SCAG WindStorm Stand-On Blower vs TORO Mutil-Force Grand Stand w/ ProForce Blower

Power

The SCAG WindStorm has a 37HP Big Block Vanugard EFI engine and produces 6000 CFM with an impeller. The TORO GrandStand MultiForce w/ProForce Turbine Blower has a 26.5HP Kohler EFI engine and produces 7800 CFM with a Buffalo style turbine. Based on the manufacturer specs which don’t state velocity, and my calculation of the velocity based on the CFMs and outlet area, I conclude the TORO has 30% more CFM and 30% less velocity.

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Regardless of the numbers, it really comes down to productivity and which one gets more done faster. Their close enough that myself and a co-worker had different opinions of which one was more powerful. Blowing this season’s dry leaves, I found I was getting more done with the Toro’s higher CFM. But blowing denser matted decaying leaves along with sticks and acorns, the SCAG got more work done with its higher velocity. 

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Flow Control

The SCAG WindStorm air stream rotates 180° on a vetical axis allowing the stream to blow from 90° left to straight forward to 90° right, and infinitely adjustable in between, powered by an electric motor. There are two control levers, each of which can be pressed left or right. One of the levers is momentary, rotating the stream only while you press the lever. The other lever, with a single tap, automatically rotates the flow all the way to the direction tapped. This lever can be tapped a 2nd time to stop rotation. There is a mechanical throttle like lever convenient to the operator’s right hand that raises or lowers the air stream vertically with a range of 16°. There is an electric PTO switch allowing you to engage and disengage the blower.

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The TORO air stream rotates 360° on a horizon axis allowing the stream to blow left, to down, to right, to straight up and is infinitely adjustable all the way around, powered with a hydraulic motor controlled by an electric switch lever that can be pressed left or right to rotate clockwise or counter clockwise. There is an electric PTO switch allowing you to engage and disengage the blower.

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Blowing Side to Side

The speed at which the SCAG’s auto function rotates the flow 180° is about the same speed that you can comfortably rotate the entire machine 180°. As you are pushing a row of leaves across a yard moving from one end of the row to the other, making a 180° each time you reach an end of the row, if you make your turn toward the row, then the auto function will allow you to keep the stream flowing the right direction throughout the entire turn around. This is a significant advantage over the TORO, which to move flow from one side to the other requires rotating either down or up to move the flow to the other side. 

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Blowing Forward

The closest you can come to blowing straight forward with the TORO is to rotate the flow straight down. A flap on the back/machine side of the discharge reduces the rearward flow which results in a mostly 270° flow forward and to both sides. This can be ideal for blowing leaves off both sides of a sidewalk in a single pass. By the time the straight down flow reaches a spot on the hard surface, all the debris has already been pushed out of the way. But in areas of deep debris with no hard surface underneath, the strongest amount of force is reached in the area directly under the flow, which often results in whole machine being engulfed in a cloud of debris.

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The SCAG can blow straight forward without blowing down like the TORO. Using the controls you can easily adjust the angle or make it sweep 180°.

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Vertical Flow Control

The SCAG stream can be adjust vertically up 8° or down 8° for total range of 16°. This is a broad range compared to some other blowers on the market, and is more than adequate for parking lots and gentle rolling hill terrain. 

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The TORO offers complete vertical flow control to any angle straight up to straight down. This may sound unnecessary, but it can be very useful in a number of situations.

1) Blowing along the shoulder of a road that runs along side a ditch at the edge of the yard, the flow can be rotated as steep as needed to blow down in the ditch or culvert. If it’s steep at all, 8° just doesn’t do it.

2) When leaves are laying on top of mulch beds, it can be difficult to blow the leaves without blowing the mulch. With the TORO you can start with the stream passing horizontally well above the bed and then micro adjust the stream down until it starts lifting the leaves off the mulch. The next best approach, which you can do with the TORO or the SCAG, is to throttle the machine down or increase your distance from the beds, but in my experience, it’s not nearly as convenient or effective. 

3) There is a time of year when the leaves are barely hanging on the trees, and a gust of wind would make them fall. In such conditions, you can blow the yard perfectly clean, but by the time the customer gets home to see the yard it may well be covered with leaves again. The TORO blower can be turned straight up, or at any upward angle desired, which can allow you to knock off those “barely hanging on leaves” before you blow the yard, allowing the yard to look clean longer. 

4) When you have leaves lying up next to a home or structure, and you approach the structure with the blower on, it will push the leaves up next to the structure. This is one of the situations where you will want to approach with the blower off and then turn the blower on and back away. While the TORO has a PTO switch to turn the blower on and off, you can more quickly just raise the flow to where it is above the surface, and then lower it back down again when you reach the right place. It’s a small time saver, but time adds up and becomes a missed convenience when you are on blowers that don’t have the same capability. 

