Stihl. Just my opinion.
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Id get the Shindaiwa T282, the 242 has had some issues and is under powered.
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I've been upgrading little bits at a time, if I was getting new equipment and did not care about price I would go stihl. Ian using echo right now and I love them and they are doing fantastic, stihl does have a little more power though for trimmers, but I just kind of like stihl overall but like I said I'm using echo and they are awesome, it's just what I got a deal on and I did start out with a echo trimmer my family's and it's always been awesome!
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I only use the Stihl Kombi 110 & 130Rs as my primary trimmers. I have all the attachments and use them frequently especially the pole saw and hedge trimmer. Some people say they are heavy as a trimmer, but they have tons of power, and can trim heavy grass very fast or edge walks without bogging down. I have never had a problem with the Kombis since I switched to them several years ago. Good luck!

 

Well since shindaiwa is now rebranded echo stuff i would go with stihl

 

Thanks for the replies everybody!
What are the issues with the shindaiwa T242?
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Stihl does seem like the industry's favorite anymore lol
I've kinda been leaning toward stihl, I just want the pros and cons of all my options
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I run all three of them. I will tell you echo and shindaiwa are the same company. echo recently bought shindaiwa. I really like how easy it is to change the line in the shindaiwa compared to the stihl and echo but I think out of the three the echo and shindaiwa are definitely the best weed eaters. As for the blowers I own a stihl and shindaiwa and the reason I bought the stihl was because it was on sale and the dealer knows me so he cut an even bigger deal. I recommend a shindaiwa blower but I have heard really good things about the echo's and I used to have an echo but its used very seldom but when I had it full time it did a really great job.

 

Well since shindaiwa is now rebranded echo stuff i would go with stihl

Some of it is. But neither the T242 or the EB802 are any relation to Echo.

Also someone mentioned the ease of loading the Shindaiwa heads...well newer Echo's get the same head from the Shindaiwa side of the merger.

The EB212, EB508 and EB633 are all red Echo's. Some of the Shindaiwa trimmers are using the Echo gearbox with the triangular flange for mounting the guard. The guard is is a different shape than what Echo uses though. I am sure more merging is on the horizon...

Unfortunately you just missed the "FLEET WEEK" deal Shindaiwa had going for the month of March(yah I know...week...month...) Basically you got fleet pricing when buying 1 unit. Hopefully they do it again in the fall.

 

i only run redmax weed stix n blowers so know nothing else

but concerning heads i remove the redmax heads and replace with the shindiawa speed feeds because theyre WAY better , mainly because they feed the string out so well . where as with redmax that can be a pita . but everything else about the redmax is excellent imo . shindiawa speed heads at my dealer are like 27 . and now when we buy a new stick my dealer replaces the redmax head with a speed head for free :drinkup:

 

i only run redmax weed stix n blowers so know nothing else

but concerning heads i remove the redmax heads and replace with the shindiawa speed feeds because theyre WAY better , mainly because they feed the string out so well . where as with redmax that can be a pita . but everything else about the redmax is excellent imo . shindiawa speed heads at my dealer are like 27 . and now when we buy a new stick my dealer replaces the redmax head with a speed head for free :drinkup:

I've heard really good things about the redmax blowers, especially from other people on lawnsite.
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I've heard really good things about the redmax blowers, especially from other people on lawnsite.
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Redmax IMHO is the best blower. Their blowers do out-perform almost any other brand. Their strato-charged engines are well.... Have their ups and downs. They do take a few mins to warm up or you can speed the process by running full throttle and playing with the choke and primer while
Running full to make it run at its peak for faster warm ups.

Anywho their engines are still Zenonah engines. Fully Japanese with their quality. Many are assembled in the USA at their Georgia plant, but some too are assembled in Japan. Really never a difference in build quality though between the two counties on this product. Same goes for their trimmer lines and hedge trimmers too. However if you are in the market for a really good quality one go with Maruyama ( Japanese) or Stihl ( German;assembled in USA). Both will last you a long long time. Stihl though does have the biggest string trimmer engines to weight ratio available.

 

I have both of the Stihl units you are interested in.
They are great just replace the trimmer head with a speed-feed or something similar...
BR600 has the right amount of power and is great for everyday use.