Which Backpack Blower?

   / Which Backpack Blower? #22  
Yes, I run the recommended oil in them, and I use them for long hours at a time, but not like I imagine a yard service would.
A couple tangentially related thoughts....

I tend to be a husqvarna guy at home - saw, weed eater, backpack blower. I happen to have a good dealer and service facility near my house, but otherwise I'm not really brand loyal.

That being said I also do prescribed fire on the side with various fed, state and non-governmental orgs. At least in my area, almost all of those organizations are running Stihl equipment; including blowers. Backpack blowers are pretty important in the prescribed fire world for both putting in low impact containment lines (clearing debris to mineral soil) and for quickly putting in secondary containment when fire slops outside of a burn unit. All of the backpack blowers I have seen and used on burns fall into the "commercial" end of the product spectrum.

They tend to hold up to long duration usage and, arguably more importantly, move a lot more air than residential units. The key aspect of that last part is that it means a LOT LESS effort on the part of the user to clear containment lines in highly variable terrain. I'm burn in the foothills of Appalachia and while it's not the Rockies the clearing power of a commercial blower is a huge bonus hiking up and down steep lines. I would imagine that would translate well for your intended usage.

Where I'm going with this is that given your description of usage (long hours) you may want to go ahead and look at a commercial blower in your preference of brand.
 
   / Which Backpack Blower? #24  
A couple tangentially related thoughts....

I tend to be a husqvarna guy at home - saw, weed eater, backpack blower. I happen to have a good dealer and service facility near my house, but otherwise I'm not really brand loyal.

That being said I also do prescribed fire on the side with various fed, state and non-governmental orgs. At least in my area, almost all of those organizations are running Stihl equipment; including blowers. Backpack blowers are pretty important in the prescribed fire world for both putting in low impact containment lines (clearing debris to mineral soil) and for quickly putting in secondary containment when fire slops outside of a burn unit. All of the backpack blowers I have seen and used on burns fall into the "commercial" end of the product spectrum.

They tend to hold up to long duration usage and, arguably more importantly, move a lot more air than residential units. The key aspect of that last part is that it means a LOT LESS effort on the part of the user to clear containment lines in highly variable terrain. I'm burn in the foothills of Appalachia and while it's not the Rockies the clearing power of a commercial blower is a huge bonus hiking up and down steep lines. I would imagine that would translate well for your intended usage.

Where I'm going with this is that given your description of usage (long hours) you may want to go ahead and look at a commercial blower in your preference of brand.
The bike trail guys here use Sthil BP blowers and they blow rocks, leaves, mud n sticks, in fact, you can't be in front of them there is some much crap being thrown. I personally don't own them and have no experience with them.
 
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   / Which Backpack Blower? #25  
The Husqvarna backpack blower has worked well for the past 5 years. Starts on first pull and has blown away everything in it's path. 💨
 
   / Which Backpack Blower? #26  
I think you might just have a lemon, I've been using Echo products for many a year and have never had a problem with them, I've had a 770 for over 7years and bought an 8010 a couple years ago. So far the only issue I've had with the 8010 is i found it needs the fuel filter replaced annually, if I don't replace it it's start bogging down and will not reach full RPM.
It does get a lot of use and really goes through the fuel so guessing it just needs the additional maintenance compared to my other blowers.
I do run ethanol free gas and use the Echo Red Armor oil at 50:1
 
   / Which Backpack Blower?
  • Thread Starter
#27  
A couple tangentially related thoughts....

I tend to be a husqvarna guy at home - saw, weed eater, backpack blower. I happen to have a good dealer and service facility near my house, but otherwise I'm not really brand loyal.

That being said I also do prescribed fire on the side with various fed, state and non-governmental orgs. At least in my area, almost all of those organizations are running Stihl equipment; including blowers. Backpack blowers are pretty important in the prescribed fire world for both putting in low impact containment lines (clearing debris to mineral soil) and for quickly putting in secondary containment when fire slops outside of a burn unit. All of the backpack blowers I have seen and used on burns fall into the "commercial" end of the product spectrum.

They tend to hold up to long duration usage and, arguably more importantly, move a lot more air than residential units. The key aspect of that last part is that it means a LOT LESS effort on the part of the user to clear containment lines in highly variable terrain. I'm burn in the foothills of Appalachia and while it's not the Rockies the clearing power of a commercial blower is a huge bonus hiking up and down steep lines. I would imagine that would translate well for your intended usage.

Where I'm going with this is that given your description of usage (long hours) you may want to go ahead and look at a commercial blower in your preference of brand.
I AM willing to buck up for a 'commercial model,' I just don't know where to get one, or which to look for. The equipment dealer I buy from sells to landscape guys all the time and I assumed this Echo 8010 WAS used by commercial operators. I see a lot of the lawn services using RedMax, which is why I thought 'that' was a more *commercial* product.

Thanks for the replies.
 
   / Which Backpack Blower? #28  
What is a commercial blower and who makes such machine??
 
   / Which Backpack Blower? #29  
The blower you have is a "commercial" blower. But when the fan
"got loose from the shaft."
it died.
Your dealing with good equipment. I've 2 small Stihl's 60CC for blowers. One I bought from Public Surplus auction for about $50, the other I bought used for about $150. The PS one ran well but had been abused, the other runs well and will lift gravel well. But my BIL has a bigger Stihl that will just about peel paint.
But I think the main reason with the professionals using Stihl is that they can hardly go wrong.
Perhaps your problem is with the dealer
The only problem, I was without a blower for about 4 months.
4 months to find out the fan was loose is pretty long.
 
   / Which Backpack Blower?
  • Thread Starter
#30  
4 months to find out the fan was loose is pretty long.

Yes indeed it was. I didn't know whether to blame that on the covid or not. We'll see how they do this time. I was thinking that the engine had seized, so I didn't know what to think.
 
 
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