REASONS TO BUY
Quiet
Cheap
REASONS TO AVOID
Pitifully weak
Black+Decker 40V Max Sweeper LSW40C Review
While this blower is cheap, it isn't very good and we didn't really like it
The lightweight Black+Decker LSW40C.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
By Austin Palmer ⋅ Senior Review Analyst ⋅ July 11, 2019
Contributions From: David Wise & Jenna Ammerman
RELATED: The Best Leaf Blowers of 2025
Our Verdict
While the Black+Decker LSW40C is one of the most ergonomic and quiet cordless leaf blowers we have tested, it is also one of the least expensive. Unfortunately, it delivered such a comically weak set of results in our power performance that it ended up earning one of the lowest overall scores to date, and we are fairly reluctant to recommend it.
Our Analysis and Test Results
This cordless leaf blower is basically one of our least favorite models we have seen to date, as we essentially only found it to be useful for dusting small areas.
The LSW40C is very weak compared to almost every blower we tested. Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Power
The LSW40C could barely move sand that was 4.5 feet away, far less than the 15-20 feet some of the top models could do. It also could only float the beach ball to a height of 2", again far less than the 5'-7' the best blowers could.
The Black+Decker didn't do great in our sand and beach ball tests.
The Black+Decker didn't do well in our parking lot clearing tests, either. It took forever to clear even the lightest debris, and our overall conclusion was that we would rather just sweep the pavement than try to use this product.
Battery
This blower's 40-volt, 1.5 amp hour battery made it for a little more than 25 minutes of running at full power before calling it quits — handy, since it takes so long to clear any appreciable area with it.
It is almost effortless to remove the battery on the LSW40C. Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Regrettably, the charger for this blower takes forever to replenish a fully depleted battery, taking almost 3.5 hours in our test, even though the claimed charge time is just 1 hour and 15 minutes.
The LSW40C has one of the smallest chargers we have seen for blowers. Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Ergonomics
The LSW40C is one of the lightest blowers of the group, weighing in at a measly 4 lbs. It's quite balanced, with just a tiny bit of bias towards the front. However, this blower is so light that it takes almost no effort to lift, so you can easily compensate for that.
The LSW40C is really light, weighing half the weight of most other cordless leaf blowers we tested. Credit: Jenna Ammerman
The intake for this cordless blower is on the bottom, so it almost never tries to suck in your shirt or jacket.
Ths B+D only has an on/off switch to operate. Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Noise
This was one of the quietest blowers we tested. The LSW40C only registered about 73.6 dBa for the person operating it, with some passing cars seemingly generating more sound. This tapers off abruptly as well, only recording a little more than 64 dBa on our meter for any passersby.
The LSW40C takes a comically long time to clean off debris. Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Value
While the LSW40C is considerably less expensive than the premium products, it is also considerably less good, making it mediocre when it comes to value.
Conclusion
If you only need to do extremely light-duty work and are shopping on a tighter budget, then the LSW40C is an alright choice. Otherwise, we definitely would recommend a plethora of other products in this category over the Black+Decker — practically any other blower that we have tested.
—Austin Palmer, David Wise, and Jenna Ammerman
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