Backpack Leaf Blower - Backpack Blower - Gas Leaf Blower - SR-6400L - 3.7 HP Engine

My handheld blower's engine seized due to a failed carburetor mount that let air leak past the carburetor and catastrophically lean out the engine. So, new blower since parts cost more than a new one. Note UPDATE below... I gave this Schröder blower five stars based on a performance/price metric and build quality, but there are some live-withs to consider. See "Cons." --- See EDIT -- I have three acres of landscaped property out of five acres with lots of oaks having smallish leaves, augmented with redbuds, maples, and others with large leaves. Its an ongoing battle with the oaks all year, others in the fall. The handheld just didn't do it, but I made it work for about 10 years. I never could blow wet or damp leaves..... This Schröder seemed to offer the performance of the usual suspects at half the cost. Reviews seem good. I bought it. PROS: - This Blower Moves Leaves! After being without a blower for about ten Fall days, I first used the Schröder the day after a heavy rain that added a lot of leaves to the existing ten-day normal Fall accumulation. I spent four hours, three tanks of gas, and moved all the wet leaves and large acorns without a worry. Amazing. The blower's operational performance is exceptional. Wow. - Starts on the second pull when cold, every time. - Reasonable Weight. At just over 20 lbs, its lighter than some in its class. Makes for a nice workout addition to your 10,000 steps around the yard cleaning up. Plus, you get those "magic fingers" vibration through your back as you traverse the yard. What's not to love? - Well Built. The Schröder seems tight, well constructed and solid. The blower nozzles have set screws to hold them together and include both round and flat blower nozzles. The air filter has both a foam pre-filter and a proper pleated paper secondary filter. All the assemblies have the look and feel of fit-for-purpose and sturdiness. Some thoughtful engineering went into the base blower package. - Comfortable. The thickly padded shoulder straps, and waist and chest straps keep the blower solidly against your body. The pistol grip throttle position is adjustable along the length of the blower nozzle. CONS: - Throttle Trigger is too Stiff. I had to keep switching fingers between index and middle. The throttle return spring is too stiff. The trigger itself is wide enough, but trigger pressure is just too much after a while and your finger tells you it has had enough. Yes, I was out there about four hours, but your trigger finger shouldn't be the limiting factor. I commented to myself about this stiffness as I was pre-assembling the unit - and it proved out in application. I will take the throttle assembly apart and see if I can cut down a spring somehow, or identify the source of the stiffness and relieve it. We'll see. - Single Position Throttle Lock. Rather than a friction-based throttle lock that allows holding any throttle position, this unit has a button that holds the throttle at about 3/4. That may be fine for most uses, but not for heavy, wet leaves when you need all the power you can get. - Recoil Starter is Very Hard to Pull. No, I'm not a wimp. The recoil spool is only about 2.5 inch in diameter and the engine must have about 13:1 compression ;) Bad combination. There is no place to put your foot on the blower to hold it while pulling the cord. So, set blower on the ground, put left hand on the rubber neck above the carburetor, pull the cord, get only about one compression stroke as the blower jerks and slides. Fortunately, it starts right up. My wife is pleased that she'll never be able to start it herself. CONCLUSION: I'm keeping it. I love the power, the weight, the magic fingers. I'll figure out something with the throttle, live with the recoil starter, and put the about $300 additional that a usual suspect blower would cost toward another project. As with all power tools, wear ear protection. Note, if you need to adjust the carburetor for altitude, you will need the larger "ACircle" carburetor adjustment tool. Never mind if you don't know what that means. UPDATE 11/21/2020: I took the pistol grip throttle assembly apart - three screws and an allen bolt - to see what can be done about the stiff throttle. A lot, actually. Both the trigger and the throttle interlock have circular springs; both are easily removed. Since the carburetor itself has a fully functional return spring, the one on the handle is a backup, I suppose. The throttle pressure is SO MUCH BETTER without that spring on the trigger. Then, removing the spring on the interlock keeps it depressed so you don't have to keep a firm grip on the handle and can depress the throttle without actively squeezing the interlock. I hid both springs in the handle up near the on-off switch in case, well just in case. See the two pictures of the opened up throttle assembly - one with the springs in place, the other with them removed. Also, regarding starting the unit. Placing a firmly weighted left hand on top of the air filter housing, or on top of the exhaust housing next to the spark plug improves the recoil pull experience. OK. Another tank and a half of fuel this afternoon and I'm a happy camper. I'd buy this again, but hope I never need to do so. Update: 3 January, 2024 Three years in and the blower continues to impress me. The only issue is a broken plastic waist belt clip. I replaced it. Update: 30 October, 2025 Five years in and our local gasoline destroyed the fuel lines. Fortunately, I had some fuel line available and was back in business shortly. Also, the starter pull cord mostly frayed at the handle. A short time later I'd shortened the cord by a couple of inches and tied a new knot. Note, that the blower came with a second, replacement, pull cord assembly. Fortunately, it still sits in a drawer in my shop. I'm back in business with my wonderful blower that competes nicely with those twice the price.

