For those who only read the first sentence of any page online, I'm going to make it difficult for you. You'll find my results at the BOTTOM of this post which will include A LOT of text and MANY pictures. Happy scrolling. Craftsman C3 19.2V Blower-Vac Link: http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00911592000P Part # 911592 Price: $39.99 (purchased during their Labor Day sale for $34.99). Description: "Compact, lightweight and powerful, this versatile unit operates as a 100 mph blower as well as a portable vacuum. Features a variable-speed dial. Includes dust bag, 6 and 18 in. nozzles, crevice and brush attachments and 4 ft. hose. Wt. 6.31 Lbs." Sounds great, doesn't it? A little hand-held blower and vacuum that uses Craftsman's proven 19.2V heavy duty batteries. It'd be great for zapping the workbench after some filing or little touch-ups to the truck's interior after a week of daily driving. It sure would be nice not to have to haul out the bigass shopvac for those little jobs. It'd be great to have a little blower to "wipe" the garage floor clean too, without having to get out the extension cord(s) and the big-boy leaf blower for such a small job. I purchased the first blower-vac on 9.2.08 and brought it back to the house only to find it had been pre-owned. By someone with dog. That's shedding. Badly. The vac's bag was full of dog hair. Being the eternal optimist I am, I said 'screw it', and just cleaned up the mess and grabbed one of my 19.2V batts. The blower was.....kinda weak. The vacuum was.......really weak. I thought, "Maybe I should try a non-pre-owned one. The dog hair might have messed up this one." On 9.4.08, I returned the doggie one and picked up a factory-sealed blower-vac. I got it home, unpacked it, read the instructions (which have more info about the batteries and charger- that aren't included- than they do about the blower-vac itself) and checked to see if it had better suction and blowing than the one I had 2 days ago. Something seemed off, so......time for a test! I broke out the camera and the anemometer and got to work. Here we have the whole blower setup (main unit, 18" nozzle, 6" nozzle), and the anemometer: The blower-vac has a variable speed setting, A thru E. A is the highest setting: A brand new (purchased 9.2.08) 19.2V battery was used. It was fully charged over the last 24 hours: First test is the blower with no nozzle attached: 31.8 mph Next is the 6" nozzle: 36.9 mph Last is the 18" nozzle: 48.3 mph So, as we can EASILY see.....not even close to it's claim of 100mph. I have LOTS of the C3 tools, and have been impressed by all of them up until now. I'm not sure if the factory put the wrong motor in or what, but I will be returning it for a full refund. All Content is ©2008 Kevan J. Geier ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The TORO model kicks ASS! :smart:izza: I think this was just a excuse to use that new little toy you got there.... ya know, the wind-speed thingy. :future::flowers:
Craftsman tools used to be #1 when made here, until they started bidding them out to be made to the cheapest bidder. Being an avid wood worker and using/testing numerous brands, I'll never by anything electric from them again unless they get their act together. Their hand tools are still very good though.
I have a Craftsman 19.2V system, and am fairly happy with the drill and 2 diff types of work lights. I have been wondering about this blower....I guess not.
I have to agree with you there, every power tool I have ever bought from them went back. Hand tools I like alot also. I found a rusted screwdriver and cresent wrench on a roof in NJ, and all you could read on them was the word craftsman, Sears took them back no questions asked :grin:
I whole-heartily AGREE!!!!! It's a shame, one of the country's great companies has "farmed-out" so many manufactures lately. ...... From my own experience, most "Kenmore" brands (Sears' own mark) have been transitioned from American manufature (Whirlpool and Frigidaire), to Koreans (LG Appliances). :sick: They are not alone, tho..... LOWES had a great thing going, when selling KOBALT tools (Made by Snap-On Tools), but they switched to Stanley for the manufacture, which is now made in Taiwan. :censored:
My C3 stable includes: - (2) fluorescent work lights - Rotating work light - 7-1/4" circular saw - Reciprocating saw - Stapler/Nailer - 400 in-lb. drill - Inflator - Radio - Shop fan All of them have worked stellar and exactly as described. The drill's been in almost constant use for 4.5 years. Aside from the rubber on the trigger working itself loose (re-glued), there have been zero issues with it. The saws have great power considering they're running on batteries. The inflator has no problem with the truck tires. It can add 15 psi to all 4 on a single battery. This blower though....wow. It sucked in a way I wish it would have. A letter to corporate won't get me anything, nor will it get any results for other consumers. The product will remain as is until someone lets them spend $0.08 more and put in a more powerful (read: appropriate/claim-matching) motor. I read the reviews on their site, but I take online reviews with a serious grain of salt. In this case, most happened to be true. I just backed all those 1-star reviews up with pictures of the blower-vac showing off a huge fail. I'm certainly not giving up on Craftsman by any means. 95% of my hand tools are Craftsman (the other 5% being specialty or disposable tools), and their warranty is up there with Snap-On and Mac and the other big boys.
