Comments regarding Cyclone Rake (Woodland Power Products, Inc.)

The Cyclone Rake XL is an affordable, well engineered and manufactured product. Couldn't manage my five acre property without it. Accessories, however, can be unavailable and/or overpriced.

Dumping 415 gallons of clippings per load and pitch forking into a neat pile is too much after my back surgery. Company offers a power unloader chute to blow the clippings anywhere you point the hose. When it arrived, I noticed the connection requires a 7" hose costing several hundred dollars. Too expensive for a Social Security recipient. I already own thirty feet of 6" estate vacuum hose. Unfortunately the company is unwilling to design/offer a connector for 6" hose.

I went to the hardware store and purchased a $15 metal reduction connector (7" to 6") used in furnace/air conditioning applications. Works like a charm.

This will be my fourth season with my Cylcone Rake. We live under the trees in a heavily wooded 3.75 acres. The woods surround our yard on all sides of which are all leaf trees. The first season we lived here, I used a pull-behind lawn sweeper to pick up the leaves. That certainly beat raking all those leaves, but it was still a big chore and somewhat of a pain for some obvious reasons - 1-3 passes and I'd have to dump the sweeper, jackknifes when backing up to dump, wouldn't pick up the leaves as well as I'd liked, leaves would blow out of the collector on breezy days. So that's when I started to research better options, and when I found the Cyclone Rake.

I didn't want to chance anything when selecting the particular model of Cyclone Rake, so that is why I went with the Z-10 model. I also went with the heavy duty professional grade hose along with the dual caster wheels, and vacuum pickup hose attachment. I pull the CR behind a JD-590 lawn tractor.

When it first arrives via truck, it comes in several boxes and you have to assemble it all. I think it took me a few hours to do it by myself. My only complaint about the whole assembly process is that you are required to drill the holes for the mower deck attachment and also for the hitch plate. It would have been nice if those things were already done so it would be a simple "bolt-on" process. When you order your Cyclone Rake, you are required to provide what Lawn Tractor model you have and what mower deck. So, if they know this at that point when you place the order, then the Mower Deck attachment and the hitch plate should already be pre-drilled when it arrives. That was my only minor gripe when I was assembling the unit, that those two things were not pre-drilled and ready to go. Other than that, everything bolts up together pretty simply.

As for how the machine operates - this thing is really a Godsend for lawns with heavy leaf cover. The engine starts on 1-2 pulls every time, even first start of the season. I'm not a huge fan of Briggs & Stratton (prefer Honda most of the time) engines but the Vanguard engine that Woodland Products decided to use for the Cyclone Rake is awesome! I'm not sure if the Vanguard engine is available for all models of the CR, so you'll need to verify that if/when you select your particular model. The engine is directly behind you when you're operating. Couple that with the engine of the lawn tractor and it gets loud. Good quality hearing protection is a must. With the suction power of the impeller unit along with the larger displacement engine, this thing picks up a lot. It will suck up large rocks too, so be careful. Along with using it in the fall for leaves, I also use it for bagging of grass clippings in the spring and summer during weekly mowing. It does this well, but like usual, don't attempt to mow damp or moist grass, as this WILL clog the vacuum hose, even the big 10-inch diameter hose that I have. Also, I found that it does not do high weed grass all that well. I tried mowing out by the road where the grass is thick, rigid, high, and weedy. It clogged the hose rather quickly. Having mulching blades might remedy or help this some, but I have yet to know. Regular lawn grass is not a problem though. The Cyclone Rake does not mulch, so there is a bit of mis-information there on Woodland Products end, as they imply that the CR mulches the leaves. It doesn't. It helps break up the leaves (if they are bone dry) as they go through the hose and impeller unit, but it does not "mulch". Your mower blades mulch the leaves (if you have mulching blades). Still, if the leaves are dry, then by the time they get into the collector, they are broken down pretty good. The effect works best with dry, dead, and crinkling leaves. I found the effect doesn't work well with freshly fallen leaves, and those will only get vacuumed up and not broken down. I use my Cyclone Rake weekly in the fall to pick up the leaves as they fall so there are not huge piles of leaves to pickup. Larger piles are more difficult to pickup because the mower deck needs to be raised up to get over top of a large pile, otherwise you're just pushing the leaves with the mower deck. Raising the mower deck has a negative effect because the unit works best when the mower deck is as close to the ground cover as possible, otherwise you end up just blowing the leaves out around the mower deck and not into the chute where you want them to go. So for those that have a lot of trees that dump tons of leaves, my advise is to not wait until the trees have dumped all of their leaves (end of fall). Use the Cyclone Rake weekly from the start of fall until the time when the trees have dumped all of their leaves. Where I live, this is several weeks. The Cyclone Rake will work a lot better for you if you don't have to roll over large piles (greater than 3-4 inches high) of leaves. So keep up on the leaves weekly and it will work great. As for dumping, the unit is easy to dump but it can get heavy depending on how much you load up into it. I can see some people, especially senior citizens, having some difficulty with manually raising the collector to dump it. There is a Power-Lift Unloader available for purchase to help with this for those that want or need it. I imagine that I will get one at some point. Also, raising and lowering the unit to the tractor hitch requires a bit of brawn as it's heavy, especially if you have the engine mounted on it. Again, there is a 3rd wheel jack stand available for purchase for this as well, which I plan on getting myself sometime this year. With my Cyclone Rake, I also have the Power Vacuum Pickup attachment. I love this part because it makes it easy to vacuum up leaves around nooks and crannies around the house and landscaping. Works great. I also use it to vacuum up the leaves that gather in the shore rocks around our 1/2 acre pond. My only minor complaint about the Power Vacuum Pickup attachment is that its large and cumbersome. Maneuvering it can be a pain sometimes, but I'll take that small setback in exchange for what it does.