**Review Update** Been over a year now. Blower has bwen a real work horse. Love everything about it. Especially the well padded harness. A couple of improvements would be appreciated. 1.. mold into the frame a foot brace to make starting easier. 2.. add a cruise control to the blower speed control. Basically be able to loc the blower at a preset speed.. would help with trigger fatigue. ** Blower arrived the other day. Well packed and additional protective cardboard lining. Very easy to assemble. Only took a few minutes and a philly's screwdriver. FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Unit is well made and well designed. One thing I did not see in any of the reviews was that the unit comes with 2 blower tips. A faired tip and a round tip. Wondered, because I saw both pictured but not described. The next thing I noticed was unlike other backpack blowers I have had, this one had threaded screws that hold the sections from coming loose. They still use the twist lock sections but with a screw, not into plastic but metal on metal. The unit is powerful. Much more powerful than my old backpack blower or my hand-held blower. With the flared tip, it can move a lots of dry leafs, wet leafs, leaf mold, gravel, blows small sticks and dead wood easily and clears a wide path. For the money it's a great blower and a good value. Be aware that these ship from BC Canada and had to go through customs which added a day or two. Now for the things you should also know. I assume this motor does not have compression release. Takes some strength and a good stable area to start. I hold the backpack at the top and brace my boot on the lower frame. Takes a couple of pulls normally. Not nearly as easy as other 2 strokes I have had. My 2 cycle snowblower took less effort. Vibration: Evidently this blower also has no Vibration dampening. Not too bad and you sort of get used to it after a while. NO cruise control. Now this may seem like no big deal BUT… Engine speed is controlled by the trigger on the hand grip. No way to keep the motor at full throttle without a finger on the trigger. When you spend hours blowing leafs it's nice to vary hand positions. Trust me, you will be looking for a rubber band or two if you have a large area to clear. I would say, a tank full of mixed gas will get you about 2 hours of run time.. not bad for the power this generates. Overall, I am very impressed with the quality and utility of the blower. Hope the manufacturer reads this post. With a few low cost modifications this unit could be world class. Maybe that's what you get with their $700+ model.. don't know. Reading the description the models sounded basically the same.

We have a one acre property that is pretty heavily wooded... I normally blow the leaves into the back woods during late November... I was preparing my Ryobi blower for this year when once again, I could not get it to turn-over... I've had the blower for a few years... Have always used ethanol treatment in the gasoline... I've replaced the carburetor once, and the pull start assembly twice... The engine has always been hard to start, and typically would start to bog down after a short period of operating... This year I was faced with another carburetor replacement and pull start assembly... I had enough... I went on line and decided to purchase the Schroder SR-6400L, based on the reviews... About the same price point as the Ryobi... The blower arrived a day early... It was easy to assemble... It started on the second pull out of the box, and subsequently on the first pull thereafter... The trigger pressure was easy... The pull start a little stiff, but okay once you knew what to expect... The blower runs great, and the blowing capacity makes quick work of getting the leaves where you want them... The gas tank is pretty substantial, but fuel consumption is consistent with the work that this unit delivers... This is a well engineered unit... I wish that I had purchased this blower a long time ago...

It's a pretty good blower and it runs very good.Gas leaked under gas cap for some reason duck tape inside the cap helps for now will try a new washer later. Overall I'm happy with it. It cleans and starts pretty quickly throw out plenty of air with great strength and the harness straps are okay also.

