Sweeping and leaf vacuuming with the world's best-selling quad

ARTICLE

GARDEN AND PARK TECHNOLOGY

Broer de Boer, Wednesday 29 January 2025

200 sec

onmundig stark

Polaris has sold more than 1.6 million units of the Sportsman 570 quad worldwide. One of them is in use at Landal Landgoed De Hellendoornse Berg. At this holiday park, they use this 570cc powerhouse for sweeping, leaf vacuuming, and terrain, forest, and tree maintenance.

Bert Averesch from De Hellendoornse Berg chose a quad.

Bert Averesch tells me immediately upon arrival at the park that he's a true quad enthusiast. And he says it with a charming light Twents accent. His job, along with three colleagues, is to take care of all grounds maintenance at the park. Averesch has been doing this for four years now. Previously, he was a mechanic working on cars, trucks, motorcycles, and quads. There's a quad in his private garage, and for years he took part in quad racing. So his hobby and skills came in handy at his new job as workshop manager: "I wanted to work more outdoors, and that works out perfectly here," he says. "When we needed a new vehicle for grounds maintenance, I recommended a quad."

"I wanted a quad from a top brand"

Averesch: "I wanted a quad from a top brand. We're talking Yamaha, Suzuki, Can-Am, Honda, Kawasaki, and Polaris." As a passionate quad rider, he preferred the latter for the holiday park. He found the Polaris Sportsman 700 slightly too heavy and powerful for the park's needs. "The Sportsman 570 is more than sufficient. This selectable 4WD quad with a 570cc single-cylinder four-stroke petrol engine is ideal for pulling our single-axle trailer around the site. I call it onmundig stark—crazy strong: powerful enough to drag whole tree trunks from the woods. Combined with the trailer, we use it to transport wood and stumps, as well as the branches left over from forest maintenance. A full trailer of branches is emptied into a container for disposal."

Over 1.6 million Polaris Sportsman 570s have been sold.

smooth and friendly

Quadwinkel in Barneveld delivered the Polaris quad to the Landal park. "They quickly provided a quote that appealed to us," Averesch recalls. "And they always respond very smoothly and kindly when you contact them. They delivered the ordered quad with the leaf vacuum unit and sweeper brush all at once. For a maintenance service, I order a so-called service kit from Quadwinkel. They ship it promptly. It includes new spark plugs, engine and gear oil, an air and oil filter, gaskets, and small parts. Naturally, I handle that maintenance myself. At home, I even have an ultrasonic cleaner to clean the carburetor from the inside. I also do the servicing of our other vehicles, like an Opel Combo, golf carts, a ride-on mower, and our hand tools."

exception

Unlike many others in green maintenance, Averesch isn't enthusiastic about handheld battery tools: "Husqvarna is my favourite brand. Chainsaws, backpack leaf blowers, pole saws, verge and brush cutters, and multitool engines—I run them all on Aspen fuel, for environmental reasons of course.
I once calculated that petrol tools cost about 500 euros more in fuel annually compared to battery tools at Landal. But with petrol, the staff don't have to keep going back to the workshop to swap empty batteries for charged ones or put them on charge. That saves a lot of time—and time is money. Also, I think the weight of a battery pack is a real burden. Especially if you're wearing a harness and carrying it around all day, like when cutting roadsides."

Roy at work vacuuming fallen leaves.

leaf collection

A colleague of Averesch, Roy, is collecting leaves from the grassy areas of the wooded site. He's blown the fallen leaves into rows, which he's now vacuuming up with a compact leaf vacuum system. The leaves pass through a 20 cm-wide intake nozzle and a five-metre flexible hose into a vacuum shredder.
This is mounted on the drawbar of a trailer with a cover, hitched to the quad. The yellow shredder, powered by a 250cc Honda four-stroke petrol engine, is doing its job enthusiastically—chopping and reducing the leaves before blowing them into the enclosed trailer, which holds about 1.5 cubic metres. A label shows this unit also came from Quadwinkel.

The intake shredder unit on the trailer drawbar

debris cleanup

This mini leaf vacuum trailer can also be used to clear other debris, like clippings from the many hedges. It's easy to hitch and unhitch. The same goes for the 120 cm-wide powered sweeper brush that mounts on the front of the quad. It, too, is powered by a similar Honda four-stroke engine.
At this Landal estate, the sweeper is used regularly—such as for cleaning the parking area and paved surfaces. Regular sweeping helps keep paving weed-free. Chemicals are not used at the park. And as we've mentioned before in this magazine, effective mechanical weed control depends on early and regular removal of organic matter. The same leaf vacuum is also used to collect swept-up debris.

power steering

The quad certainly looks tough. This Sportsman 570 rides on 25" CST tyres—great all-rounders. The recommended tyre pressure is 0.5 bar; that provides a wide contact patch and good grip. "Never inflate them more," Averesch warns. "With overinflation, the centre of the tread wears out too fast—especially when riding on pavement."
There's a small storage compartment in front of the handlebars. No rear case is mounted on this quad, as there's no need. Starting and running the quad is effortless. Averesch shows me how, once the key is turned, the electrically assisted power steering kicks in. Without it, steering off-road would be real hard work!

The Sportsman 570 L7e has a selectable rear differential and a self-locking front differential

This powerful petrol engine is paired with an automatic transmission with high and low gearing. The Sportsman 570, model L7e, features a selectable rear differential and a self-locking front differential. And with a towing capacity of no less than 830 kg, it's a real workhorse.
The Polaris Sportsman 570 is available with an agricultural license plate, as a certified agricultural vehicle (T3a or T3b), or with a road license (L7e category). With an agricultural plate, it's legal to use it on public roads like a tractor. The T3b category limits the top speed to 60 km/h; L7e certification allows 90 km/h.

The powered quad sweeper is frequently used at the Landal estate.

Polaris BeneluxJeegee ...

Quadwinkel

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