Billy Goat Billy Goat SP and Hose Kit

Billy Goat Manufacturing Defects & Incompetent QC

This $1800 product came with numerous manufacturing defects: 1) The manufacturer failed to install a throttle control cable, rendering it completely useless (cannot even start the engine). After receiving a throttle control cable by the manufacturer, self-installing and attempting to use this, the self-propel feature would not disengage after <1 minute of use and consequently it nearly drove itself into my parked car because it wouldn't stop I had a hard time holding this nearly 200 lb produc...

Powerful and Well Built - Great Factory Support

There are several negative reviews here, but my personal experience has exceeded my expectations. I have owned several vac/mulch units over the years and the Billy Goat is by-far the most-capable and best-designed and built. Oil changes are simple by leaning the unit over after running the unit a couple minutes to warm it up. I agree that a drain plug would be nice, but it's really not a big deal to lean the unit and change the oil using a car oil change oil collection pan. I do agree that the ...

Poorly designed

This Billy Goat KV601SP Lawn & Leaf Vacuum has several shortcomings or design deficiencies, particularly with respect to the extra cost hose kit. Their list of accessories shows the hose kit coming with a “nozzle guard”. Mine did not. When the hose is stored in the hose nozzle bracket, the hose still drags along the ground and significantly wears if you are moving along pavement to clean flower beds. Had to pull it up and away from the ground using Velcro ties which will have to be undone wh...

Do not buy a Billy Goat

I have mature trees on my residential property and thought a Billy Goat was necessary. I will likely end up taking it to the dump as scrap metal because I can't in good conscious re-sell it as a useful machine. In one year the hose has torn, the hose retainer bracket has broken, the bag has torn, the foam has torn off the hose handle, and the vacuum cover plate doesn't stay in place. Each of these are expensive parts to replace. The vacuum in general is also not particularly effective. My rid...

Good on hard surface, poor on grass.

This machine is of a mediocre design by 21st century standards. It does what it purports to do. However, it does it in a mediocre way. It picks up leaves very well if you blow them unto a concrete or asphalt surface and run the machine over them. If this is your only intended use, you will not be disappointed. However, when picking up leaves over grass, it does an OK job if the leaves are large, dry and not embedded into the grass. If you have smaller leaves like birch leaves on the grass, the ...

Get the mulching plate

I love the KV601SP and use it in New Hampshire. Our giant red oak easily dumps 100+ leaf bags plus we have neighboring trees that probably add another 40+ bags. As is, the leaves are not very shredded. oak leaves are fairly thick with a pretty woody stem. Adding the mulching plate made a huge difference. Now instead of a 2:1 shredding, it's more like 10:1. I can do our yard and load about 7 Billy Goat bags of shredded leaves into the 6' bed of my Ranger. No more leaf bags! This year I'm tryin...

What a great machine!

I would have given this product a 5-Star rating if it did not come to me broken. The front of the unit was scrapping the ground, so I turned the red dial in the back to increase the height and the bar connecting it to the wheels broke. All other aspects have been fantastic. I sent an email to Billy Goat customer service right away about the issue and they got back to me within 15 mins. They gave me a name of a local dealer to have it fixed under the warranty and asked that I take it to that ...

Works ok, drive system chintzy.

When it works, it works well. We have a huge volume of leaves on our property, and I have to empty the bag frequently (which is not unexpected). It does a good job chewing up leaves, especially dry leaves. On the negative side, the nozzle clogs intermittently, and starting the engine when warm always requires multiple pulls on the starter rope, along with monkeying with the choke to get it running. But main gripe so far has to do with the self-propelled drive system -- Within an hour of start...

Built tough, plenty of power, bag fills up fast.

It's a nice, simple machine. For my use, which is heavy leaf litter under giant live oak trees, it's not big enough. Live oaks never stop growing and shedding their leaves. I make one 50' pass, and the bag is full. So now I just use it for final cleanup after raking and blowing. Also, dry and dusty conditions (California drought) mean that it is picking up lots and lots of fine dirt & dust, which is expelled out the bag directly into the path of the operator. I now wear a tyvek crawl suit and re...

Returned the machine the same day I bought it

On the positive side, the machine had very good vacuum and lifted the leaves from the lawn. And the engine started easily and ran well. But... I bought the machine in the morning, added fuel and oil, and went to work on my large lawn. Within 20 minutes one of the drive chains came off. When I removed the cover I noted that the drive belt was fraying on one edge. I reinstalled and tightened the chain, and 20 minutes later it was off the sprockets again. I expect a $1500 machine to work well and n...