Let me first introduce you to what we do. Me and my wife work together with no other employees in extremely rural northern and eastern Maine. We maintain foreclosed homes for banks, around a hundred of them across an area Almost three times the size of Massachusetts. We get up in the dark to make it to our first house by around sunrise and usually work until sunset, then driving a couple hours home at 60mph on the empty woods roads. Naturally, in order to keep up with this we always want to have the fastest, most powerful equipment we can get our hands on. Our local echo dealer convinced us the echo has the highest power on the market, so we bought $4000 worth of the biggest commercial stuff that echo sells. 280 trimmers, 410u with weedwhacker head and so on. But was this the wrong decision? Another dealer that sells stihl, echo and husky is convinced that stihl is the best. I don't care about longevity or fuel efficiency, what brand consistently has the most power and speed? My sleep is depending on it. Lol
What's the best line of trimmers, saws and blowers?
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Stihl FS240 is the strongest trimmer that is actually a trimmer and not a brush cutter unit. The Husky 535 is a good choice as well. Both are well ahead of the 280 in power. The BR700, RM/Husky 8500/580, and the Maruyama 9000 are all stronger than the 770 BP (though I like the 770 very much). When it comes to saws, both Stihl and Husky/Jonsered are at the top of the heap.
Thanks, I use the 280p because it's echos biggest attachment series. Is there a more powerful attachment series from husky or stihl? Echo, husky, stihl and Jonsered are all that's sold in my area. And all the dealers will tell you that husky is garbage that's only suited for home owners.
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I call BS on that. Sounds like your dealers are of german decent.........
I run nothing but Jonsered, and never will run anything else again. I ran Stihl for a looooong time, but the J-red is a much better, and faster cutting saw, cc for cc compared to Stihl.
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The fastest cutting saw has the sharper chain not because of brand.
lol they're probably a little biased. But I'm not as concerned with saws as I am trimmers and blowers.
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Nope, the carb set-up, the air filter/flow set up all play into it, and I was talking about two brand new saws side by side, so everything would be on the same playing level. I like Stihl saws and ran them for a very long time, but after running the ones I have now for many years, I know first hand which is better. The J-reds are much less fatiguing at the end of the day due to the front handle position IME as well.
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The older FS250's were beasts and much lighter and easier to maneuver than the newer 240's, but finding a NOS 250 is getting very hard to do. I own a 250, and it is extremely impressive. I prefer 2 stroke BP's over the Stihls due to the simplicity of them, which is generally 3-5 moving parts in the engine vs 30 +. Plus, the Husky 570 and 580 and the RM versions of 7500 and 8500 are stronger than the Stihl counterparts, especially the 7500/570 compared to the 600. I have owned the 600 and 570 at the same time and could and did compare them side by side on the same stuff. The 570 will walk all over the 600 when the going gets tough. For grass blowing and leaves up to moderately heavy the 600 is a great BP.
Thanks. I often show up to 3' grass and have to have everything done in no time flat in order to meet my daily quota. So power is everything!
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Thank you for clarifying your statement. Just saying that the red husky is faster than stihl could have been misleading to the uninformed.
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Get your hands on an FS240 and you will be amazed. I think you'd be very impressed with the Husky 535 or the J-red version with the same specs. They have smaller cc's than the Stihl, but are close on HP, and a bit lighter IIRC.
https://www.husqvarna.com/us/products/trimmers/535ls/966628602/
I think I'll try picking up an fs240. I'll probably lean away from husky just because I'd get zero dealer support in my area since all the dealers here seem to hate them for some reason. Thanks
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First I will preface by saying I am pretty impartial on brands of handhelds. I will say what most on here will reiterate. There is a "best" brand overall each has certain pros and cons. All three brands you listed are top notch and will serve well.
That being said I am solo so efficiency is key for me as well. I have Echo, Dolmar, Stihl, and Husky equipment. For trimmers Im a stihl man all day if you look at the engine sizes and displacement they really can't be beat. For the type of work your doing a FS 131 or 130 is really a good option. This is coming from some who has a 28cc, 36cc, and 37 cc. I have the 90, 130, and 240 R. The 130 is close to the 240 at 2 pounds less the weight. its a true monster. I have had little maintenance on my four mixes over the years. I run Stihl premium silver oil and high octane premium gas.
