Time to convert from small engine to battery tools?

[dragoneggs]

OP update... so I call on Tuesday to see if my battery belt came in on Monday after their order screw up. The 'parts' guy says, did we call you to let you know it came in? I said no but I was told it would be here yesterday. On hold for a few minutes... Nope, not in yet! I gave them a break today (only because I was too busy) but no call.

Now I am thinking, check that, I know.. my dealer isn't capable of supporting the AP tools, only the AK 'homeowner' line that they have on display. Warning for those of you Still fans that want the higher power battery tools.

 

[ultrarunner]

Don't know what some dealers have against AP but maybe less service work? The park district is buying AP

 

[dragoneggs]

Don't know what some dealers have against AP but maybe less service work? The park district is buying AP

Just got a call from my dealer... now he thinks I have the wrong cord and he ordered the wrong battery bag! Headed down there with what I got and match it up with what he has and see if we have a connection! :confused2:

 

[ultrarunner]

What is amazing is a business can stay in business with such lousy customer service...

I get it that mistakes happen... but then it is time to step up.

When I was working as a teen at a Dealership... the owner was there 7 days a week and ran a tight ship... still remember a car that was promised was an hour late... the owner reached into his pocket and pulled out a $20 bill and said apologize to the Mrs... and have dinner on me... this was back in the 70's... he was also the same man that had his personal phone number and home address on his business card... and he owned the Dealership!

His rational is people have choices and satisfied customers grow business... those that are unhappy can destroy it...

Maybe this is why many simply go online to order except just about impossible to this with Stihl in the United States.

 

[dragoneggs]

Okay my attitude is 100% better now. I just learned, and my dealer learned just before me, that indeed he supplied the wrong cord and there are two battery bags. One bag comes with an integrated cord, and one bag is to carry a spare battery on the belt. Luckily he ordered a battery bag w/cord and w/o and the separate belt. I think the original cord he provided me was for the bigger backpack batteries.

I rigged it up in the store because I wasn't leaving again without knowing it all worked... and low and behold it worked! The belt seemed very well built and comfortable. Since he had both bags, he thought to try to sell me the bag w/o the cord for a spare battery, but since I only bought one battery... no need... I'm assuming I won't need a second. Time will tell on that but thinking a beer break during a recharge will be a cheaper and more pleasant regimen. :drink:

Got the heck out of there as I had to beat the FEDEX delivery guy home since I have a Adult Signature required package coming this afternoon :licking:

Tried out the blower/belt/battery combo and was pretty happy... lot's of power on burst mode, I think more than my BG86 gasser! Was a smiling until my battery bag fell off my belt onto my driveway.

My fault... I didn't attach it properly. Seemed like a no brainer. Read the instructions, scratched my head once, and got it on right. Back to blowing. Really nice... instant on/power and when you let go... peace and quiet. Pull the trigger and back in business. What I didn't like about the gasser is that it continued to blow on idle and would blow work back toward your clean areas as I repositioned myself. No more! Bottom line... gasser will be sold. Oh and the electric blower with battery on hip is sooooo much lighter!

Unplugged the blower and plugged in the string trimmer. Easy! No having to swap out the battery. Tried it out on some heavy grass more than a foot high and it blazed through for a few minutes. Grass was a bit wet and it seems to have enough power for my needs. Maybe not as powerful as the equivalent gasser and I will need to do a lot more work to determine battery life vs. gas tank life. Also significantly lighter and that makes a big difference because I have a large steep area that requires bending over to mow on the downhill direction.

Again smiling and thinking about the possibility of selling my FS130 trimmer, I let go of the trigger and all of the sudden the head fell off the shaft! Again! WTH! :smiley_aafz:

Yep, sort of my fault again... apparently whoever assembled it, did not tighten the head. :mur: Oh well. Decided to go read the manual and wait for the FEDEX guy before I got too involved and missed him while I was playing in the backyard!

So... there is my initial review. I have already used the HS66 hedge trimmer that stores the battery on board and it is winning against my HS45 gasser so I'm pretty sure at least two out of my three gassers will be going on sale soon. Hoping to recoup a significant amount to pay for these upgrades, as they are in good shape with relatively low hours.

Best yet... I should have a delegate to do some of the chores now that she will be able to start and operate the tools far easier. No excuses now! :cool2:

 

[jjp8182]

What is amazing is a business can stay in business with such lousy customer service...

I get it that mistakes happen... but then it is time to step up.

When I was working as a teen at a Dealership... the owner was there 7 days a week and ran a tight ship... still remember a car that was promised was an hour late... the owner reached into his pocket and pulled out a $20 bill and said apologize to the Mrs... and have dinner on me... this was back in the 70's... he was also the same man that had his personal phone number and home address on his business card... and he owned the Dealership!

His rational is people have choices and satisfied customers grow business... those that are unhappy can destroy it...

Maybe this is why many simply go online to order except just about impossible to this with Stihl in the United States.

That sort of attitude would definitely draw me in -- in fact it's a somewhat similar behavior that has me stopping by the local Kubota dealership to buy things I could just as easily get online for similar/lower price. The last Stihl dealership I went into had potential to be the same ...which was refreshing since the one I originally bought Stihl products from went under, and the closer competitors were part of a relatively large chain the general attitude when you walked in was "why are you bothering me? I was perfectly content to stand here and do nothing"

Between that latter sort of attitude (which seems to be rather prevalent), the usual (total) lack of employee knowledge, and potential for large amounts of BS is/was a significant driver for shifting more and more to online shopping for me.

