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“What a great piece of kit! The Stihl SHE71 electric...”

written by on 18/05/2011

What a great piece of kit! The Stihl SHE71 electric garden blower/vac. I purchased this to replace my Flymo garden vac that had given my 7+ years of decent service. The Stihl is a quality tool and make no mistake. On opening the box you get the blower unit itself, which is basically a wopping great 1100W motor with a handle attached. At the rear, beneath a removable cover is the actual shredder/blower part. It is a heavy duty plastic fan, which is probably around 6-8" in diameter. More than enough to shred anything you can come across in the garden.



There are three sets of pipes, straight blower, straight vacuum and a smaller, curved one to attach the vacuum bag with. The vacuum bag is huge and well made and there are also a pair of Stihl branded safety glasses thrown in.



Attach the straight pipe to the front and switch it on and it works as a blower, literally dislodging plants/stones/small children with the power of it's blast. Attach the wider vacuum pipe, the second, curved pipe to the rear and the vacuum bag (which is in itself a work of art) and it becomes a powerful vacuum shredder.



The bag has a strap to wear across your shoulder and a zip along the short edge to empty your shredded waste from. Its easy to use and reasonable quiet and, unlike my old Flymo, doesn't rely on a weedy piece of plastic strip to do the shredding. Ideal for small to medium sized gardens, but anything above that would really need the petrol powered version. All in all, I can't fault this shredder. High build quality, all the parts ready to go in the box and easy to use. And, I got it new, from an official Stihl dealer at less than the official catalogue price, so can't be bad!! Treat yourself to a Stihl catalogue, as it is proper power tool p*rn!