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

I am choosing/deliberating/agonizing among a few different replacements for my electric trimmer and edger duo.  I desparately want to ditch the cord, and the split-boom (attachment) setups are appealing.  The candidates I'm looking at currently are:

• Echo SRM 210SB
• Echo PAS 230
• Echo PAS 260
• Stihl KM-55R
• Stihl KM-110R

My only concern is that, to the best of my knowledge, all of these are cable drive.  Is this correct?  For "regular" household use, does this matter?  I won't be clearing shrub or anything with it -- just edging sidewalks and trimming around flower beds.  The option to add a light-duty tiller or hedge trimmer is nice, but I'm realistic about the functionality versus the respective dedicated equipment.  I would rather go slightly overkill on my choice and not have problems later.  This would be my first foray into gas-powered edgers/trimmers, and I know of several people with "bargain" units that they were replacing annually.

Any insight would be appreciated.  Local dealer sells both Stihl and Echo, and was basically telling me to forget the Echo line altogether.  Not sure if this is because dealer spiff is better from Stihl...

Thanks!

Most dealers in my area will match or undercut home depot prices.
Dealers also assemble and prep equipment.....HD wont even throw out the box for you.
Dealers will register and keep a service history of your purchase.
Dealers also stock, sell parts and handle any warrenty issues in house.
Although I work in a stihl dealership.......I would have no problem with recommending an Echo product. Either choice is a good one.

I own an Echo PAS 260 and have used it for three seasons.It has been absolutely trouble free.I have the String trimmer attachment along with the Lawn Edger(blade)attachment which will also take the brush blade.I believe the PAS units are only sold through OPE shops and not available in box stores.I'm sure the Stihl is a good piece of Equiptment as well but you can't go wrong with the ECHO.
Marc

I bought an Echo SRM-210SB and the edger attachment today. I based my decision on all the glowing reviews of Echo equipment, as well as the attachment capability. I went from using a B&D cordless GrassHog for 3 years, so a gas trimmer is new to me. All I can say is, "What was I waiting for?" Really, I was waiting for the GrassHog to die, which it yesterday. The Echo started on the first pull and did the trimming in half the time. I haven't used the edger yet.

-Scott

i have an echo from the mid to late 70's that is stil running strong. it is an srm-400e with a serial number of 00000015! the only thing i have had to replace on it other than the general maintainence was the starter spring which tend to go out after a while on any piece of power equipment. i would highly reccomend echo over stihl any day. my expericen with the technitions has also led me to lean toward echo aswell because all the echo dealers and technitions have better atitudes. most of the stihl deals i have run into dont even want to look at anything unless it is a stihl. this is not true with the echo people. both are not going to break on you but echo's last quite a while and are in my book the better bet . i believe they are also cheaper and unlike the srtihl the echo comes with a string head while the stihl you have to by all the heads seperatly. the olny gripe i have( and this may different in your area) is that i have to drive about 30 minuites to get to a repar person. stihl is closer whiere i live. go with the echo.

Just to follow up: my new Echo SRM-210SB is running perfectly. And the edger attachment is great. Highly recommend Echo.

-Scott

Did a google search and found this thread as I am in the market to upgrade me weed eater.  I bought a John Deere model that lasted all of about 3 years.  It was a model with the split boom design.  I purchased several different attachments for it, and now that I am looking at purchasing an ECHO my question is, will the attachments I purchased work with the ECHO?

Hard to say for sure. 

Take one of your attachments to the Echo dealer to see if it is compatible.

 do the locals  sell AND service.   from what ive dealt with in the shop, i would run with an echo. 

The Echo split boom will not work with the John Deere attachments.

John Deere and Homelight are the same unit I believe (or they WERE a few years age when homelight was bought by Deere and they filled theire line with the homelight junk)

I would like to buy either the PAS 260 or 265 with pruner as a Christmas gift. I can see little difference between the two.  The person receiving the gift is sixty years old. He likes Echo products very much.  He's a young sixty and not frail by any means, but "out-of-shape."  This equipment reaches a height of approximately 17 feet, and it weighs approximately 26-27 pounds. My thinking is that this equipment could be unwieldy with so much weight at the end of a shaft.  The PAS 230 is too short and the gas tank too small.  We have loads of trees.  Will someone shed some light on this for me? Your insight is very much appreciated.