For blowers I have a BR 600 Stihl nice light and pretty powerful unit solid overall machine. My 580 BTS Husqvarna is my favorite and a king when it comes to power and moving big leaves and big debris. If it can't be moved via back back I have a 6 HP giant vac push blower and a 13HP Honda Billy goat blowers that moves mountains.
For saws Stihl and Husky are best then Dolamar followed by echo. Generally. Stihl is more toque heavy and takes a little more abuse. Husky saws are hot rod spinners high revs with lots of power. Not quite as abuse resilient but can hold their own and out perform most models. Husky 562 is a damn fine Handle anything and everything 60CC saw. Check the arboristsite chainsaw forums its a legend.
That being said I am solo so efficiency is key for me as well. I have Echo, Dolmar, Stihl, and Husky equipment. For trimmers Im a stihl man all day if you look at the engine sizes and displacement they really can't be beat. For the type of work your doing a FS 131 or 130 is really a good option. This is coming from some who has a 28cc, 36cc, and 37 cc. I have the 90, 130, and 240 R. The 130 is close to the 240 at 2 pounds less the weight. its a true monster. I have had little maintenance on my four mixes over the years. I run Stihl premium silver oil and high octane premium gas.
For blowers I have a BR 600 Stihl nice light and pretty powerful unit solid overall machine. My 580 BTS Husqvarna is my favorite and a king when it comes to power and moving big leaves and big debris. If it can't be moved via back back I have a 6 HP giant vac push blower and a 13HP Honda Billy goat blowers that moves mountains.
For saws Stihl and Husky are best then Dolamar followed by echo. Generally. Stihl is more toque heavy and takes a little more abuse. Husky saws are hot rod spinners high revs with lots of power. Not quite as abuse resilient but can hold their own and out perform most models. Husky 562 is a damn fine Handle anything and everything 60CC saw. Check the arboristsite chainsaw forums its a legend.
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Noooooooo. The stihl one cuts faster because the orange paint is faster then the red paint. Everyone knows that. Haha just playin.
I have to agree with Grass bass. Ive run stihl and the 4 mix engines, and they have been pretty reliable. Adjusting valves is an easy 15 min job. The FS250 that I used to have was in a fact a beast until somebody decided they needed it more than I did (AKA stole it). Anyways....moving on. Might want to look at the KM130 power heads. Here is why I like and run them....interchangeability. I have two, so if one goes down, the other can be used. I run one with a straight trimmer attachment, the other has a straight edger attachment. Now with that said....I wouldn't run them for just doing regular turf trimming....for that I prefer the FS100 or FS90 which is plenty. And I also have an old echo edger PE230 I think (two stroke) that just wont die...LOL. Put a new carb on it last year, and its keeps going and going and going.
The one thing about the FS250R that sucked was the location of the spark plug. The plastic cover for it would stick up and dig into your arm....over time it would wear on ya. But when you needed to knock stuff down....pull the guards, get a good grip, and RIP IT!
The one thing about the FS250R that sucked was the location of the spark plug. The plastic cover for it would stick up and dig into your arm....over time it would wear on ya. But when you needed to knock stuff down....pull the guards, get a good grip, and RIP IT!
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Do not see any professionals use anything but stihl saws around this area. Im not talking about someone who mows a few yards and calls themselves a professional. I'm talking about the guy that makes their living using a saw everyday.
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Does seem like this issue should have been addressed before dropping that kind of cash.
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I like Stihl. Their 4 mix trimmers are animals but I run 2 cycle Husqvarna trimmers due to the longer shaft length (Im 6'4) and lighter weight.
Stihl blowers are more durable IMO than redmax/husqvarna but not as powerful. I run both.
I've never ran Husqvarna saws but I absolutely love Stihl's commercial grade saws. The MS461 is the perfect balance of weight and power; I've never ran a saw that can cut through trees like butter!
Stihl blowers are more durable IMO than redmax/husqvarna but not as powerful. I run both.
I've never ran Husqvarna saws but I absolutely love Stihl's commercial grade saws. The MS461 is the perfect balance of weight and power; I've never ran a saw that can cut through trees like butter!
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