Breakdown and storage of the unit is nice and easy. The collector unit folds up nicely and hangs on the wall. The collector unit is light enough to hang on the wall but it's still rather heavy to pickup with one person. I can pick it up but I wouldn't call it a piece-of-cake though. If you hang it on the wall, make sure your hangers are anchored into wall studs. Using two people to pick up and hang is best. The engine simply comes off with two lock down bolts, which you don't need tools for. The engine is heavy and you may need another person to help lift it on/off the frame. Otherwise, pretty easy. The break-down and store-ability of the Cyclone Rake is one of the nicest features that I particularly like. A huge space saver.

Overall, I find the Cyclone Rake to be a great machine for those that have lots of leaves in the fall, and need/want something better than a leaf sweeper. It's pricey, but I found that it is well worth the cost for what this machine does and the time and work it saves me. I can't imagine going back to a leaf sweeper (or God forbid, raking and bagging!) after having this machine the last few seasons. Highly recommended!

I purchased a used Cyclone Rake Classic with all of the accessories (Hoses) for $400 about a month or so ago and overall really like it. I did not feel the need to pay the $100 for the MDA adapter since my riding mower had a bagging system and I used the lower portion of that deck connector to connect my Cyclone Rake and it works really well. (Save your money if you already have a bagging system.) When this cyclone rake used with a riding mower, this cyclone rake does an AMAZING job vacuuming the lawn. I am just in awe!! Maneuverability is OK and does take somewhat of a learning curve to make sure you do not hit trees or other objects when turning. (Ive gotten stuck now three times where I have had to remove the Rake from the mower and physically drag it away from an area that I found myself stuck in.)

Now here's what I also found... this system on its own DOES NOT MULCH LEAVES. Repeat... This cyclone rake does not mulch the leaves... it simply sucks them in practically untouched and fills up the back hopper very quickly. Nowhere on forums or on the website do I see that point mentioned. So just be prepared for this. (I might have gone with the DR version because of this so I want others to be aware of this, too.)

Lastly, Woodland Products does charge A LOT (TOO MUCH IN FACT!!!!) for shipping out of replacement parts... so group your order together or be prepared for paying through the nose. (Why is the shipping so much on small light weight parts!?!?!!!?!!)

I purchased my Cyclone Rake about 12 years ago. Great product for the most part so, all in all, the experience is good. The product works very well. I learned to pre-mow first to chop up stems and leaves then go back with the cyclone rake to mow/vacuum which packs more debris in the collection trailer and prevent clogging up. What I have an issue with is all the rust that developed only after a few short years. The paint has peeled off the frame body and has been engulfed in rust. All the buckles to fasten the shoots together with the hose ect., has also rusted even though it is chrome plated. Should be stainless steel. Product works well, but for the money, could have better made components. I would purchase again if convinced rusting would not be an issue even years later.

