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Most people buy the widest sweeper they can afford, hook it to the tractor, and discover the expensive part: the bag fills in half a pass, the brushes skip over wet leaves, and the lawn still needs raking. Width was never the deciding number. Bag size, brush speed, and how the sweeper dumps are what decide whether you finish before lunch or spend the afternoon going back over the same ground.
Three tow-behind sweepers cover nearly every riding-mower lawn: the Agri-Fab 45-0492, the Ohio Steel 50SWP26, and the Brinly LS2-42BH-GA. This head-to-head settles which one to buy, which one to buy only when it is in stock, and which popular sweeper is the wrong tool for this job entirely. If you are still deciding between a tow-behind and a push sweeper, our pine-needle sweeper roundup covers the push side, and the spring-cleanup roundup sorts tow-behind from push for a whole yard.
The Short Version
Best overall: Agri-Fab 45-0492 — the 44-inch sweeper with the biggest bag here, a dump handle you can work from the tractor seat, and brushes that spin fast enough to pick up pine cones. Runner-up: Ohio Steel 50SWP26 — the widest path and a patented spiral brush, but check the listing first, because its Amazon availability comes and goes. Best for smaller lawns: Brinly LS2-42BH-GA — the lightest of the three at 68 pounds, with a 42-inch width that turns tighter around beds and trees. Skip for this job: the Earthwise LSW70021 — a 21-inch push sweeper built for dry leaves on a flat lawn, not a tow-behind replacement.
How These Three Were Picked
Every sweeper here had to clear three tests. First, a live Amazon listing with the exact model number — no lookalike models, no guessed links. Second, a real tow-behind design that hitches to a riding mower or lawn tractor, with a hopper you can empty without climbing off the seat. Third, owners rating it well in aggregate, with the recurring complaints read, not smoothed over. The checkable fact anchoring this comparison comes from Ohio Steel’s own manual: never tow a sweeper faster than 6 miles per hour, and set the brushes so they reach about half an inch down into the grass. That speed limit and that half-inch setting matter more than any feature list, because a sweeper towed too fast or set too high leaves leaves behind no matter how wide it is.
Compare the Three at a Glance
| Sweeper | Width | Hopper | Brushes | Weight | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agri-Fab 45-0492 | 44 inches | 28 cu. ft. flow-through bag | Four 10-inch brushes, 5.6:1 brush-to-wheel ratio | 92 lb | Most riding-mower lawns |
| Ohio Steel 50SWP26 | 50 inches | 26 cu. ft. heavy-duty bag | 11-inch patented spiral brushes | 92.5 lb | Big open lawns, when in stock |
| Brinly LS2-42BH-GA | 42 inches | 20 cu. ft. hamper | Six high-velocity brushes, 5:1 gear ratio | 68 lb | Smaller lawns and tight turns |
| Earthwise LSW70021 | 21 inches (push) | 2.6-bushel bag | Spinning rake-style brushes | 14 lb | Not a tow-behind — see below |
Best Overall: Agri-Fab 45-0492
The Agri-Fab wins on the number that decides your Saturday: the bag. Its 28-cubic-foot flow-through bag fills from the back forward, so it uses the whole bag instead of piling leaves at the opening and quitting early. Fewer stops to dump means fewer passes, and on a leaf-heavy lawn that matters more than two extra inches of width.
The brushes earn their keep too. Four 10-inch brushes spin at a 5.6:1 ratio to the wheels, which is fast enough to flick up pine cones and matted leaves that slower sweepers roll over. The brush height adjusts from a lever with a position indicator, so you can drop the brushes that half-inch into the grass the manual calls for and leave them there. An offset hitch lets the sweeper run to one side of the tractor, so you can sweep beside a bed or a fence line without driving over it.
The trade-off is honest: at 92 pounds it is the heaviest sweeper here, and the flow-through bag is fabric, so a season of wet, heavy loads will wear it faster than a steel hamper. It also folds down to about 30 percent of its size for storage, which takes the sting out of the weight when the season is over. Our full Agri-Fab 45-0492 review covers the assembly and the dump-from-seat handle in more detail.
Pros: biggest bag in this comparison; fast brushes handle pine cones and matted leaves; offset hitch; dump handle works from the tractor seat; folds small for storage.
Cons: 92 pounds is heavy to move by hand; fabric bag wears faster than steel under wet loads; 44 inches is narrower than the Ohio Steel.
Agri-Fab 45-0492 44-Inch Tow-Behind Lawn Sweeper
The biggest bag here and the fastest brushes — the sweeper that finishes a leaf-heavy lawn in the fewest passes.
Runner-Up: Ohio Steel 50SWP26
The Ohio Steel is the widest sweeper in this comparison, and width is a real advantage on a big open lawn: a 50-inch path covers about 14 percent more ground per pass than the Agri-Fab’s 44 inches, so a half-acre of open grass takes noticeably fewer laps. Its patented spiral brush is built to sweep more with less strain on the gears, and the 26-cubic-foot bag is only a little smaller than the Agri-Fab’s.
