the stihl is very powerful, it certainly does the job, important to wear googles overalls, using this machine creates a lot of dust. Also wear a mouth and nose mask and a hat. Excellent for making short work of piles of leaves

I got sick and tired of plug in electric blower vacs dying on me and dragging an extension cable around the yard. The SH 56 has liberated me from cables! It's easy to start, light to carry around and easily chews through the mountain of leaves I get every Autumn. Swapping over from blow to suck is a minor inconvenience, but as another review notes, it takes less than a minute. The bag quality is good and filters nicely when vacuuming up leaves, it's great not being covered in dust and grit.

I bought Stihl as I have several good Stihl products. Works really well in suck and blow mode. My wife uses it every couple of days in both modes and finds it easy to start and to change modes. It does seem a little underpowered at times but, all round does a great job.

Initial thoughts are excellent.
I can't understand the previous review's comment on the difficult change-over from blower to vac (and back)
If you can't change it over in under 1 minute you're doing something very wrong.
Strong vac that shredded a huge pile of dried gum leaves in no time, leaving only a finely chopped amount in the bag.
Not as comfortable as the anti-vibration SH86C, but won't be a problem if you're not using it for long periods regularly. Plenty of power and smooth operation.
I'll post back if any issues arise.

This blower is not nearly what I thought it would be. Changing to bagging to blowing is not easy and the power is not nearly what I thought it would be.
I went with it due to the Stihl name thinking I would love it.
Going back to a cratsman
starts easily
power, price, changing from bag to blower