Good leaf blower?

[Birdhunter1]

Every Stihl product I have ever used started the exact same way. The only problems I have ever personally seen with a stihl anythgin not starting easily is when the person trying to start it doesn't try starting it correctly.

My dad for instance...been around equipment all of his life, taught me most of what I know. He borrowed my Stihl chainsaw and coudln't get it to start, I tried and it fired on the fourth crank as always. One day we were working a yard together and he went to grab my leaf blower and he couldn't get it started, third crank for me it started right up. Would you belive the same thing happens often with my weedeater?

With a Stihl.... if it has a primer bulb prime it 5 or 6 times or till you can feel a pressure on it. Lock the throttle wide open, choke it full, crank till it sputters, when it sputters turn the choke completely off and pull cord. Usually the first or second pull and it will fire right up and run liek a champ. I have explained this to dad and showed him a hundred times and he still has trouble.

My dad has a Craftsman blower, talk about something difficult to start!

 

[jimed1]

I have had Echo and Stihl. They are both very good. Everything I have right now is Stihl (weedeater with polesaw and hedge trimmer, brushcutter with clearingsaw blade, chainsaw, blower - SH85). If I can afford to, I will probably never own anything but Stihl again. They alway start. Heck, when the weather is warm, I can start my blower and weedeater on one pull if I can get the choke off fast enough to not kill it. BTW, the only reason I got rid of the echo was that I just wanted a Stihl. The echo was old, but it ran great.

Jim

 

[Phils]

Thanks, Jim.

I haven't gotten a call yet from the shop ordering the Echo in, but since my arm is still hurting from using my blower 2 weeks ago I'm in no hurry to try it anyway. I stopped taking ibuprofin finally this morning and will limit my activities until fully healed which could be another week.

I have a Stihl (54?) with a 36" bar and have never had a problem starting it. I've never had a problem starting any of my small engines tho. Fresh gas, a few pumps on a fuel primer, full choke until a burp or other sign of ignition, then 1/2 choke until it starts. I only use synthetic 2-cycle oil. Never had problems starting small engines for decades.

At barely over 10 lbs. though, this Echo backpack seems like the perfect solution for me but it'll be nice to try it and compare with others, including Stihl since they are a dealer for that company too.

Phil

 

[Phils]

The Echo 261L came in. Their larger model had been sold so I couldn't compare side-to-side. I bought the 261 anyway as it really seemed the one I needed from what I got from some other forums.

I used two complete tanks of gas on Monday... blew a lot of leaves. It was nice to have a machine that I could use until the gas ran out, and then use it again until the gas ran out. At that point I was out of leaves but not out of energy. My arm still hurt but didn't seem to be aggravated by the small effort needed to steer the wind.

Worked great!

Phil

 

[ike]

I agree with Birdhunter regarding Stihl equipment. I have a junky little 017 Stihl chainsaw that I was going to give away since the on switch mechanism had problems. I took it to get it fixed and Stihl repaired it free, three years after the Warranty expired! I continue to abuse the saw and it just won't die!


I like my Tanaka TBL4600 Back pack leaf blower. It starts up fine every year (make sure you run it dry at the end of the season).

I also have an Echo PB-2100 leaf blower I use for blowing the dust off my tractors every week. It works great and also handles my abuse (lack of maintenance).