The differences between the ECHO SRM-2100 & SRM-2601??

[Vibe Ray]

What are the differences between the ECHO SRM-2100 and SRM-2601?? Other than bigger feul tank, and engine and weight? How can ECHO make an engine bigger by 4.2cc and only increase the weight by 1/10 of a pound?? Is the engine better design? Is it more "commercial"?Or did they sacrifice quality to acieve less weight and it isn't as good of an engine? Is the power that much more noticeable? What's with the rigid steel drive shaft? Is it better than cable and solid steel? What all do you know about them?

[Runner]

I have the 2601's and my father has a 2100 for his personal use. The difference? ALOT of POWER! I'm not sure, but I think the 2100 has a little shorter shaft length too.

[Vibe Ray]

No, Runner. The shaft lengths for the 2 are both 59".Have you used the 2100 yet?

[Barkleymut]

I use a 2601 now. I used a 2100 for 2 years. The 2100 is a good trimmer. The 2601 is a great trimmer. Very durable, very powerful, low maintenance.

[Runner]

Yeah, Ive used it a little, I know his 2100 DOES seem quite a bit lighter. Maybe it was just me at the time.

[1stclasslawns]

The 2601 Has a solid shaft where the 2100 dosent. I havent seen a stright shaft 2100, they may have them though.
And yes the 2601 is a full commercial duty machine. I have 2 of them and will buy more I'm sure. Jim

[landscaper3]

We have 2 of the 2601 trimmers, more power then the 2100 series. Our caps keep falling off our Echos and cant fix, Got different heads and works good.

[Vibe Ray]

When you say caps you mead trimmer heads???

[landscaper3]

Not the entire head falls off just the spool part falls off, replaced heads with a VERI head no problems yet

[Evan528]

I own a srm 2100 as a spare unit for my redmax. I have used the 2601's and i do not notice a very bug difrence in power. Quality diffrence i wont touch on because i have not used my 2100 enough over the years to see how good it holds up..... my redmax never breaks!

[Twotoros]

2601 is a shaft drive and runs smoother at lower rpm. 2100 is cable drive and has more vibration . I vote the extra bucks for the 2601 I have 2.

[Highpoint]

About the trimmer "caps" or "heads" as we call them. We use both Echo 2100 and 2601, yes the 2601 have more power and work well for us. No problem with the heads though. Maybe you did not pay attention and wound the string the wrong way. The spool says in plain english on the bottom " C " for single line winding or for use with curved shaft machines and " CC " for double line winding for straight shaft machines. This makes a "big" difference in keeping the spools on the head. Also, we pull the guards off as soon as we get the new trimmers. If you are still using the gurads, take them off!!. Sure you will get hit a little more often and sometimes a little harder but you will be surprised just how much those things weigh and how much easier it is to get into tight areas. We will never use guards again. It takes some getting used to though trying to figure out just how long the line should be. You have to "Listen" to the engine. It will talk to you in it's own sort of way. Motor runs two fast and has a high pitched sound if line is two short. You should already be familier with this sound. Motor runs to slow or "boggy" then line is to long. You have to cut it off manually or a better way is to just turn the spool backwards by hand pushing and pulling the spool as you go. You'll figure it out. Another simple way is to just run it wide open and let the line hit against any hard surface that will "wittle it down" to the desired length. A good rule of thumb is the line should always be the length of your hand from wrist to finger tips. The motor will never lie to you. This goes for just about any type of line trimmer.

[Vibe Ray]

if you look in an ECHO catalog, it says the 2601 has a "rigid steel" drive shaft and the drive shaft for the 3100S,3400,and3800 says its "solid steel"(8mm).....is there a difference between the two.....is the engin a different design than a typical ECHO engine in order to achieve less weight???Thanks if u reply.

[helodude]

The difference on the shafts are SRM-2601 is hollow, and the others are solid steel. You would want the solid shafts if you do aot of brushcutting. But even that depends if you are the owner/operator or an employee.

[Vibe Ray]

Well then is the "hollow rigid steel" better than a cable drive??? Thanx for clearin that up helo.

[helodude]

Yes, the hollow shaft is better than a flex-shaft. This week alone, i lost 3 PE-2400 outer housings and flex-shafts. I bought the units 18 months ago, brandnew, I have a old SRM-3000 (orange case) that I use only with a brush cutter blade, it's heavy, but I price the jobs high to compensate for my back. It uses a solid shaft. My day-to-day trimmers are Echo SRM-2501,2601's and Shindaiwa's T-260 and T-20. I like them all, and each one had a reason why I purchased it at that time. I'm undecided of which units to buy next myself. I don't like Toro at all. Stihl has really turned me off after the FS-85. I've been looking at the huskies, but one of the dealers said getting parts is getting harder, Echo dealers seem to be everywhere. So maybe I'll stay with them. P.S. Not to thrilled with the Honda 4-cycle trimmer, reminds me of the Ryobi junk, just costs more.

[Vibe Ray]

What?! I thought the cable drives had a lifetime warranty on them. How did u break them??? I also hear the solid shafts vibrate less too although i don't believe it yet. Do they?

[Edited by Vibe Ray on 10-26-2000 at 12:52 AM]

[helodude]

I've never had one housing or flex-cable warrantied, every dealer around here and Echo say abuse. The ones I lost burned up down by the cutterhead, when you pulled the angle gearbox off a six inch section of cable would pop out with the plastic bushings all heated up and melted around it. The warranty may work for other people, but I have never received warranty work on the ignition system either. PB-400E usually eat up the external coil every two years. As for vibration level yeah it's smoother. I have for several years on the line trimmers pulled the gear box off and pull the shaft out, lube it with a grease and put it back in. Works great,reduces vibes and noises.I've tried this with the flex-shafts and have some success.

[Dave]

To helodude:I would stay away from the huskies as from what I have seen they only have one ring piston right up to there big cut off saws

[helodude]

I have some husky chainsaws a 261XP and a Rancher 51. Love them to death. Have never had to tear into the cylinders, knock on wood. So the line trimmers suck, didn't know about the one ring. I beleive poulan/weedeater uses one. Thanks for the heads up.