34ing with other blowers, it
cleared leaves faster and
farther than all but one
of the gas-fueled models.
We particularly liked that
the handheld part of the
blower is lighter than any
other model we tried, at
only 6.4 pounds.
- BEST CORDLESS CHAINSAW
Stihl MSA
200 C-BQ From$590
Stihl’s small but sur-
prisingly capable motor
makes this the champion
of cordless chainsaws.
The thin-kerf chain (its
teeth are 3⁄32-inch wide)
zips through each cut with
smoothness and preci-
sion. Yes, the MSA 200 is
expensive, but it’s every
bit a high-torque Stihl saw.
4. BEST SMALL CORDLESS CHAINSAW
Stihl GTA 26 $150
Don’t let the diminutive
stature of this 3.1-pound
saw, which has just a
4-inch guide bar and a
10.8-volt motor, fool you.
Although it’s designed for
minor yard-care jobs, par-
ticularly pruning, we were
able to dice up a fallen
tree limb with it, cut-
ting both small sticks and
branches up to 6 inches
thick. The whole cut-and-
clear job took a mere 15
minutes, without almost
any noise.
5. BEST CORDED LEAF BLOWER
Worx WG521 $70
With cordless tools domi-
nating this space, it’s easy
to overlook good products
just because they need to
be plugged in. But don’t
skip over this one. We
connected the powerful,
120-volt WG521 to a 100-
foot extension cord on acold autumn day and blew
our front yard clean of
leaves, dried berries, pine
cones, sticks—the works.
Then we air-swept the
garage, all in half an hour.558 March/April 2020