The new SHA 56 cordless vacuum shredder from Stihl (www.stihl.de, with battery equipment just under 430 euros) is a versatile and relatively quiet tool for grounds maintenance. In suction mode, the leaves are shredded with the shredding star 1 on the air wheel and collected in the catch bag...

The operation of this model is extremely smooth after a few times: You just have to get used to the controls here. The blowing and suction performance of the model is excellent: even masses of leaves could always be collected very precisely and finally pulled into the model. The battery's endurance is also good: the model can be operated in blowing mode for a full 26 minutes (Tmax at maximum blowing...