Yard Force YF8000 Electric 13 Amp Leaf Shredder / Mulcher

Yes it’s that time of year when the leaves fall and it’s time to clean the yard.  If you’re like me, you try and find every excuse to avoid the raking and the bagging.  I really don’t mind the raking, but I really hate the bagging.  We have these Eco friendly paper bags that always tear.  Seriously, every time I have to use these bags, I am cussing and swearing at the person who had this bright idea to go Eco friendly.  I don’t mind being more friendly to the environment, but give me something that makes my life easier, not harder.  Well let’s thank a company called Yard Force with their design of the YF8000 leaf shredder and mulcher.

The unit runs of your household power supply as it only uses 13 amps to run the motor.  What’s cool about this machine is you don’t have to move it all around your yard.  Just rake the leaves to the machine, pick them up and let the machine shred them.  In fact according to the company, you can use only one bag instead of 10 bags.  For me, I love the less aggravation of having to deal with the bags.  If you have a large lawn, don’t worry, the machine is lightweight and easy to set up and move around.

The unit has a 12″ shredding tunnel that helps guide the leaves into the shredder with a 12:1 ratio using it’s 8000 rpm’s.  On the side of the unit it has an adjustment for dry leaves or wet leaves.  Again the unit is very easy to set up, but one item I like is the legs.  As you know, no lawn is perfectly even.  With the tripod leg system, you can shorten a leg in case you need to.  I do wish the tightening of the legs was a little more sturdy.  If you don’t want to use the traditional paper bags, you can use the provided bungee cord and attach a plastic bag to catch the debris.

As far as the shredder, it works off the same principle as your string trimmer.  The system uses a .095″ string trimmer line to shred the leaves.  As you probably guessed since it uses this line, it’s strictly for leaves and will not work well for branches.

Replacement shredder lines easily thread into position without tools. Any trimmer line up to .095″ can be used.  When you buy this kit, you also get 2 hand rakes to help pick up the leaves around the unit and put them into the chute for mulching.  It would be nice if the head of the unit did funnel the leaves into the system a little better.  You also get 20 shredder replacement lines and safety glasses, which I highly recommend wearing.

I don’t have much experience with Yard Force, so not sure how it will hold up over the long haul.  The unit does seem to be well built and sturdy.  The overall design is easy to use.  If you tend to have a lot of branch, don’t expect this system to be the end all for you.  I have a bunch of pine cones that end up getting into the unit.  While it won’t shred them, I don’t have to try and pick through them.  I can still put the pine cones in, they just fall to the bottom without being shredded.