Kress Commercial 60V 35N Backpack Blower Review
Kress Commercial 60V Cordless Backpack Blower
Kress, a long established and well respected tool brand from Germany made a splash at the 2022 International Equip Exposition with its North American introduction of its Kress Commercial Outdoor Power Equipment (OPE) lineup. There exists an ever-growing pressure in commercial landscaping to switch from traditional gas powered equipment to battery powered alternatives with many local municipalities and even entire states intending to ban certain gas powered landscaping equipment. Kress intends to insert itself directly at the front of the electric powered OPE movement.
At the core of it’s strategy, Kress introduced a brand new and exciting battery platform and charging solution. The Kress 8-minute CyberSystem has an unprecedented 8 minute charging time from 0 to 100% battery when its DC-DC CyberTank charging solution is used. The CyberTank is essentially a massive battery and charger that can be transported to the jobsite in a truck or trailer. The rapid 8 minute charge time means crews can finally rapidly swap battery throughout the day and stay on top of productivity as much as a gas powered platform.
The team here at ToolBoxBuzz has received several of their OPE tools including the Commercial 60 V 16.5” Line Trimmer, the Commercial 60V 21” Self-Propelled Lawn Mower and the Commercial 60V 16” Chainsaw. Here in this review we are taking a look at the Kress Commercial 60V 35N Backpack Blower.
Specifications:
- Voltage: 60V MAX, 54V nominal
- Battery Size: 11Ah, 660Wh
- Max Air Speed: 190.1 mph
- Max Air Volume: 899.9 cfm
- Blowing Force: 35 Nm
- IPX4 waterproof rating
- Noise: 62dB at 49 ft
- Weight: 32.2 lbs (Blower and Battery)
Build Quality
Batteries are heavy and OPE manufacturers have a challenging engineering problem with trying to incorporate enough battery power to compete with gas powered tools but also keep overall weight of a tool down. Oftentimes thinner materials are used and plastic pieces can feel flimsy and delicate. With the blower and battery weighing in together at 32 lbs, Kress clearly decided to take the hit on weight in exchange for quality and durability. The 60V 35N Backpack Blower has thick and durable components from the frame down to the tip of the metal reinforced blower nozzle.
To compensate for the extra weight, the blower incorporates a very well designed harness. The traditional shoulder straps are there but the bulk of the weight is supported on the hips thanks to a sturdy and comfortable waist belt. When the blower harness was adjusted appropriately we found the weight to distributed very well and felt very minimal fatigue on the shoulders.
Easy to Operate Controls
The blower has all its controls located on a joystick style tube mounted control grip. To activate the tool a power button on the grip below the LCD screen needs to be depressed and the grip mounted variable trigger depressed. The maximum speed can be controlled at 4 different levels with two large + and – buttons. The final remaining button is a cruise control button that will lock in the current throttle value until pressed again.
The LCD screen icons are simple and show the current battery charge remaining, Bluetooth connected symbol, Cruise Control Enabled symbol and a standard warning triangle.
Performance
The Kress Commercial 60V 35N Backpack Blower has its performance rating right in the name. A value that the company is clearly proud of. This 35 Newton force rating is an indication of the amount of overall thrust and power the airstream coming out of the nozzle can do. The peak velocity is rated right at 190 miles per hour and a cubic feet per minute (CFM) volume of 890. This blower is the strongest electric blower on the market and is only outperformed by the largest and loudest premium gas blowers available.
We were very impressed with the power of the blower, oftentimes running at 50-75% throttle to prevent damage to the lawn and landscape.
Battery Run-Time and Performance
At the heart of the Kress Commercial OPE line is their 8-Minute CyberSystem battery. We tested the blower with the 11Ah CyberPack KAC810. This 660 Wh battery weighs in at whopping 17 lbs., 2 lbs. heavier than the blower itself.
