Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

I am hoping that you guys can advise me on the best equipment to meet my leaf clean-up needs.  I live in a ranch house on a 50x200 ft property that has a lot of established trees that dump a ton of leaves (as well as pine needles and cones) this time of year.  I have sidewalks and cement patios that run the perimeter of the lot, a lot of bushes and large beds that pile up with leaves quickly, a sizable stretch of grass lawn in the front, and a smaller backyard.  I am currently raking and sweeping by hand, loading the yard waste into approved bags (urban Chicago area with alley waste disposal pick-up), and then mowing the grass with a bagless mower.  I've tried out an old electric blower and I had mixed results.  It was great for cleaning off the cement areas and for gathering leaves on the open lawn areas, but I was frustrated by the use of multiple extension cords that seemed to always be in my way and never reach where I wanted to go (not to mention that the cords fell out of the socket every few seconds), and by the lack of control when trying to blow the leaves out from under my long row of bushes that back up to a fence.  I would also love to be able to get up on the roof and blow off the debris, and I'm intrigued by the mulching, bagger, vacuum, and gutter attachment options.  I should also mention that I'm a 33 year old woman who is fairly strong, but probably can't haul around anything too incredibly heavy (especially if I'm climbing onto the roof!).  Anyway, any advice would be much appreciated. 

I use an Echo ES210 Shredder/Vac.  It's a respectable unit.  LIght, powerful, effective and fairly quiet.  It's great for picking up leaves & small twigs that fall into our rock gardens.  Considering the volume of work and the type of tree litter you want to manage, I doubt that this would be the machine for you.  Pine cones in particular will be jambing the shredder blades regularly.  Leaves and even pine needles are processed nicely.  If you plan to harvest the pine cones, you're going to need something close to an industrial unit or continue to clean them up with hand tools.  As Friiy wisely said,  go to a rental outlet and see what gets the job done.