We needed a second blower and having had excellent service out of our first SR6400L we bought another. Incredible power and though a little heavy, they are very good at their job. We have a couple of acres, all of it wooded. We blow the sides of the home and the front. More leaves than you can imagine. Yet yesterday, the DW and I got the job done in about 3 hours. Amazing. I only have one small suggestion for Schroder.... The thumb screws that hold the top of the air cleaner on are the weak point. They work loose, and if you tighten them up snuggly, you end up stripping the threads. I finally found a long machine screw with a rubber spacer and a nut, and fixed the older machine, but already the two thumb screws on the new one are coming loose. Don't let such a minor item dim the shine on a terrific piece of engineering that this model SR-6400L is. Put out a fix for this. ;-) We love these blowers, and the new one is two pounds lighter, meaning the wife uses it without a single complaint. Very nice piece of equipment........fix the thumb screws.

Had to clean up the leaves in the backyard and get them out to the street in front. Went with this blower because of the many positive reviews. Came in a few days. Waited several days. But on Friday afternoon I put it together. Instructions were close but it seems the trigger design had been changed or simplified so it didn't exactly match up. Took me a few minutes to figure out how to get the trigger handle onto the moveable blow tube. I didn't want to break anything. Took a little bit of pressure but it finally slipped on. Then twisted on the last piece of the blow tube which has a custom design where it twists on with a series of channels. There are a couple of screws that holds it in place. Was a bit challenging to get the screws into the holes with them lined up correctly but finally got them in. Mixed the gas. Have a one gallon gas can. I purchased the 2.6oz two stroke oil bottles. Set of six. One 2.6oz bottle to 1 gallon of gas and there is the 50/1 ratio required. I put the gas in the tank. Maybe 80% full. Then primed the fuel line with the bulb. Pulled the rope twice as instructions said. And not having a backpack blower before I didn't think to secure the blower with my other hand. So when I pulled it the first time it spun around in my driveway. Awkward moment. But if you hold it down with the pressure on the top it secures it enough to get a good pull. Moved the choke to half open. Pulled again. Nothing. Then I realized I forgot to click the start switch on the trigger handle to 'start'. Clicked that and the next pull it started right up. Sounded solid. Let it idle a little high for a few minutes using the switch on the trigger handle. It allows you to put it at full power if needed without the need to hold the trigger down. I went about blowing the leaves from one side of my yard to the other. Takes a little practice but much better than my electric leaf blower with the extension cord that gets caught on everything. One issue I had. I was blowing the leaves and I was smelling a strong smell of gas. I thought maybe the unit was just breaking in or was running rich. I turned it off and set it down to rake some leaves from under the deck and I noticed the gas cap had come off the tank and there was very little gas left in it. And much of it had spilled out onto my lower back. I know I had bumped into my fence at some point and maybe I spun it off. But when I refilled the tank I made sure I tightened the cap very secure so it didn't come off again from a bump or vibration. All in all very pleased with my first go with the new blower. Would recommend

Likes: 1. Half the money of the competition. I never heard of this brand nor have my friends/coworkers. The reviews we good and the price was far less so I took and chance. Very nice surprise! 2. Great power/cfm 3. I only used it once, but I am guessing that this blower will last me for many years. 4. The weight is the same as the competition so no complains there. 5. Even comes with a container to measure and mix the 2 cycle fuel. How cool is that? Dislikes: 1. The blower seems loud. Even with good quality ear protectors. I think I will use a double ear protector when I am running it for a long period of time. However, it is a good size engine what do you expect especially when the engine is right by your ear. 2. I'm not a big man so I wish the straps would shorten more. I have shortened them as short as they go. But I am used to such things being smaller all my life. 3. The blower rip cord is hard to pull with no place to place your foot to hold the unit down while pulling. However, it starts with one or two pulls.

