I've been using a £29 Amazon leaf blower for the past year and there's only one thing I now need

The Waitley Cordeless leaf blower, billed as 'almost as good as a Makita' made a difference to my home as well as my garden

Having wanted a leaf blower for years, I decided to give one a go when it was on offer on Amazon. Shoppers said that the Waitley Cordless Leaf Blower was 'almost as good as a Makita' so I figured it had to be worth a try.

It gets a 4.2 star rating from more than 400 reviews and costs just £28.99. When it arrived, I was stunned by how small and lightweight the parcel was. It literally felt like an empty box.

The reason for this - which I had read before ordering - was that this device doesn't come with a battery. It is designed to be used with a Makita 18v battery. I guess this is what makes it so affordable. We have a Makita Impact Driver, so we already had a battery we could use.

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The leaf blower comes in three parts - the lithium-ion cordless blower, an adjustable blowing tube and an extension. Our garden path is always covered in leaves and they can get a bit slippery when it rains. But no-one in my household ever seems to find the time to sweep them up.

The Waitley blower made light work of the job. I found it was powerful enough to move the leaves easily, even wet ones stuck to the ground, but not so powerful that it shifted gravel at the same time. That stayed in place, which was great.

It was excellent at sweeping up large amounts of leaves in a short space of time but the non-directional nozzle meant it did tend to scatter the leaves into places I'd just swept. To combat this, I used a scrap piece of plywood as a shield so the leaves could be easily gathered together.

The 18w battery lasted for around half an hour which was excellent. This was more than enough time to do our path three times. What I liked best of all was how well it swept up after all the leaves had gone. We have patterned slabs and the dirt tends to get into all the grooves. The leaf blower easily lifted this and we were able to just sweep it to the sides.

I just used a shovel to gather up the leaves and pop them into our brown bin. The whole task would normally be quite strenuous due to all the bending and sweeping. It would normally take a good half hour, meaning you'd have to devote the time to getting the job done.

I thought this was excellent value for money - so long as you have the expensive battery to go with it! And make sure you have the right battery too - this one is for a Makita 18v battery.

Overall verdict a year later

Our path has never looked so clean and clear. The whole task can be done and dusted in 10 minutes flat and doesn't involve any tiring bending and lifting. This has had an impact, not just on our garden, but also the amount of leaves and mud being walked into the house too. So it's made vacuuming inside easier too.

Without doubt, a leaf blower with a vacuum could speed up the job even more but, for the price, this has been great. And, 12 months on, it's still working just like new. I would recommend wearing goggles with it so that no dust, pebbles or twigs fly up into your eyes.

Find out more and order a Waitley Cordless Leaf Blower for Makita 18v Battery from Amazon deal here. Alternatively, eBay has the same leaf blower for £35.37. And Argos has a third off a McGregor 24V Cordless Leaf Blower. It was £60 and has now been reduced to £40.