About to purchase my hand helds for the upcoming season. I was going to go with STIHL orginally and may still but... online prices on ebay are quite cheap and my dealer is charging like $500 before tax for a STIHL 600... so am looking for something more cost effective machines.
What I'm not looking for is a brand war.
What I am looking for is people who have ran specific models or have followed hand helds for the last couple years and are "in the know" so to speak.
As of right now I will be getting a back pack blower and a line trimmer.
After spending the last 2 hrs. reading the search stuff looks like both Husky and Kawi are solid.
Husky 150 BT is regarded as the best blower for the price (sub $300 with free shipping)
Some people like the husky 223 trimmer. It there a Husky trimmer sold on E-bay that you would recommend more than this one? (keep in mind the price value comparatively)
Kawi blowers are supposed to be nice.
The 27A series trimmer I think is the one most folks prefer... how about the new C version? Heard the B had some problems cause of all the environmental junk they added to it.
The reason trying to get the best bang for the buck instead of just best is that I'm a recent start-up company and I want to be as frugal as possible in my equipment choices.
redmax 2350 and a br600 is the combo i prefer. I also have 2 of the husqvarna 223's and they are good trimmers but I like the redmax better. Stihl trimmers are way to heavy I have a fs130 I keep a edger head on and will use for very heavy brush cutting.
I run Stihl and Husky equipment. I have a Husky 223, and an FS 90R Stihl. Both are good, but the Husky is lighter, and not too far behind in power (though not as heavily built either), and will do for 95% of most trimming work. I use the FS90 for an edger and a pole pruner more than for trimming now that I have the 223.
I run both Hsusky 570 BTS and a BR600M BP's. Both are excellent blowers. The Stihl is lighter, uses less gas, and quieter. The Husky is more powerful (blows harder), is much more comfortable to wear for hours on end in spite of the fact that it weighs 2 lbs more, due to its far superior harness system, and has far less moving parts to worry about. It is my favorite between the two.
Why do you need to have a BP shipped. Any Stihl dealer will sell you a 600 for $500 right off their showroom rack. Do you not have any dealers at all near you?
Well for around $500 I can get a decent mid-sized bb blower and a trimmer online... I still might go the 600 magnum way.
I've got both STIHL and ECHO dealers around not much else... honda trimmers is the only other thing around I believe. Is it worth spending the extra couple hundred to buy from a dealer around me?
I'm pretty sure warranty is active even on on-line purchases. I assume you would just have to get the work done through someone who is approved by them to do it.
If you're solo and take care of your equip, you should get 4-7 years out of your trimmer. I got 8 out of my RedMax.
A BP blower will likely not last as long (it might though), but when I say they literally pay for themselves 2x/year over a commercial handheld blower...I ain't lying! Conservatively: Saving 3min/day = 15min/week = 1hr/month. Just do the math.
During Spring/Fall cleanups it WILL pay for itself again!
Not mandatory, but buying the same brand from the same dealer will make things easier in the long run...especially when you have an issue...whether it's under warranty or not.
I have a Kawasaki KTF27B-A1 trimmer that I bought new last year. It has about 3 hours on it. It was the second piece of equipment that I bought over the Internet and the last. It needs a coil and I don't want to pay shipping to send it back to Russo to get it warrantied. Coils for this trimmer are over $80.
Definatly want a bp over a handheld one... those just are a pain.
Richard Martin - Hmmmm... running the same brand is something that I want to do. I hear ya about the online... maybe I should just go to the local STIHL for everything. Run Ethanol free and STIHL ULTRA. Should work well...
I go to larger lawn and ag dealers as well, but I really like to try to help keep mom n pop type places open and operating. On top of that, Stihl, Deere, etc., keep their prices pretty much the same throughout all their dealer network, so buying from a local smaller dealer doesn't mean you have to pay more. Besides, who do you think they'll give the best service to, someone who comes in with a product bought elsewhere (especially online) or someone they know?:usflag:
I read a lot of good things on both brand particularly Husky 223 and 326, You will not find a bad review on either one here in the last few years.
As for Kawi BP, I have the Maruyama BL8100 which is the exact same as Kawi KRB750. It is easy to start, powerful enough, much cheaper on ebay than any big blowers. The engine TK65 has be well proven, it is used also in JD big blower and some blowers sell in Europe.
Look into the Stihl 100rx trimmer. A little most costly, but mine is going on 4 or 5 seasons no problem. Posted via Mobile Device
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