Below is a chart of the measured stream velocity of the blower over time. This test was designed to gain an understanding of the battery performance throughout the drain of the battery. We performed a similar test in this year’s consumer electric blower head to head. Its important to not only determine how long the battery will power the tool, but also understand what that performance looks like over the course of the battery discharge. We found that many battery powered OPE tools saw drastic difference in blower performance when comparing the first 20% to the last 20% before the battery drained completely. For reference the results can be found here, Best Handheld Blower 2023
The Kress 60V Backpack Blower was mounted with a pitot tube anemometer placed 125mm from the opening in the center of the blower stream. Power was set to the highest setting and the data was recorded at a 1Hz sample rate. The blower ran for 13 minutes and 20 seconds before cycling off with a low battery indicator.
The graph shows great performance especially when compared to previous blowers tested. We measured a very slight dip and rebound roughly two thirds of the way through the discharge. The last minute of performance measured is >96% of the first minute. This shows a fantastic level of consistent performance over the drain of the battery.
Charging
The Kress KAC810 has impressive performance when paired with Backpack Blower. However, discharge performance is only part of the equation when considering the the validity of an OPE battery platform. The 8-Minute CyberSystem gets its title from the 0 -100% charging time the battery battery platform experiences when using the CyberTank DC-DC charger. The CyberTank is essential a very large battery, 5040 Wh or 7200 Wh depending on model, that can quickly charge the the smaller 4.0Ah or 11.0Ah multiple times throughout the day. The DC-DC charging is extremely efficient and fast as the energy requires no conversion and a large amount of power can be transferred from one battery to another quickly. The CyberTank gets charged typically overnight from an AC power source that takes 4-6 hours.
Kress also has an AC-DC charging solution with their KAC840 Kress Commercial 30A AC Charger. We tested this unit along with our battery and blower. While the AC charger is not as fast as the 8-minute DC-DC charge, the KAC840 is still able to charge the 11Ah CyberPack battery in under 25 minutes and the 4.0Ah battery in 12.0 Minutes. This is still unbelievably fast compared to other industry leaders. By comparison the 11Ah Cyber Pack is 660 Wh and the new Milwaukee MX Forge 8.0 Ah Battery is 576 Wh. The new Milwaukee Supercharger can charge that battery in 45 minutes compared to the Kress at just 25 minutes!
Rapid charging is typically not great for the long term health of a battery. Despite this, Kress guarantees 3000 life cycles (charge and discharge) on the CyberPack batteries.
Pricing and investment
The Kress 60V Commercial OPE lineup is truly impressive with an unbelievable power system at its core. The tools and their battery system really impressed the ToolBoxBuzz crew. The products are intended for lawn-care professionals looking to invest in a longterm battery powered solution. As a result, the cost of the Kress Commercial line, particularly the batteries and chargers is steep. The Kress Commercial 60V 35N Backpack Blower is currently prices at $499.99. The KAC810 11 Ah CyberPack battery is $1,399.99 and the KAC840 30A AC Charger is $779.99. To see the true potential of the 8-Minute charging capability, the 5 kWh CyberTank Portable Power Station can be purchased for $10,499.99.
The full Kress Commercial Lineup and current pricing can all be found here at https://www.kress.com/en-us/8-minute-cybersystem/
To protect the investment in Kress Commercial system, Kress offers a tiered Warranty system depending on the equipment and use. Most tools see a 2 or 3 year warranty while the batteries have an extensive 6 year or 3000 cycle warranty.
To help determine if this investment is right for you, Kress offers a Return on Investment (ROI) calculator that can be found here. https://www.kress.com/en-us/roi-calculator/
About the author
Jeff Deitz
Jeff Deitz is a trained Mechanical and Systems Engineer but underwent a career change a decade ago to pursue a career in aviation. Jeff joined the Concord Carpenter team several years ago to assist with smart home automation and electronic integrations. After working with Rob on several projects, Jeff quickly gravitated to Tool Box Buzz’s Head 2 Head tests. Using his background as a systems test engineer he can frequently be found with a few other TBB crew members discussing the finer points of tool testing and designing the next Head 2 Head tool test.
Disclosure
Product reviews on this site contain our opinion of a product or service. We will always strive for objectivity and transparency in our reviews. Our goal is to provide readers with honest, objective information based on our own experiences. We never have and never will accept payment in exchange for a positive review. Many of the products that we review are provided to us for free by a manufacturer or retailer. In some cases, we also have advertising or affiliate relationships with manufacturers and retailers of products and services we review. For additional information please visit our additional disclosure policies.
