Remington RM2BV Ambush 27cc 2-Cycle Gas Leaf Blower with Vacuum Accessory - Handheld Gasoline Leaf Blower for Lawn Care, Orange

I general don’t do reviews because they can be somewhat bias do to inexperience or not using the product enough. I am writing this review because buying this type of item can be difficult because you can not try it out before your purchase. I am hoping the review will help make the decision to purchase a little easier. I am in charge of a boro’s bioswales (will not get into what this is) and needed to remove leaves around flower beds and street side curbs. I used this item for around 4 hours, so I have used this item enough to give it an objective review. I will break down the review to three parts engine controls, blower and vacuum.Engine: The engine is well laid out and all controls are very well labeled. I really liked how they laid out the choke lever. I liked the throttle trigger as you can change speed very easily. The best feature is that the on/off switch is spring-loaded in the on position, you can not accidentally turn the motor off by hit the switch by mistake. I would give the motor and control 5 stars.Blower: With the blower nozzle attached the unit as a whole is well balanced and the trigger throttle really helps out when blowing leaves. The only thing I dislike with this set up is the locking mechanism of the blowing tube. The set screw that you have to turn and holed in place would be alright if I had three hands, one to keep the set screw disengaged and the other two to twist the nozzle out of the unit. I have to place the blower in between my legs with the nozzle up and twist the screw with one hand and try to twist the nozzle off. This set screw is already showing signs of wear and will soon fail. A screw and nut set up would be a much easier and faster change over. As the unit got more dust blown on it the nozzle was very difficult to take off. I would give the blower set up 3 stars.Vacuum: This seems to be an after thought on this part of the unit. The protective screen (which keeps things from being sucked into the unit) is very difficult to disengage. You have to put a screwdriver in to a opening and pry which is normal for this type of unit but this is no way to know if you released the latch.The collection tube is then put into place by lining up two tabs on one side and a single tab on the opposite side. You the twist the tube into place. There is no lock on the tube and I had it fall off when I had to take it apart to clear a jam. Now for the infamous set screw, because of this set up you have to remove the collection bag off the curved inlet tube by releasing the retention strap. I found you couldn’t do this with gloves on. The bag it self seem to be well made except that the zipper closer is on the side and it is very difficult to remove all the leaves. Then you have to put the bag back on the curved inlet tube with out gloves. The leave reduction is more on the scale of 10:1 then the 16:1 on the box. The impeller is plastic which is no big deal as long as they use the right plastic. Well, the impeller is already showing signs of wear. I would give the vacuum part –3 stars.If you are going to use this as a blower then it is not a bad piece of equipment, but since I need it more of a vacuum this unit does not suit my needs. If I could return it I would but since it is used I probably can’t (in all fairness I haven’t tried). The tube connections could be much easier to attach to the unit with a little more thought in the design. The base unit motor is great and works well to bad the attachment methods are so poorly designed.

Bought this to replace a Poulan Pro leaf blower that was driving me crazy with not starting. I have plenty of experience with 2 cycle weed trimmers and blowers and have owned three Poulan Pros. I currently have two-one at my main residence and one at a vacation home. The one at my home was never worth a crap and the vacation one was marginal, but they both blew like a hurricane when I could get them started. Bought this Remington Ambush because of previous experience with their trimmers and the Amazon reviews. Couldn't be happier with the blowing power or the starting. HERE ARE SOME TIPS FOR BLISS WITH THIS BLOWER: (1) Always remember this is a 2 cycle machine. That means you MUST mix oil with the gas. Use synthetic 2 cycle oil in "pure" non-ethanol gas.! If you must use ethanol gas, you should add something like Stabil Marine fuel treatment to counteract the effects of the ethanol. Regular Stabil (the red stuff) will not work-get the marine kind. Walmart has this in the boating section. (2) The instructions say to prime it 10 times. My advice-prime it until the primer bulb is full of gas. You should be able to see this in the primer bulb "window". (3) Place the choke in the far-left position and pull the cord until it begins to start. (4) Move the choke quickly to the center position and "goose" the throttle until it runs firmly, then move the choke lever to the far right position. Mine started flawlessly from the get-go and I used it about a half dozen times to try it out. Then I purposely left it in a cold garage overnight during a snow event with real dry snow (garage temp was around 15 degrees) with the intent of blowing the snow off the driveway and sidewalk in the morning. The next morning I primed it three times, moved the choke lever to the far left position, and she fired right up on the third pull. Blew snow without a hitch! If you have problems at first, let it sit and try again. NEVER, EVER attempt to change setting by messing with the carb adjustments! Any time I've ever done that things got really screwed up. Now I'm looking for an excuse to buy another Remington!!! Good luck.UPDATED February 15, 2019: Gave the trimmer its first hard workout this morning on 3-4" of light snow. Primed it 4 times with choke lever to the far left. It started on the third pull! Outside temp 9 degrees, garage storage temp was 30 degrees. Ran it solid for 45 minutes. Stopped to refuel before running it dry. Restarted on first pull without priming. Ran solidly for another 45 minutes. Life is good!!!!

Used for garden work. Good machine.