I purchased this blower for handling my fall leaves as I have several large trees, and needed more power than my Stihl hand held. First few uses were decent, good power, easy to start. Before I had finished running the third tank of gas, the blower started to bog down after it had ran for 15 minutes. I contacted customer service and after a few times of speaking to them, they claimed it needed to have the mixture screw adjusted . They sent the special screw driver, and I followed the instructions in the video link. This had no effect on the issue, and I reported this back to Cs. I felt with the heating up, and loss of power, it could be the magneto. They agreed to send a new one, which I received, and installed. The blower started right up, but started to bog down as before, this time within 15 seconds. I attempted to restart, and the engine seized. I reached out to Cs again, and was told I must of run the blower without oil mix. I own 13, 2 stroke engines of various size and type, from chain saws to outboards etc. I mix all my gas in 5 gallon jugs, and add a little extra to achieve a 45-1 ratio. They are refusing to honor the warranty. I suggest staying away from this product and company. They don't honor their warranty, they can always just claim no oil in the gas, and you are out of luck. I trusted that with a 5 year warranty, I would be protected. I was not, and you won't be either.

This blower is definitely worth the money. The kit includes everything you need to fill up with gasoline and start working right away. Very comfortable, the shoulder straps are soft, which allows you to use it for a long time and it doesn't tire your back. In addition, it is very light. Powerful enough to easily blow away loose snow up to 10 cm. The noise is within normal limits, I work without protection and it doesn't create discomfort. The only drawback is the strong vibration that is transmitted from the blower to my back because its body is hard. Everything else is great, I use it to clean snow, 10-15 houses during snowy days. I am very satisfied.

Just received it and ran it for 6 hrs straight, it always started first pull, good power. Real time saver. People have complained that the throttle spring was too strong, it is a bit of a pull but it does have a throttle lock which saves having to hold the trigger. The harness fit well. Only thing I wish is that the piping was a little longer for taller guys to be able to blow closer to the ground. It will get alot of use so I will keep you informed, but currently I am impressed. Update: we have run 30-40 tanks of gas through it over the past 6 months and it had run flawlessly. Still easy to start. Zero problems - glad I purchased

This is a really solid powerful blower. Used it in the fall to clear leaves , even when the leaves were wet it worked well. Now in winter haves used it twice to clear snow off the driveway- worked like a charm on dry 2 inch snow , no doubt wet icy snow I will need to shovel or thicker snow I will use the snow blower. Starts easy and is comfortable on the back. Definitely recommend this product - way cheaper than the other orange brand and seems like it will last.

I had low expectations for this for snow removal in Alberta. But this blower as I live in a part of Canada that consistently gets down to - 40 degrees Celsius. I was quite surprised as it actually was able to remove compacted snow from my driveway that was driving over. Putting it together was very easy, some may have issues with alignment of screws but it just a little bit longer and you will get it. Come with preinstalled shoulder mounting that is great as the unit does not weigh very much compared to other top brands I have used. The air flow that comes out is fast and strong which is needed for a blowing snow. So if you are looking for an all year round solution this is the product for you, will easily tackle wet leaves and other tasks. I hate shoveling snow but this makes it much easier to clear the driveway and remove snow from my car.

*edited for update* The title of my review says it all really, but I'll expand on it. I never spend money on stuff like this, but after saving the old handheld leaf blower I had from the trash for the last time, I decided I was done. I spent weeks reading reviews, humming and hawing, finally I closed my eyes and pressed the order button. It is everything I could have wanted. I'm in northwest Ontario canada and I used it to clear a TON of snow several times in Temps down to -30. It performed beautifully. Tons of power, starts reliably, and I've barely touched a shovel since buying it. I honestly don't have a single negative thing to say about it. Is there better units out there? Of course there is, but at this price nothing comes close. **I love this thing so much , I figured it deserved an update. I have a small property maintenance business and this blower saw a ton of use since I wrote this review. Since last time, I did have the pull start handle break on me (my own stupid mistake) but in a couple minutes I had it swapped for the included replacement and was on my way. I don't know if it's my imagination or just that I've gotten used to it, but I feel like there is a slight, and I do mean slight, decrease in power since day one. I've kept up with all maintenance and the unit seems to run perfectly fine still so it may just be me getting used to the machine. It's due for a carb cleaning right away so I'm excited to get into it. The blower tube attachments have loosened a bit and were causing some air loss. I used black electrical tape and just wrapped a couple times around the male side of the joint (foam tape was to thick) and it worked like a charm. So all this time later and I still stand by my original review. It's not a perfect machine, but for the price, it's reliable and powerful. Maintenance has been simple upkeep and nothing more. If you're considering one, go for it. You'll be happy.