Our new place sits on almost a quarter-acre lot and, at 75, I need to save time and effort wherever possible. The property was pretty well littered with leaves and willow limbs by time we purchased it and, of course, this will continue. This sweeper is pictured picking up leaves, well folks it can do more than that!

My old inherited lawn tractor doesn't have a grass catcher....no problem, the sweeper gets the cuttings. The tractor chops up the small limbs and the sweeper gets those too, ditto for small pine cones and even debris on the driveway and in the street. I discovered doing the sweeping as a separate operation works better because it seems more effective moving a bit faster than mowing speed. The hopper can be turned completely over to drop the load, grass almost looks baled. My yard typically fills the hopper twice and is done in under an hour. The two main components, hopper and sweeper separate easily for storage. The hopper has a couple of tension rods that keep it open and releasing one end of those allows the hopper to fold flat and it's pretty light. I stand the sweeper part up on end for storage, it is too heavy for me to lift alone. When hooking it up it's better to back the tractor to the sweeper than pulling the sweeper to the tractor since the broom is engaged when going forward. The broom is disengaged when pushing backwards and is easier to handle by hand in that direction.

The sweeper is shipped unassembled. However, the illustrated assembly instructions are pretty clear. I'm mechanically inclined, so there may be some advantage there. The good quality hardware was clearly shown as to where it should be used. The sweeper is a good quality build. Only small issue was the two-part 'dumping' handle came apart when the attaching bolt disappeared somewhere in the yard; the handle itself simply dropped into the hopper.

Glad I bought it!

I purchased this Agri-Fab 45-0492 44-inch Lawn Sweeper a few weeks ago from Amazon.com. It arrived via FedEx - and the shipping carton was mangled (similar to other reviews). One side of the box was completely torn open. Remarkably, all of the parts were still there. But the sweeper did sustain a dent in the bottom edge and another piece was bent. Luckily, neither was damaged to the point where it affected function. I called Agri-Fab customer service and a real person answered the phone (much appreciated). I explained the damage and that some paint had chipped. Three days later I received two touch-up pens. I was able to bend one of the parts back to make it functional - so all is well. I would have given this product 5 stars had it not arrived with shipping damage. Some will say, "Well, that wasn't Agri-Fab's fault. That was the shipper. Or... that it could have happened somewhere in the warehouse!" Look... ultimately the manufacturer is at fault. How so??? I worked for 20 years at a well-respected Fortune 50 corporation and my job was to test fully packaged products, dropped from specified heights on all six faces of the carton - and on all eight corners. After each drop, the product would be meticulously unboxed. The carton, shipping restraints / foam, and product would be inspected for damage. In addition, I would open the product chassis and inspect for interior damage - then power it up and do a performance test. Of course the goal is to strike a balance between carton / packaging costs and the margin to first failure mode - or damage. Agri-Fab needs to do something about their packaging to prevent damage.

Now the positive part of my review... My Agri-Fab sweeper is awesome! Far better than a competing box-store brand I had been using. Assembly was easy (~ 45 mins). But a word to the wise... before you get started, lay your parts out on the garage floor exactly as shown in the instructions. Then you can easily grab them during the assembly process. The sweeper works incredibly well. I have one acre of lawn. It takes me about 1 1/2 hours to trim, then mow it on my riding mower. Then another half hour medium speed jaunt around the yard with my sweeper. Dumping the grass takes very little effort. The end results are perfection.

For years I've worked my way up from electric blower to a gas powered backpack blower. But we moved to a bigger place and has been considering one of those walk behind blowers. But this sweeper is about 1/3 of the cost. I took a chance and man it works great. I have two big pin oaks and a maple. The acorns are a pain to collect. But the sweeper grabs them up as well as a little "spinners" from the maple. It also handles long pine needles as well. I had to modify it a little so that it would attach to my tractor and have a level ride. I keep mine at a pretty low setting which brings the leading edge very close to the ground 2-3 inches so one has to be cautious of what you're driving over. My first try was on leaves that had been sitting a bit after a rain. It took a couple of passes but in the end I was happy with the results. It gets about 95% was what I could get with the blower. But it only took an hour driving around on the tractor compared to three with the backpack.

As I get older I get grumpier about spending $ and getting cheap stuff. BUT THIS IS A SOLID RECOMMEND!

I had an older sweeper that I fought for years, but this one is worth every penny. I have over 100 cottonwoods in an acre of lawn, and this unit saves me and my mower engine a ton of time. Nearly half + better results.

It 'follows' my ZTR very well. Turns sharp corners and doesn't jackknife backing up. Height adj is solid and doesnt slip. Long dump bar means I don't have to get on and off the mower to dump. The catch bag doesn't spill .. it keeps all the grass and leaves inside, even over bumps. This unit can sweep so much grass, leaves, and cotton that it can get almost too heavy to dump! Assembly was NOT a big deal. Metal wheel gears built to last.

Only 1 caveat. The hitch is designed to be able to adjust from side to side. If you have open space and want to pull the unit offset, it's great to catch the clippings as you mow in one pass. I have no open space, and my hitch will slide to the side during use. I need to re-center my hitch every few hours, no big deal. I can modify if it irritates me.

Photo shows how well it sweeps leaves. This sweeper is now essential for my large yard, highly recommended.

I've taken the time to read all the good, the bad, & the ugly relating to lawn sweepers from low end to high end. I finally decided to purchase this Agri-Fab & have zero regrets about its performance. As expected there's some assembly required & the instructions are pretty straight forward. Quite a bit of the connections are held together with pins & I understand if others want to replace the pins with bolts & locking nuts. My yard is fairly level & has a smooth contour to it so I'm not faced with being bumped up & down & rattled while sweeping the yard. I have an assortment of leaves from oaks, sweet gum, pine & a wazoo load of acorns. The sweeper is flawless collecting the leaves & nuts but I have to be mindful of how much weight from all those nuts is collected. A sweeper load of acorns equals you getting off your mower & lifting the back end of the sweeper in order to dump it. The dump handle works wonderful if I don't exceed the catch limit. If you use a zero turn, the handle is a mile away but you can manuever the mower to reach it if need be. If you have a thick carpet of leaves expect the wheels not to turn especially on wet leaves. This is one attribute I have found common in lawn sweepers I've personally used. Your best weapon is persistence. Keep on plugging away because at some point the wheels will eventually turn. Overall, I'm very satisfied with the performance of this sweeper & the yard looking well-groomed. I would recommend this lawn sweeper to others