Granted I only represent a single data point, but I'm not exactly a difficult customer .... in fact I'm generally a pretty easy customer as by the time I show up to buy something I've already done my research, and tend to know exactly what I want which means all any sales staff would need to do is either point me to where the product is or take down the specifics to make the order.

It should be pretty easy money for them, but somehow for some reason some places just try to make it harder than rocket science..... to the point that even if an item is the same/better price in some physical stores I'd rather just order it online to save my own time/sanity (even though it'll also take longer to get).

 

[Industrial Toys]

I am starting to HATE the endless apologies. In fact, when speaking with an over seas call centre, the FIRST thing I ask is that they STOP apologising! But they can't, they are so brainwashed!

I mentioned it before. Our little local GM dealership that GM shut down. One bay with folding wooden doors. Anyway, owned by a Scottsman. Also had his home phone number on his photocopied business cards, all crooked, cut out with scissors. Give me that anyday, to the BIG, modern, flashy BS that corporations offer.

 

[jjp8182]

Okay my attitude is 100% better now. I just learned, and my dealer learned just before me, that indeed he supplied the wrong cord and there are two battery bags. One bag comes with an integrated cord, and one bag is to carry a spare battery on the belt. Luckily he ordered a battery bag w/cord and w/o and the separate belt. I think the original cord he provided me was for the bigger backpack batteries.

I rigged it up in the store because I wasn't leaving again without knowing it all worked... and low and behold it worked! The belt seemed very well built and comfortable. Since he had both bags, he thought to try to sell me the bag w/o the cord for a spare battery, but since I only bought one battery... no need... I'm assuming I won't need a second. Time will tell on that but thinking a beer break during a recharge will be a cheaper and more pleasant regimen. :drink:

Got the heck out of there as I had to beat the FEDEX delivery guy home since I have a Adult Signature required package coming this afternoon :licking:

Tried out the blower/belt/battery combo and was pretty happy... lot's of power on burst mode, I think more than my BG86 gasser! Was a smiling until my battery bag fell off my belt onto my driveway.

My fault... I didn't attach it properly. Seemed like a no brainer. Read the instructions, scratched my head once, and got it on right. Back to blowing. Really nice... instant on/power and when you let go... peace and quiet. Pull the trigger and back in business. What I didn't like about the gasser is that it continued to blow on idle and would blow work back toward your clean areas as I repositioned myself. No more! Bottom line... gasser will be sold. Oh and the electric blower with battery on hip is sooooo much lighter!

Unplugged the blower and plugged in the string trimmer. Easy! No having to swap out the battery. Tried it out on some heavy grass more than a foot high and it blazed through for a few minutes. Grass was a bit wet and it seems to have enough power for my needs. Maybe not as powerful as the equivalent gasser and I will need to do a lot more work to determine battery life vs. gas tank life. Also significantly lighter and that makes a big difference because I have a large steep area that requires bending over to mow on the downhill direction.

Again smiling and thinking about the possibility of selling my FS130 trimmer, I let go of the trigger and all of the sudden the head fell off the shaft! Again! WTH! :smiley_aafz:

Yep, sort of my fault again... apparently whoever assembled it, did not tighten the head. :mur: Oh well. Decided to go read the manual and wait for the FEDEX guy before I got too involved and missed him while I was playing in the backyard!

So... there is my initial review. I have already used the HS66 hedge trimmer that stores the battery on board and it is winning against my HS45 gasser so I'm pretty sure at least two out of my three gassers will be going on sale soon. Hoping to recoup a significant amount to pay for these upgrades, as they are in good shape with relatively low hours.

Best yet... I should have a delegate to do some of the chores now that she will be able to start and operate the tools far easier. No excuses now! :cool2:

Congrats! -- not much like things finally coming together in order to try out new toys/tools/equipment (pretty much all the same in my book)

Also looking forward to hearing more about how the string trimmer performs as I'm very tempted to replace/augment my gas Kombi powerhead with one of their new battery powered Kombi powerheads (which seems similar size/power to the 130 string trimmers - assuming their product naming/numbering method is intended to consistently indicate relative size/power).

 

[ericm979]

My Lynxx stuff has gotten some workout, the blower is great for bonfires also good for cleaning the driveway of gravel and grass (asphalt driveway next to a chipseal road...).

The polesaw leaks oil like they all do, I should drain it before it makes more of a mess, but it is a beast of a saw

mine leaked oil when I stood it on the handle for storage. I took it apart and there was a lot of flash on the nipple on the plastic oil tank. Trimming that off took care of the leak. Unfortunately even though I cleaned it as well as I could the extension slider lock now does not grip quite tight enough (from being soaked in oil) so the saw will extend/retract on its own if I put too much force on it.

 

[dragoneggs]

Congrats! -- not much like things finally coming together in order to try out new toys/tools/equipment (pretty much all the same in my book)

Also looking forward to hearing more about how the string trimmer performs as I'm very tempted to replace/augment my gas Kombi powerhead with one of their new battery powered Kombi powerheads (which seems similar size/power to the 130 string trimmers - assuming their product naming/numbering method is intended to consistently indicate relative size/power).

Thanks... and I will do a true head to head comparison and report back. I have done some decent youtube videos in the past, but I just don't think I have the time on this one... day job keeping me far busier than normal. But I think it would be valuable... maybe I will set up a camera and at least provide an unpolished video comparison of the FSA-130R vs. FS-130R since I have both and a real chore to conquer.