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

I am looking into getting a knew leaf blower.  I have looked at echo and stihl.  I am leaning towards a backpack style blower.  Suggestions on brands and models will be greatly appreciated.

I have a Stihl backpack unit and use it for a minimum of  two days solid in the fall. I use it at other times but fall is the main usage and clearing up hill wooded areas is the big none stop effort. Sometimes the leaves are dry, sometimes their wet. It  moves them quite well. The thing I notice and which might move you away from a hand held unit is that after 4 or 5 hours my arm gets tired simply due to the effort needed to move the tube. The reaction to the blast of air coming out gets to be tiring. I have a hunch a hand held unit where you're also supporting the unit's weight would be much more tiring.

Make sure yo have good ear protection. It also  tends to gobble up gas. I go through about 15L ( 3.5 US Gal ?) in the two day marathon.

I can't say much about the Sthil product, but we sell the Husqvarna, Shindaiwa and RedMax.  They are all very good products, haven't had too many problems with any of them.

The first Husqvarna blower we sold was to a woman in the landscaping business.  She had her little children brainwashed and they only liked Sthil.  So in their hopes to get their Mom to buy a Sthil - well they continously sabotaged it.  They live by a beach with very beatiful fine sand.  You guessed it - sand in the gas tank.  Not once, not twice - but three times.  They even done that to her truck.  Can't remember the punishment.  But after she had it fixed up for the third time - she forgot to shut the tailgate of her truck - she lost it and never did find it.

Sherri

I have heard of remax and shindaiwa but haven't looked at them yet.  What would be a good price for the shindaiwa eb501 or the eb630?  What about the price for a redmax eb500 or the eb 7001?  Thanks for all the suggestions and comments.

Are you looking for a blower/vac?  I have the Echo ES-230 and it is heavy at first, but I got used to it. 

AJace wrote:
AJace, agreed.  I have ES-2400, pretty nice blower-vacs.

I'll add one stipulation to buying a blower-vac, make sure it has a steel impeller, not plastic.

I am looking for a blower just the blower not a vac.

jlandry wrote:
The best thing to do now that you have some recommendations on good brands, ones that you know all of us think highly of, is to go put them in your hand. Feel them, start them, see how each ones features fit you best. I think it would be difficult to go wrong with Echo, Stihl, Redmax, Shindaiwa or Tanaka.

Let us know what you do. If you have more questions, by all means ask them. 


Oh yea, keep in mind that when you let off the trigger it can and will blow softer but, when you have the trigger pulled, you can't keep making them blow harded by squeezing it more. LOL (get enough power up front)

Hi Guys-

Shopped and bought a backpack unit last year. Looked at Stihl,RedMax,Echo. Found all to be acceptable units. I wound up buying the Echo PB602 because it was a leftover with the old style ADJUSTABLE carburetor. It is one size down from the most powerfull unit in the line but more than adequate. The dealer made a big point of not using 87 octane. He said use nothing less than 89 in any of the new 2 stroke equiptment.

Marc

Shopping last year, had the chance to use a Stihl BG85, used on two seperate occasions two hours each time.  

Highly recommended.  The most outstanding feature it had that really made the job be easy was what they call cruise controll.  (it also weighs approx the same as their lower end models I think like 8.8 lbs as compared to 8.6 lbs)  The lower end models did not have the cruise controll function. 

There is a thumb lever that you can move in incriments to hold and vary the speed with one hand operation. This easy controll did not have to be used in conjunction with the main throttle trigger.  In other words you don't have toset the main trigger and then lock it with the cruise lever.  .  You could use either one the difference was the cruise kept it at the speed you wanted and could be easily lowered or set higher.  This was the lightest and most powerful for it's size I could ever have imagined, well balanced etc etc. and when walking from different starting points and mulch shrub beds etc  the cruise controll significantly helped ease the whole job,  down to less noise and instantly adjusting to the power level needed, so you didn't have to adjust angles or lift and reach to change throttle adjustments.  It will definately help the machine last longer.  Can't quote the price, but it was high.  I ended up buying an el cheapo, and I am paying for it in the long run. 

Ben07

Well guys I ended up with the pb-603 from echo.  It works great.  Thanks for all the advice.  I got it for $349.