) RPM. Actually, when you look at the turbine on both blowers, it’s hard to believe something so small can generate so much force, but whatever it is, the Makita seems to be able to push small rocks more efficiently than the EGO – again, both can do the job, but the speed on the EGO needs to be increased at the cost of noise, which leads me to my next point.Noise – All the crap that blows in during the day gets blown back out before I close my garage at dusk. Well, this is where my neighbors hate me even more now. Both blowers are relatively loud, but the tone on the EGO, in my opinion, is perceivably louder with an element of high frequency that is more piercing, shrill, and fatiguing (and this is on low speed). This may be attributed to the fact that it has an open intake design which is great for airflow, but exposes the turbine more than the Makita, and hence the noise. The turbine on the Makita is enclosed deeper within the shell, and the inside of the intake appears to be lined with foam, likely in place to help reduce noise. At higher speeds, things only get worse for both blowers, but the high frequency on the EGO is harsher to my ears.Trigger response – the EGO has both a start and stop delay that is too long. IMO, it’s not even a soft start – it’s a start delay. To make matters worse, the EGO continues blowing after the trigger is released for a debatable amount of time, and can be annoying because there are times where you just need to cut power immediately, like when things unexpectedly get blown or toppled over. I have since learned to release the trigger and point the EGO in a different direction if this situation arises, but sometimes other things get blown. I cannot think of any reasonable explanation why it was designed this way. On the other hand, the Makita trigger behaves much like its power tool cousins – start response is almost instant, and releasing the trigger immediately cuts power to the motor (sorry, no electric brake).Variable speed - Adjusting speed on the EGO requires two hands, whereas the Makita has a thumbwheel speed dial. I did not realize how much I used the variable speed on the Makita until I found myself constantly reaching for the speed lever on the EGO. In addition, the trigger on the Makita is also variable albeit sensitive; therefore, you have the ability to set the maximum speed with the thumb dial, and the ability to control that maximum speed with one hand. Makita’s motto should be, “Control beyond belief.” Sorry, couldn’t resist.Speed selection – The EGO has a variable speed lever from low to high; however, there seems to be a considerable jump between high and turbo. The Makita has 6 equally spaced speeds. Using the same scale on the EGO would yield speeds 1 through 4 for the adjustment lever, and speed 6 for turbo. There is no speed 5, which at times I seek. This makes me wonder how many users actually find the high setting on the EGO adequate for leaf blowing. I mostly observe turbo used when reviewers are demonstrating leaf blowing capabilities.Winning points on the EGO: 1) The open air intake design, tends not to suck my clothes in as much as the Makita, which could be partially due to the horizontal support that runs towards the battery area… or because the CFM ratings are not correct. Makita was constantly sucking my shirt/shorts, but that’s my fault for wearing baggy clothes. 2) The push or thrust back feels less on the EGO, which means less fatigue on your arm and wrist. Maybe this is due to the intake design, but from what I remember, the Makita felt as though it would be more fun on a skateboard. 3) The LED on the EGO battery (even though facing backwards) acts as a useful light when blowing in darkness. *Idea alert for Makita – incorporate LED on front of blower! 4) The turbo button is very convenient for quickly dislodging stubborn items. 5) EGO is a great value that includes battery and charger. The Makita bare blower is currently priced at $259, but value is in the eye of the beholder and this is a product review so I’m not taking away any stars.I do not use blowers for extended periods so I cannot comment on the weight and balance. I didn’t notice anything considerable, so I suppose that’s a good thing.Am I saying Makita is better than EGO? Absolutely not. Both will get the job done, but with the Makita, I felt more connected and in control of the tool. Perhaps I would not have noticed the nuances of the EGO if I actually used the blower for what it was intended to do – blow leaves during the day. If you just need a blower or perhaps some other cordless OPE tools, I would recommend EGO; however, if you are already invested in the Makita 18V platform and do not need a mower, you may want to seriously consider the Makita XBU02Z.So now the Makita XBU02Z blower is back in my Amazon cart, and I’m just waiting for the price to drop near or under $200... c’mon Amazon, I’m waiting!

This was a wife request due to it will not start, this puppy is the perfect remedy and works just as good as the gas blower she loves it and of course I'm a hero. Price is well worth it as I don't have to STOP the presses to stat the blower.

all my battery tools are makita so for me this was a no brainer i have an 80 ft. drive a front porch and a back deck some gutters to clean most of the time i run it on3 of 6 and it works great if i need more power there is always a 6 i luv the blower i have a lawnmower and a weed whip to go with the blower and im in hog dogger heaven mark

Makita is my go to. This blower is built well and works well to blow out my garage and my driveway. I also use it to blow off my deck and pavers. I highly recommend it. This is my second Makita blower. I liked it so much I bought another one for our vacation home.

I have a lot of hours on this blower now, so I can give a detailed review of it.The Good:It has a lot of power, enough even to move wet leaves. The blower nozzle is detachable, which I thought would be a useless feature, but it means the blower can be stored and transported more easily. The long nozzle is very easy to take on and off, and attaches securely to the blower when you want it. It is much quieter than a gas blower in operation, and the balance is good so you don't find yourself getting tired from running it all day. Build quality is typical for a Makita tool - it is solid, well-made and likely to last many years even if used hard.The bad:It doesn't run a terribly long time on a single set of batteries, on high. There is a knob to turn down the power and that will make the batteries last a bit longer, but I find I just run it flat out most of the time because you are moving more leaves more quickly on high. The run time isn't atrociously short given the power of the thing, but you will still be wishing you didn't need fresh batteries quite so quickly.If you are thinking about buying a blower this large and expensive it is likely because you have a fair bit to do. A relatively short run time + big job = this thing can eat through a whole rack of your expensive Makita 18v batteries and so you better have a bunch of them on hand.I'd say that you need a minimum of four, 5 amp hour batteries if you expect to do any reasonable amount of work with this thing. Personally, I can easily go through six 5 amp hour batteries with this thing fast enough that the standard, two bay Makita quick charger can't keep up. In other words, the first set of dead batteries generally isn't quite fully recharged before I've burned through another two sets of 5ah batteries.If you are already fairly deep into the Makita system and have a bunch of high amp hour 18v Makita batteries already, then this is probably a sensible purchase if you need a high-end blower. On the other hand, if this is going to be your first Makita tool, think very carefully about how long you need it to run and how many batteries you are going to have to buy on top of the tool. This is the only Makita tool I own where owning a total of 6 5ah batteries and one two-bay quick charger that I can use on-site isn't quite enough to get me through a full day's worth of work.