This is the second fall have used this blower to clean leaves in my yard. I have been a devoted Dewalt customer since my Dad, who has since passed away gave me my first complete set of 18v tools as a gift when we bought our first house. I still have those tools and they still work like a charm but the 20v revolution finally caught up and I finally had to make the switch to 20v and you could say I went “All in”. Of course I still have the 18v tools for sentimental sake…\n\nI had used a corded leaf blower for many years, and of course the cord was… well, not great. I didn't really think that the battery powered blower was powerful enough or would last long enough to switch. I had a chance to test drive my neighbors and I bought my own that afternoon.\n\nI think I was so happy with it last year I didn't really notice some of the issues I am unhappy to discover this year. It's always hard to know exactly how performance degradation is a result of battery issues and it is to be expected even if you take as good of care of them as your do your own children. Last fall year I made it much farther through my yard on a battery than this year. Seems like even newer batteries of the same size don't last as long as they should. Fortunately, I have many batteries so I just swap them one after another until I am finished. Overall it seems like the tool efficiency has been reduced considerably.\n\nMy biggest criticism which is currently driving me nuts is stirred up leaves getting sucked onto the back of the blower, reducing and eventually blocking off the air intake. Given the laws of physics, specifically fluid dynamics… bla bla bla… the increased work of the blower motor pulling air through the restricted opening, an due to those pesky laws create (at least eventually) a negative effect on the performance or longevity of the tool, including the battery. I can easily feel both the blower motor itself and the battery get much hotter under these conditions. Hot = Power to drive the tool is converted to heat and lost = less performance. No, I'm not an engineer or Physics major, just some average dude trying to clean up the leaves before a letter from the HOA arrives.\n\nIts not that I am too lazy to stop and clear the leaves away, because the tool is relatively loud I wear earplugs/earbuds when I operate it (as we all should) (sorry, not being preachy here, just speaking like a dad…). As a result I often don't hear the motor straining until the decrease in performance becomes obvious. This leads me to believe I have a low battery and when I look I see the entire intake is blocked with leaves (or occasionally an errant untucked tee shirt). This also leads to my kids running off with friends leaving the job unfinished “But dad, I tried but the battery kept dying…”. So I got out my old corded blower again and my Dewalt sits in the garage sad and unused.\n\nI am willing to accept no product is perfectly designed but I think many would agree with me when I say Dewalt usually does a pretty good job in this regard. Methinks this is a situation where a good engineer should've recognized the potential problem and did something to correct it. I don't know, maybe there's an aftermarket attachment to help with this. A simple air intake cover spaced a little farther back from the actual intake cover would probably solve the problem (you know, like those cages they are covering tanks with in Ukraine…) so I will probably DIY myself something. As annoying as this is, it certainly won't stop me from owning and buying more Dewalt tools but its little details like this that merit less than five stars\n\nDisclaimer: This is my experience, my review, YMMV. Those of us not current in the language of Gen whatever our kids are this means Your Mileage May Vary – your experience may be different than mine.\n\nMrNerdery