Customer Reviews

Flowtron LE-900 The Ultimate Mulcher Electric Leaf Shredder

5 star:		(85)
4 star:		(95)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(55)

 

 

This is a leaf shredder - not a mulcher. It is a sting trimmer inverted with a funnel on top. I used this to shred all my fall leaves - works great. My wife would load them and I would give it a bit of a stir with a stick. Shaking the unit back and forth will get small sticks to fall through without killing the strings.
Don't abuse it and it will work great. Forget what its purpose is and you will get grumpy and write negative reviews on Amazon. Leaf mulch went well on our beds, some of our plants didn't even die back - they were nice and toasty warm under their 4 inch blanket of shredded leaves. Just had to play the guessing game of when to remove some of the mulch to let the plants grow. Too soon and the spring frost will get them. Too late and they will end up stringy. I love my shredder. My in-laws will be getting one soon.

My Flowtron was delivered very promptly. After reading the reviews and actually glancing briefly at the operation manual, I jumped right in on the assembly. It's not the easiest thingy I've ever put together but it's still not as bad as a bicycle or a swing set. Anyway, I decided to add a few 1/8" pop rivets w/ back-up washers to the funnel where it joins together and this seems to have helped keep it together. The stand did not work for me, I put the whole contraption on top of a large municipal garbage can on wheels and just dump the mulch around the yard. I change the strings after each can full, it only takes a minute and no tools are needed. Don't forget to clean the air filter by beating it up against the nearest downwind tree. The replacement strings ("blades"?) don't have to be purchased from Flowtron, just use any trimmer line with the correct diameter (.080 I think). (HINT: two strands of .040 work just as good as a single strand of .080). Anyway, the unit performs like a champ as long as you don't try to push it too far. I had no problems whatsoever with it. If you overload it by jamming too much at one time down it's throat or putting pine cones or large twings into it, it will surely bust something. Use as much protective equipment as you can jam on your body...I used a top quality respirator (not a cheap paper dust mask), the whole operation is very dusty. I also used ear plugs and gloves. Eye protection is an absolute must, the machine throws out lots of debris.

I really like this little machine, it beats the heck out of expensive clear leaf bags and the resulting mulch is free. My wife did most of the raking and I took care of the dusty, noisy part. I would say go ahead and get one but remember it's limitations and take it slowly until you get the hang of it.

The funnel does not fit properly, simple as that. Motor is strong and chomps leaves, but it tends to get clogged. Your instinct is to clear the mess w/ your hand, bad idead.
I would only recommend this unit for a 1/3 acre lot w/ maple or other soft leaves.
Plastic "blades" are easy to change.
You definitely need ear protection and a good dust mask to operate.
I will use this item cautiously, but in hind site, I would not have bought it. Terrible w/ oak leaves.
Also storage space is a hog for what it does.

I also expected to be disappointed, but with a little TLC this mulcher works just fine. I did not want a giant mulcher to store and this is the only alternative. You have to understand it is basically a string trimmer used to cut up leaves. The strings do break if large sticks get in, but are easy to replace and available at any hardware store. Many twigs will fall right through without damage. You can't dump piles of packed leaves in, just put in moderate amounts of loose leaves slowly and it will handle them. The motor seems strong. It did stop running when I first started with too many leaves and I thought I'd be sending it back, but a customer service rep told me where the reset button is hidden ('duh' I could have read the manual). At this new low price it's a real bargain.

This piece of junk lasted one small yard's worth (8 bags) before it died! No amount of pressing the reset button would bring it back to life again.

All I got from Flowtron when I called to find out about how to get the warranty honored was a voice mailbox and no call back after a week and two calls.

Even if you decide to risk purchasing this thing, it eats through the cutting line like it was Twizzlers. For these few bags I ended up changing the line 4 times! After other reviews' warning of this 'feature' I was very careful to follow the instructions to the letter - to no avail unfortunately.

Don't waste your money on this thing. Move on.

It takes a huge pile of leaves and reduces it to a very nice mulch! I have oak, maple, sweet gum, birch, etc.

You pour the leaves and pine needles into it and finely shredded mulch comes out the bottom. I have a large round tub I place under it and let it fill up. They say you can put it on a garbage can but I am 5' 3" - and that would be too high for me. I do not put sticks and big pine cones into it but the sweet gum balls just fall right through.

I discovered if you stuff it, it won't do very well, but if you pour the leaves in it works great. I used medium setting and filled up three tubs in a hurry. Medium mades a pretty fine mulch.

It was not difficult to assemble with two people. My son came over just before the FedEx delivery. Just good luck as I took the free shipping and did not expect delivery for another week. You really do need another person to hold a part while you fasten another part. Maybe I was braced for problems assembling because of the reviews here or maybe they have changed it.

But I am impressed. I have some wide Rubber Maid shelves in the garage and it fits nicely on top for storage. Not too heavy to lift up there either.

Includes a bunch of extra lines and says you can use the 0.080 line you can buy at Wal-Mart and cut yourself.

May 5, 2010 - still using this thing and it is still doing a great job.

I bought this leaf shredder in 2003 Spring and used it for about 10 or 15 bags of leaves. It works pretty well, but is difficult
to set up, the stand works loose with just a little use and has to be continually tightened. Parts are difficult to reorder.
You have to send a check, the manufacturer does not accept any
credit cards so it sometimes takes 2 weeks to get trimmer line and parts that break. I have already had to replace the spool which holds the cutter line. I have not been able to find any dealer who carries the parts online.

I purchased the Flowtron LE-900 before I read Methodairman's review (see below) and fully expected I would be disappointed with it after it arrived. What a surprise when I immediately put it to work mulching more than 60 large bags of oak leaves and it performed flawlessly! Yes I had to change the trimmer lines after about 10 very large bags but the unit came with plenty of extra lines which were very quick and easy to change. For leaves smaller and softer than oak and for a less fine cut setting I'm sure the line change interval could be stretched to 15-20 bags. Bottom line: If you want to mulch leaves quickly and easily this is the mulcher for you!

I recently bought a Flowtron LE-900 from Amazon. It was a bit tricky for one person to assemble, but it went together reasonably quickly.

I have a 135 year old white oak in my front yard and last year it gave up over 120 39-gallon plastic bags of leaves. This year some of the leaves have begun to fall and my experience so far with the Flowtron is great. I reduced about five bushels of leaves to mulch for my garden in about ten minutes. This saves buying plastic bags and provides a natural fertilizer for next Spring's tomatoes.

A note of caution for those with Spanish moss; pick it out of the leaves and don't attempt to mulch it as it strains the Flowtron. Also, place the device on a large garbage can for best results as it helps reduce dust.

And BTW, you still have to rake the leaves!

Two heads (and four hands) ARE better than one when it came to assembly of the unit. My husband and I started to assemble the Flowtron in mid-afternoon and found ourselves losing ground with daylight. Most of our trouble was with the funnel (used the wrong screw on one side that jammed in and couldn't get the correct screw on the other side to "grab"). Maybe a better description of the screws would help or even separate packaging of each type. Once we got the unit together, I carried it (hubby took care of putting away our spare screw can and tools) to our beta testing site; it is lightweight and easy to carry. We plugged it in, turned it on and it worked like a charm! We soon forgot the frustration in the beginning and are actually looking forward to getting back out there today. Fortunately we have lots of heavy duty extension cords so we can take our mulcher to practically any part of our yard to chop the leaves and mulch my flower beds.