Shindiawa T242 Stihl FS90R Red Max BCZ2401S

[honeydopm]

I have both the fs90 and the 242 and i will be buying another t242 in the next week or so. Shindaiwa all the way for me, just wish my dealer had better prices

[mowzilla]

i had to buy a trimmer, so i broke down after a little blessing from GOD and bought a brand spankin' new shindaiwa m242 with the trimmer and pole shears and got to use it today. what a fabulous piece of equipment. it is almost as stout as a t261, prunes better than the ah231 shears. nice and light, very comfy to use for extended periods..very pleased. plan to buy another m242 down the road, two edger attachments, pole saw, and a 2nd trimmer head. the multi-tool works for me because i try to use a smaller enclosed 5x8 trailer which i carry a 36 toro, a 21 , lawn vac, and handhelds in.. i will most likely still buy a redmax blower( i want a little more kick than my good ol' eb4300), but at day job we are getting the eb632 shindaiwa blowers which i have been told by my shinny/redmax dealer friend that the eb632 shinny uses a redmax engine same as redmax's ebz7001 which is the stratocharged motor. i think shinny's blowers are the only weak links they have, if the eb632's last being ran 4-6hrs every day i'll probably get one maybe in place of the ebz7001/ebz8001 i am planning on now. at day job we bang those shindaiwas soooo very hard and lots of hours of use and the edgers/trimmers/pole shears are killer.

p.s. any of you Georgia boys on here that are within driving distance of Dallas, GA and use redmax or shindaiwa, you owe it to yourself to give Lance Loveless at Dallas Mower and Motorsports a try. He is a first class operation very dedicated to his customers. I went in there several times looking at redmax/shindaiwa/gravely, and do business with him now strictly because he is so good to his customers. I am going to buy a Gravely walkbehind and ztr down the road from him as well.

[RonAyersMotorsports]

STIHL all the way. Quieter, more fuel economy and tremendous power. You won't be disappointed. There is a reason why STIHL is number 1 Nationwide and Worldwide and the others aren't.

[mowzilla]

i use the four mix sithl stuff at day job: hl100 shears and fs100rx trimmer and while i won't deny the torque (which is good but not [I]that[I] much more than the t261 shindaiwa, they are noticeably heavier ( i feel the weight of the four mix sooner (say after using 10-15 mins) vs shinny (30min-1hr) , and fuel economy wise (for example: full tank on hl100 shears about 45min a tank ah231 shinny shears 30mins a tank) the sithls are a little better. and also more moving parts inside four mix motor versus standard or 'emissions' ( like c4 or strato-charged) two stroke. bottom line to me and spending my money: what fuel costs you save and little bit or torque you gain are not overcome by the more complicated,heavier, and more expensive initial costs and repair costs that the fourmix, to me, don't have in their favor in stihl's court. when you put apples to apples ( pure two stroke to two stroke) which will put stihl's pro series line (which i understand is no longer available) against shindaiwa and redmax, the shinny's and redmax, to me ( and i use handhelds several hundred hours a year), run better, respond better, and are engineered better. don't even go there on blowers ( i am planning asap to get a ebz8100 redmax blower) i am 100% convinced on redmax in that dept.

now mowers .....

[scagdude]

Stihl all the way. we run the fs90 and it is an awesome machine. very powerful and lightweight

[Matlock Lawncare]

I am not a fan of the Stihl, But I can tell you that the Shindaiwa and the Red Max have the exact same engine, the Shindaiwa comes standard with the speed feed head, I usually always run Red Max but I did buy the Shindaiwa cause I started using a new dealer that sells both and one of the mechanics told me about the engines. Plus a couple of years ago I had compained about some problems with my new Red Max trimmers and my dealer told me they were ok and I would just get used to them, Then around two years later after hardly using those two trimmers I found out there was a recall on the carbs on those trimmers FROM MY NEW DEALER. I talked to the old dealer and he said he remembers me complaining a long time ago but the warranty is up and there is nothing he could do. Now I spend about 15 thousand with him every year for the last 6 years and this is the thanks I get. SO the new dealer says he will expense it out of his own account and chalk it up as building a good relationship. Now all my business is going to the new dealer and I let the old one know about it and he says he could have done the same thing if he knew it was that serious. I told him he should have taken care of me from the get go and we wouldnt be in this situation. SO DEALERS MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE.... choose wisely.

[tamadrummer]

Originally Posted by Matlock Lawncare

I am not a fan of the Stihl, But I can tell you that the Shindaiwa and the Red Max have the exact same engine, the Shindaiwa comes standard with the speed feed head, I usually always run Red Max but I did buy the Shindaiwa cause I started using a new dealer that sells both and one of the mechanics told me about the engines. Plus a couple of years ago I had compained about some problems with my new Red Max trimmers and my dealer told me they were ok and I would just get used to them, Then around two years later after hardly using those two trimmers I found out there was a recall on the carbs on those trimmers FROM MY NEW DEALER. I talked to the old dealer and he said he remembers me complaining a long time ago but the warranty is up and there is nothing he could do. Now I spend about 15 thousand with him every year for the last 6 years and this is the thanks I get. SO the new dealer says he will expense it out of his own account and chalk it up as building a good relationship. Now all my business is going to the new dealer and I let the old one know about it and he says he could have done the same thing if he knew it was that serious. I told him he should have taken care of me from the get go and we wouldnt be in this situation. SO DEALERS MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE.... choose wisely.

Wow what an idiot your old dealer is!

As far as the engines being the same, maybe in the past but since Echo and Shindy are in bed and Redmax and Husqvarna are in bed I doubt that this is still the case.

As for the OP question, I would have gone with the Stihl because of support but I would prefer the Shindaiwa if it is anything like my LE231. Great machine!

[jkilov]

I'm not that much impressed with my BCZ2401. Cold natured and takes forever to warm up even after the service update was carried out. The gear case is giving up and retails $125 at the dealer.

Not a bad unit considering it's a lower priced model but it's inferior to my stihl and shindaiwa trimmers.

[DLAWNS]

I have the BCZ2401 and love it. No problems at all!

[Cuttinitclose]

I just got a Stihl FS 90R and LOVE IT! Get one...Best $300 I've spent in a long time!