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Clogging / Leaf Ingestion

Depending on conditions, it’s not unusual for some leaves to get sucked into the intake side of the blowers. The slotted mesh on the TORO is much finer and is quicker clog than the SCAG which of course reduces blowing performance. On the SCAG the leaves are more likely make it through to the impeller and just get pushed through the blower. Gravity will quickly clean the TORO intake almost completely when the PTO is turned off, while the SCAG is more likely to need to be quickly swept off with your hands. But the SCAG doesn’t get as clogged to begin with and in most cases you could just continue on blowing with no need to clean the intake area. 

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In a team situation where you have two or more ride-on blowers working in unison moving the same plie of leaves, it’s easy for this to become an issue, and two SCAGS would have less trouble with clogging than 2 TORO’s. 

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Traction / Handling

Both the TORO and the SCAG are on a fixed frame, which means in uneven terrain you will have just three wheels on the ground at times. And the drive tire that’s diagonal to the caster that’s off the ground will have reduced traction. The SCAG has a shorter frame than the TORO and is more nose heavy than the TORO. The short frame makes the SCAG quicker to turn around on flat ground. But in uneven terrain it is quick to break traction. A flex frame would be a welcome upgrade to the SCAG WindStorm. The TORO’s weight distribution having more weight toward the rear, seldom breaks traction, but its longer frame makes it less agile than the SCAG. 

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Trailer Space

On an open trailer where you can hang the nose of the TORO blower out over the tongue of the trailer, it probably takes about the same space as the SCAG. In an enclosed trailer the SCAG is going to be more space efficient for sure. 

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Fuel Consumption

Turbine blowers are more efficient than impellers which is how the TORO has similar blowing power to the SCAG with 10 less horsepower. Both SCAG and TORO are using engines with Closed Loop Electronic Fuel Injection. Neither company publishes fuel consumption specs. 

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Cost

The SCAG WindStorm typically sells for around $13,400. It is a dedicated blower that does nothing else.

The TORO MultiForce GrandStand is stand-on zero turn mower that takes attachments, such as a Plugger/Aerator, Dethatcher, Leaf Plow, Snow Plow, Snow Blower, Snow Broom, and Turbine Blower. 

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It comes with a 52” or 60” mowing deck. The 52” Multi-Force with Turbine Blower runs about $18,100.

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In other words, for ~$5,000 more you can have a Stand-on Mower and a Stand-On Blower. And the ability to add on other components. For another $2500 you can turn it into a ride-on plugger, at a fraction of the cost of a dedicated ride-on plugger. The GrandStand Multi-Force can be a fantastic alternative to Seasonal Equipment that sits around unproductive most of the year taking space. 

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I’ve been making the case and believing for years that the Multi-Force was a better option than a dedicated blower for most buyers, and a better option than a dedicated plugger. I still think that about the plugger, but my tune has changed on the blower and here is why. 

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Blower Attachment - Not practical for most users. 

• Leaf season is long and a blower is useful for at least a few months in Fall and for Spring clean up, and maybe all year long for some. 
• Installing the Blower attachment takes about 20 minutes and requires removing the deck. It’s not practical to quickly switch between mowing and blowing modes. It’s generally something you put on at the beginning of leaf season, and leave it on until Spring mowing season. 

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Aerator Attachment - Very practical.

• Aeration season is short. Maybe as short as a couple of weeks a year.
• Installing the Aerator attachment is as easy as sliding a tube in a 2” square reese hitch. The deck stays on. You could mow one minute and aerate the next, or even do both at once though I wouldn’t recommend it. 

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What changed my mind? I’ve used a Multi-Force for many years, and I’ve always been happy with the performance of the blower in Fall, and I tolerated the inconvenience of switching attachments. Now that I’ve had a WindStorm around, I find I use it all the time for quick jobs that wouldn’t have been worth switching attachments on the TORO. 

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In other words, the Multi-Force is great for seasonal attachments. But I’m not so sure anymore that a blower is seasonal for most users. If you’re like me, if you have a dedicated blower, you will find yourself using it almost year-round. The TORO would make a great dedicated blower with some features I really like over its competitors, but it would also be about $5000 more expensive. 

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Conclusion

If you truly just need a stand-on blower during leaf season, and can do without one of your mowers throughout that season, then I highly recommend the Multi-Force GrandStand with Pro-Force Blower Attachment.

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If you think you may utilize the stand-on blower on and off year around, then I highly recommend the SCAG WindStorm.