I purchased my Cyclone Rake in 2003,works Great.After the years of use one major problem I'm having is with the vacuum unit.Its a sandy area where I mow and also loads of acorns.The acorns ate right through the vacuum unit.How do I repair the hole?

Taking my rake to a local tractor dealer Woodland Power Products will not ship parts to this dealer,so how do I fix my problem?

I have read all the reviews so thought I would put my two cents in. I purchased a commander model to pick up leaves in my yard which is about 1.6 acres. I have lots of oak, maple and hickory trees.

The machine- It has the B&S Vanguard engine which I understand is made in Japan. Not to start a debate here, but that is a good thing. I picked the machine up in person and threw everything in my pickup. Lots of boxes and I bought virtually every option they had. Price goes up fast with options. This is a kit really and takes a few hours to put together. Lots of parts and comes with directions. Once together you have to hook up to the lawn tractor which is another story. I bought two hitch setups. 1 for my old john deere stx 38 and 1 for my Scag Freedom Z. More on that later.

Performance - Let's get one thing straight. This thing is not a shredder, mulcher or anything else that grinds up leaves. It is a leaf vacuum. The mulching is done by the mower blades. It works well when hooked up to either of my mowers and sucks up the leaves as advertised. To give you an idea how much it holds, you can cram one load into 4 of the tall lawn bags. It fills up quick, but easy to empty by tipping. If you have a place to dump them and don't mind the pile you are in luck. I pick the leaves up by dumping and shoveling into bags for the city to pickup. Still less work than raking. I bought the hose kit to blow them out, but only puts them about 10 feet away and piles them. I sent it back as basically useless. Better just to dump them. I didn't buy the bagger accessory as it only fills them half way so not much help there. The bag fills up really quick in heavy leaves which I have. Maybe in 10 minutes or so, but picks up a bunch.

Accessories - bought the double wheels which I like. I live on a hill so really need to be careful with this thing. It gets heavy fast and I imagine would have no problem tipping the mover over if not careful. The STX has trouble turning when bag is over half full as front wheels lose traction. Pop a bunch of wheelies on the Scag and virtually uncontrollable when close to full. I have to slide the seat forward and lean to stay on four wheels. That is when I know to empty. Got the estate kit and is great to suck up leaves in beds and hillsides. Again, no shredding action here just picks up leaves. I called the company about the shredding and they confirm the mower does the mulching. Seems to be something they avoid discussing or putting on website. I have the green hoses on the estate vacuum accessory and they are heavy as heck. I bought the yellow ones for the mowers and the 3ft on the STX is not that heavy, but the 6ft on the Scag is pretty heavy. I can't imagine how heavy the yellow hoses would be with the estate kit. The roof rack is handy, but hard to get the 17ft hose up there as the flop around. Use the bungy cords a lot. If you have a bad back this will be a problem.

Summary - Picking up leaves is a pain and the machine helps. It is useless for the leaves on the driveway. If you pick up with the hose attachment you can dump somewhere but they look the same when you dump them and not mulched at all. Might as well just rake and pick up. The cyclone works best on flat grass where you can maneuver. The vacuum is good for hillsides and beds. Quality wise it sort of reminds me of go carts and minibikes made in the 60's. Very basic engineering, no NASA stuff on it. Most parts are very heavy and steel. The bolts seem to be stainless so you need to lube them prior to using or they will gaull. I am a bit worried about the bag as plastic inside and probably will crack after a few seasons. They forgot to give instructions with the Scag hitch. I thought they could have done a better job other than ubolts that scratch the paint on the engine guard. Seems to be made to pull wheelies as the angle of the plate isn't flat when mounted. I thought this was an error until I used it and realized why it is angled. I rated neutral because of the mulching feature. If they could put a mulching feature in the estate kit would be awesome. Just remember, this is a vacuum-nothing more.

MowHoward

I have one of the Cyclone Rakes and it does everything that it is supposed to do. The one weakness I have experienced is that the zipper that closes the back flap/door of the unit is undersized for what it is asked to do. It began to be difficult to get zipped last season and this year it will not zip at all.
When the unit is fully loaded there is tremendous strain on the zipper when trying to unzip it to empty the load. The company does not have an email contact on their website other than for promotional materials. I would like to contact them to see what can be done about this problem. Overall, this is a high quality product that, except for this one problem, does what it is supposed to do. Surely there is a fix for this issue.