I agree with one of the post above. Have your wife go down to the dealer with you and try them out. Definitely get one that that can be serviced at the local dealer. No point getting a Redmax etc if your dealer only sells and services stihl. If all you want it for is to clean off the drive way, get an electric one. There light and pretty powerful, yet no maintainence. My sears wet/dry vac has a removable blower. It has more than enough power to clean a driveway of clipping etc. It blows at 210 mph, however, it doesn't have enough volume to push alot of leaves in the fall. I have a Stihl BR550 backpack blower for that. This blower has awesome power and is more than enough to move some serious leaves around. It can actually move some good sized rocks around too. Starting it is a breeze. Prime the bulb a few times, turn the choke to full and pull once. Move it to half choke and pull and it starts. I let it run for a few seconds at half choke then turn the choke off. In the summer you probably won't need to use the full choke. It really is that easy plus its fun to use. The stihl 4 mix engines have great power.

It's great to follow this thread, from skepticism to acceptance of rebuilding batteries. I live in Japan but by coincidence all of my battery tools are US brands, and the shipping for replacement Ni-Cd packs is really steep, not to mention the price. After some research I ordered some sub-C cells from an eBay supplier called thundercells and managed to cobble them into the case for my 18-volt WORX hedge trimmer. The cells had tabs on them, which made soldering fairly easy, but it was still tricky (and be careful of short circuits while working because the cells are partly charged. The rub came because I substituted 2500 maH cells for the original 1300 maH, hoping for longer working time. i found that if I left the pack in the charger until the green light came on, it was only partly charged. Big worry! Then I discovered if I put it back in after a few seconds, the red light came back and it went through another charging cycle. If I repeat this 3 or 4 times, it becomes fully charged. Now I am happy again! I get way more full-power cutting time than with the old cells. Total cost was $23 for the cells including shipping from China, and I'll say 4 hours repair time. This seems to make the reputable rebuilding services a pretty good deal, and if I were in the US I'd use them. However there's another set of cells coming, for my trusty 9.6 volt drill.

OP: After I posted my original request I bought a Makita Leaf Blower BHX2500 with 4 cycle engine That was eight years ago. I have used the blower to clean everything from the riding lawn mower, to gutters, the garage, etc. I even use it to blow leaves in the fall and gum balls in the spring. The blower has the best starting engine in my shed. Regardless of how long it has been since the last time used it. it starts with one or two pulls on the rope. Most of the time the first pull. I change the oil every spring, and clean all external surfaces. I leave the gas in the tank through the winter. I have not used any gasoline preservatives. PS I leave the gas in all of my equipment without preservatives. I have had with one problem engine in the last 20 years. That was my push mower. When we move to the new house, I drained the gas from the engine. Several years later, when I tried to use it the diaphragms in the carburetor had dried out, and it surged so badly that it was unusable. It was a 4 cycle engine.

That first kitchen didn't look as bad as it apparently was -- folks said the same thing about my former kitchen, so I understand how that can be true. Your new kitchen is warm, crisp and inviting. And I have to agree that you had a better looking demo crew than I did. Sounds like a good time to have 4 boys, but 2 keep me busy the rest of the time. I think it's great that you posted. Folks do need to see what you can do on smaller budgets. DIY wasn't an option for us (we've done a lot in the past, but not this one), but I really do enjoy seeing what folks are able to do when they can. There were some inexpensive glass mosaics that were discussed here a while back -- were they the Susan Jablon? She had some on sale when I looked that seemed great, and I think several folks here have used them. Maybe you can work those in after the fridge and a little R&R. Enjoy your new kitchen and thank your boys for me too. A mom of 2 younger boys appreciates seeing young men growing up to help their mom. ; )