Quick story... I said I had a trimmer (fs110) that ran better on amsoil.... That same trimmer when I was using the stihl ultra, I bought it in bottles made for 2.5 gallons which I put in a 2.5 gallon can with 90 octane ethanol free fuel. One day that trimmer progressively started running worse and harder to start. But hey, it had their extended warranty I got by buying their oil!!!! I checked all the common stuff, it wasn't the screen in the muffler for instance, valves were fine (4mix crap). So Hey I have a warranty, I'll take it to the dealer. $82 bucks and 2 weeks later.... "oh it had way too much carbon build up and that is a fuel related issue and stihl will not cover that under warranty." OK, whatever.... I call BS but hey who am I. But when I bought all my kombi stuff, I refused the warranty extension and did not buy their oil. Salesman looked at me like I lost my mind. Then I told him I ran Amsoil now, was not switching back and Stihls warranty is not worth the paper it is printed on. I moved on...
The higher the octane, the harder it is to ignite. One guy specifically said he was running 60:1 with amsoil saber. That's more than what is recommend from amsoil. I run 100:1 saber. Even at 100:1 i get dripping out of all of my handhelds, 3 trimmers, 2 blowers, and the edger.
Running mine at 100:1. Being honest, things are running better than they have, easy starts, “feels” like lost power is there again. Have run Echo Red Armor and Stihl Ultra. I don’t see a change coming for me.
Any time a manufacture tells me I have to run "their fluids" to get them to honor their warranty, I walk. No way is that legit. First off, none of the manufactures are in the oil business, so none are making their own oil anyway. They simply buy an oil they like at the cheapest price and put their label on it. They figure profits from oil/fuel sales will pay for any upcoming warranty issues. Can you imagine if Ford, Toyota, GM or whoever said we have to run their fuel? No way would that boat float. Yet Stihl gets away with it, and people get stuck with carbon build up to deal with on their own, unless you buy Stihl fuel. Then they might cover it if you are still in the warranty period.
I use whatever I can get at a good price. And if I get oil dripping from the exhaust of any of my modern trimmers, that thing is getting rebuilt or thrown in the trash. I haven't had oil coming out of my exhaust for over twenty years no matter what oil I used. Only thing that I get that on is some of my vintage saws if I run them at a heavy oil ratio.
Amsoil is the cheapest that I can find. It's less than $1 to mix 1 gallon. Honestly, i run all of it. I'm finishing up a 6 pack of husqvarna that i bought with a BP blower. I've been running walmart VP 2 cycle oil for several years now with no issues and it's almost as cheap as amsoil.
I just bought a gallon jug of stens 2t oil. Cost me a total of 22.76 each black Friday price. At 50 to one ratio that is about 50 cents a gallon for mix. Never ran Stens oil before which some say is relabeled Opti, which I never ran Opti either, we will see. Been using a bunch of Dolmar oil I bought back when Makita bought them. They sold off all Dolmar labeled stuff for cheap and everything is A OK with it.
i could care less about the odor, if it does a great job and i can get it at a great price.. win win to me!
