There are a number of things to consider when choosing a garden vacuum, so here are some things to consider when choosing a the right model and design for you.

Weight: The Weight of a garden vacuum is very important. You don't want it to be too heavy that you find it difficult to move around easily when tiding up your garden.

Comfort: If you have a good size garden you want a garden vacuum that is comfortable to use and control. A lot of the garden vacuums featured on this website have cruise control which enables you to set a speed to reduce fatigue when using the garden vacuum. Also the garden vacuum has to be comfortable to hold. Some models come with shoulder straps to take the weight off your arms.

Mulching ratio: The higher the mulching ratio the better the vacuum. You want a garden vacuum that compacts the leaves or what ever you suck up to compact it down firmly. This is also a massive benefit, as this means you have to empty the collection bag less.

Collection bag size: The size of the collection bag is also important not only because of the reason above, the bigger the litre capacity of the bag the better, not only will you be able to hold more but also it will require emptying less.

Petrol or electric: This part is completely up to you! We would recommend if you have a small to medium size garden that you choose a electric garden vacuum. Some of the electric garden vacuums available on our website have more than enough power to cope with a large garden. But we would recommend if you are a landscape gardener, grounds keeper of a large garden you don't want to have to worry about plugging in the vacuum to a power supply. So we would recommend a petrol powered garden vacuum, to allow you to carry it around the garden with you and not have to worry about leads, cords and battery charging.

Most of the high powered garden vacuums have built in safety devices such as emergence cut offs, hand guards etc.

But we would also advise wearing protection as well when using a garden vacuum. The thing to remember is that though you have control over the vacuum itself you have no control over all the debris flying around, such as chippings, stones etc.

So we would recommend that if you do decide to clear a large area, on loose ground such as a drive way where there is the potential to find loose stones or grit, please take care. We would recommend wearing gloves to protect your hands from sharp debris, such as sticks and twigs. If you are clearing an area of ground sucking up all the leaves and anything loose around you, there will come a point when your garden vacuum make become blocked and will need clearing. Which involves putting your hand into the suction tube to clear the blockage. This is where the gloves come into play once you have turned the garden vacuum off you can safely remove the blockage with out the worry of injuring yourself.

Protective glasses or goggles are also a good idea to wear if you are clearing on loose ground when using a garden vacuum. The only cost a couple of quid and are worth every penny. The last thing you want is a small stone or chipping to hit you I the eye. The biggest problem we found when using a garden vacuum is that the generate a lot of dust, which can be a nightmare in dry weather.

What a lot of people forget or don't realise is that a lot of the high powered garden vacuums are quite loud so we would also recommend ear defenders, if your vacuum is loud or you will be using the a vacuum for an extended period of time. The majority of electrical garden vacuums are not much louder that a electric lawn mower so wearing ear defenders when using one of these is vital. But please take in to consideration the size of the area you would like to clear and the time using your vacuum.