The catch is availability. Our Ohio Steel 50SWP26 review notes that the sweeper has been unavailable on Amazon at times, and that pattern has held: the listing exists, but stock comes and goes. If the listing shows it in stock when you check, it is a strong buy for a large, mostly open lawn. If it does not, do not wait on it — the Agri-Fab is in stock and does the same job with a bigger bag.
The other trade-off is weight and turning. At 92.5 pounds with a 50-inch span, it is the hardest of the three to muscle around a tight corner or a narrow gate, and it needs the same half-inch brush setting and the same 6-miles-per-hour towing limit as the rest. On open ground none of that matters. Around beds, trees, and a winding drive, it does.
Pros: widest path here, so fewer passes on open lawns; patented spiral brush; large 26-cubic-foot bag; two-year parts and labor warranty.
Cons: Amazon availability comes and goes — check the listing before deciding; heaviest and widest, so clumsy in tight spots.
Ohio Steel 50SWP26 Pro Sweeper, 50-Inch
The widest path and a spiral brush — the best pick for a big open lawn, when the listing shows it in stock.
Best for Smaller Lawns: Brinly LS2-42BH-GA
The Brinly is the sweeper to buy when the lawn is not the problem — the turns are. At 42 inches wide and 68 pounds, it is a full 24 pounds lighter than either rival, and that weight difference shows up every time you hook it up, unhook it, or swing it around a tree. Six high-velocity brushes run at a 5:1 gear ratio, so it still picks up leaves, pine needles, and grass clippings cleanly despite the narrower path.
The compromise is capacity. A 20-cubic-foot hamper holds about a quarter less than the Agri-Fab’s bag, so on a heavy leaf drop you will stop to dump more often. For a smaller lawn that is a fair trade: the extra stops are short, and the sweeper you can actually maneuver beats the wider one you fight around every bed. The hamper is a full-swing design that empties from the tractor seat with a pull rope, and Brinly backs it with a two-year limited warranty.
Pros: lightest here by a wide margin; 42-inch width turns tight; six brushes at a 5:1 ratio; full-swing hamper empties from the seat.
Cons: smallest hopper of the three tow-behinds, so more dumps on heavy leaf days; narrower path means more passes on a big open lawn.
Brinly 42-Inch Tow-Behind Lawn Sweeper (LS2-42BH-GA)
The lightest tow-behind here — the one to buy when tight turns and beds matter more than the widest path.
The One to Skip for This Job: Earthwise LSW70021
The Earthwise LSW70021 shows up in nearly every lawn-sweeper roundup, and it is a decent little tool — for a different job. It is a 21-inch push sweeper, not a tow-behind. It weighs 14 pounds, carries a 2.6-bushel bag, and its own listing says it is for dry leaves only, on flat, recently cut grass, and that it picks up about 70 percent of leaves on the first pass. Wet leaves, pine cones, nuts, and rocks are all out.
That is the concrete reason it does not belong in a tow-behind head-to-head. A riding-mower owner buying a tow-behind sweeper is buying out of the raking habit entirely. The Earthwise puts the walking back in: 21 inches at a time, with a bag that holds a fraction of what the tow-behinds carry, on dry days only. It has a real use — a small, flat lawn with light, dry leaf fall, where a 14-pound push sweeper beats dragging out the tractor. But if you own the tractor, buy the sweeper that hitches to it. The Earthwise LSW70021 listing is there if the small-flat-lawn case is genuinely yours.
Width, Hopper, or Brush Speed — Which Number Decides?
All three numbers matter, but they matter in this order. First the hopper: a sweeper that stops every few minutes to dump is slow no matter how wide it is, which is why the Agri-Fab’s 28 cubic feet beats the Ohio Steel’s extra 6 inches of width for most lawns. Second the brushes: a fast brush ratio picks up matted leaves and pine cones in one pass, while a slow one leaves a trail you have to re-sweep. Third the width, which only pays off on open ground where you can actually run long, straight passes.
That order flips for two kinds of lawns. On a big, mostly open half-acre or more, the Ohio Steel’s 50-inch path earns its keep, because long passes are the whole job. On a smaller lawn cut up by beds and trees, the Brinly’s lighter weight and tighter turning beat both rivals, because you spend more time turning than sweeping. Our tow-behind buying guide walks through all three numbers in detail, and how to use a tow-behind sweeper without clogging it covers the setup mistakes that waste more time than any wrong pick.
Bottom Line
Buy the Agri-Fab 45-0492. The biggest bag, the fastest brushes, and a dump handle that works from the seat make it the sweeper that finishes a leaf-heavy lawn in the fewest passes, and it is the one reliably in stock. If your lawn is big and open and the Ohio Steel listing shows it available, the 50SWP26 is a fair second choice. And if your lawn is small and full of turns, the Brinly is the lighter, easier sweeper to live with. Set the brushes half an inch into the grass, keep the tractor under 6 miles per hour, and sweep dry leaves — the sweeper does the rest.
