Backpack Blower throttle controls

[Lawn Shark prop mgmt LLC]

I have a br-400 and a br-600, and love them both, and i would not own a blower with hip control's.

[Grass Shark]

I get hand cramps on my tube control unit

[mictrik]

I had an Echo with the hip throttle and liked it, It seemed very strong and natural to place my left hand on the throttle. When I upgraded my blower I wanted to try a tube throttle but no shop I called seem to stock them in the New York Metro area. The shops that would order one wanted extra money over the hip throttle; so i bought my blower out of state. I am very happy with the tube throttle as it leaves my other hand free and is a bit more maneuverable in tight areas. There seems to be a consensus in the northeast that the hip throttle is more durable and that the throttle cable is less likely to snag causing failure. the EB802 tube throttle cable is well placed and unlikely to snag, however the Echo hip throttle bar (though well made) has snagged on occasion. I am not sure if landscape crews are any different in other parts of the country but here I see them being unnecessarily hard on equipment. Throwing them into trucks, swinging blowers on by one strap, pulling the starter cord as fast and hard as possible and fanning the throttle from full to idle over and over again. I guess this is good for the shops but it doesn't help the owners of the business any and does not decrease the time spent on a property, if anything it creates down time...

I own four pieces of Stihl equipment now and like them all. The half moon caps are on 3 of them and I have never had any issue with them. They close in a very positive way and have not leaked. I think haste may have some people closing the caps improperly so they in turn leak.

[sardarsingh]

I have the BR600 is great blower when it works. The gas cap may be a cheap item, but the blower is useless without it. It let me down big when I was in a rush. 25 minutes to cut a lawn, and 2 hours trying to get a gas cap on the blower...yes 2 hours...I gave up.. Stihl needs to address this problem, I'm reading all over the web about people with Stihl products and the cap leaking. Unbelievable something so simple was made so complicated.

[deerewashed]

i had that issue before i had my echo and my redmax...with the gas cap and all. it was getting dark so i took duck tape and duck taped the opening....then once i needed to refill i took this giant cap from this glass bottle and pounded it on....worked like a charm...oh then no joke my tube throttle control wire broke one an outdoor shower hook.....then that piece was given to my partner for 5 bucks and a gift card to walmart...

[ancjr]

Local dealer denies there is a gas cap issue or an available replacement. I just bought new caps anyway. $6 cap, even if it only lasts a season, is about the price of a gallon of 2 cycle fuel mix. And its easy to change them!

[deerewashed]

either way i like my redmax better!

[macgyver_GA]

Coming from someone who has hip controls on my Echo, I would rather have tube controls. After using the hip controls my next blower will be tube control. Sometimes the hip control accidentally bumps my arm when i'm putting the blower on my back and turns the unit off. Annoying because I have to take it off and crank it back up. It also sometimes gets bumped off when i'm closing gates, I will accidentally bump into the fence. Sometimes I can catch is before it shuts off and blip the throttle back up. Plus sometimes I would like to have a free hand.

[bobcat48]

I like tube throttles.

[Green Industry Pro]

Originally Posted by Grass Shark

I get hand cramps on my tube control unit

Same here. I have only used tube throttle but the next machine I purchase will have hip control. I have no clue in the end which I will prefer but i will eventually have one of each. In a roundabout way, what I'm tryin to get across is that I don't hate tube throttle, but out of curiosity, I am buying hip next. Crews around here run tube and hip throttle, but I think we run way more hip throttle than tube. I'm going to guess and say that the Redmax 7100 series blowers occupy 60% of the industry here. The others are a mix of Husqvarna, Shindaiwa, Echo, and Stihl with Husqvarna being the least popular.