Cool tech, but the GTM strategy will make or break them. Small 2-stroke engines (like those run by lead blowers, weed whackers) contribute a relativly insane amount of noise and air pollution, and their solution is an excellent opportunity to get rid of 2 strokes and make a ton of money/improve QOL for everyone.<p>IMO, best way to GTM is probably to partner with TTI, Makita or SBD and license the technology with a royalty per unit. The tool industry has gone through many consolidations for very good reasons, no need to try directly competing and raising yet-another battery platform. One of the industries these conglomerates have terrible penetration in is landscaping crews, who are largely still gas driven. If you can deliver gas-like performance in a backpack blower, they might be interested.<p>If you can't get them interested for selfish reasons, you can force them to switch by going after the pollution issue at a state and local level. Get cities and neighborhoods to ban 2-stroke engines in their communities and contracts. It will be popular with constituents, and landscapers will pass the slight capex cost increase in contract terms. This will force professionals to switch from Stihl to your partner toolmaker, with large investments in tools and especially batteries. This should drive sales in the rest of your partner's tooling ecosystem from an unsaturated group, something you should highlight during that royalty negotiations with your partner.<p>Now that you've captured the pro market, you can drive consumers and prosumers to the platforms via your partner's preferred channel (HD/Lowes). You can lock them into a new battery platform and sell 3 different models to target each group, again targeting groups with poor existing penetration (although not as rich a group as landscapers).<p>You can add more prongs to this strategy (exlcusive vs non-exclusive licensing, partnering with a lower tier tool mfg like greenworks/echo) but that's a basic first pass.
in my city (in Poland) there is a ban on the use of combustion and electric leaf blowers. The aim of the restrictions is to eliminate secondary dust (PM 2.5, PM10) emissions from streets.<p><a href="https://www.poznan.pl/mim/info/news/zakaz-uzywania-dmuchaw-do-lisci,154118.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.poznan.pl/mim/info/news/zakaz-uzywania-dmuchaw-d...</a>
"My rake is faster than your leaf blower"<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-XqbXi7tNo">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-XqbXi7tNo</a>
My ground-floor Seattle apartment gets flooded with gas smells once a week because of these gas leafblowers. The noise is insufferable and the smell is nauseating. It saddens me as a society we have collectively agreed this is 'worth it' to have the plants by the road get leafblown in the fastest and cheapest possible way, because the health concerns are very real and the alternatives seem possible. But always ignored.
I will buy one of these for my neighbor at my own expense as soon as they are available.<p>Dude loves his yard, I get it, but he is out there for at least 30 minutes every single day with his gas blower. Usually over dinner time when we are eating outside on nice days.<p>Wonder if getting neighbors to subsidize quieter tech is a viable approach. Nobody cares about their own noise but everyone cares a lot about the neighbor.
I see the whispersystems folks have moved on to aerospace <a href="https://twitter.com/moxie/status/1582154037700399104" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://twitter.com/moxie/status/1582154037700399104</a>
That's nice, but I hope whoever they partner with has a way to dampen the high frequency sound. It may be overall quieter than the other blowers, but that high end frequency is rough on the ears.
Unless cities create laws against loud lawn equipment, the cheaper (louder) option will always be chosen first.<p>I'm also not even convinced that, all things being equal except noise, that some people would choose the quieter option. After all, people spend $$$ making their vehicles LOUDER, even when it doesn't always add performance.
> The result is a leaf blower that emits just 45 decibels of noise at 50 feet and full throttle.<p>"full throttle" here means half the normal CFM I bet.
Highly related: Ismo's comedy about quiet leaf blowers and people on the moon<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Eo2uq5k1O0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Eo2uq5k1O0</a>
It looks like the pipe they're blowing through in the video is a bit wider than the competitors. Does that affect the sound? It would seem that if you force the same amount of air through a smaller pipe, it would be louder.
Pairs well with retailers' push to electric implements.<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/30/home-depot-lowes-bank-on-electric-power-tools-and-landscaping-equipment.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/30/home-depot-lowes-bank-on-ele...</a><p><a href="https://corporate.homedepot.com/news/sustainability/home-depot-sets-goal-battery-powered-products-drive-over-85-outdoor-lawn" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://corporate.homedepot.com/news/sustainability/home-dep...</a>
I present you with an even quieter alternative:<p><a href="https://static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/32MJ58_AS01" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/32MJ58_AS...</a><p>It makes your worker stronger and healthier too and both makes them more money (longer hours) and saves them money (lower costs). They will thank you.
They should license the tech to existing players. I don't think people will be willing to pay a huge premium for this. You don't like a leaf blower for that long and the electric ones already aren't very loud anymore.
> <i>To be clear, Whisper is not building a leaf blower (just the propulsor), but the company is already in talks with a few potential partners to bring the ultra-quiet blower to the market</i>
The makita ran at 1500w and leaf at 1000w, are they moving the same amount of air?<p>I could build a leafblower with a noctua fan, it'd be real quiet but quite useless
The noise is, unfortunately, the point. HOA people in fancy HOA communities want to hear the affirming rumble of engines doing work. Or at least that's the summary of what I've seen/heard from people who've tried to promote quiet electric stuff.
This thread is full of people who haven’t used a leaf blower before. An electric leaf blower might be enough to clean off a sidewalk, but you’re not going to do any serious amount of work with an electric blower, especially in the US where most power outlets only supply 120V. <i>That’s</i> why people use gas blowers. It’s not about the noise and not about cost. It’s about having a product that actually meets the functional requirements of the job.<p>I will say, though, that requiring 4 stroke engines would be a huge improvement until there is a viable alternative.