I use to be 100% Stihl. Other than my chainsaws, I’ve been switching over piece by piece to Echo. Stihl isn’t what it used to be. All of my Echo stuff, starts on the first pull, even when cold. As far as backpack blowers, I love my Echo PB-755ST. On sale at Home Depot for $399 and is extremely powerful. If you don’t need that much power, most people can easily get by with the PB-580T. It’s probably their #1 seller. $349
I need a new backpack leaf blower
- Thread starter skyactiv
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Stihl BR600, might even be able to find a decent used one around the 250 range
get the husky 150bt from lowes. great blower at a low price. I use one commercialy and its held up great.
You would have to see if the weight would be a problem.
150BT is an awsome bang for the buck, BUT I hate that fact the carbs are not adjustable.
Ignore the CFM and MPH, as rated. They are way overrated but still perform great. I think they measure at the blower housing.
If you run them 32:1 or 40:1 and just decarbon more frequently they will last a long while. 50:1 and the cylinder wall seems to wear pretty quick. I owned 2 of these and still have one left.
Ignore the CFM and MPH, as rated. They are way overrated but still perform great. I think they measure at the blower housing.
If you run them 32:1 or 40:1 and just decarbon more frequently they will last a long while. 50:1 and the cylinder wall seems to wear pretty quick. I owned 2 of these and still have one left.
I have a Stihl BF700 and its AWESOME! Hightly recommended....
Actually I have 2 I love them so much...
Actually I have 2 I love them so much...
I use 32/1 in my stuff also
Haven't used a backpack blower much for quite a while, but RedMax used to be the go to brand around here for all the commercial users back when they were still owned by Kabota. Not sure how good they are now since they were bought by Husqvarna.
if I remember right husqvarna is one of the few that measure at the housing vs at the tube.. so specs are inflated vs real life.
the bt150 would compete with the echo pb-580
Weight usually isnt an issue if the person can wear a 20-25lb backpack they should be ok.
I would go 2 cycle. The echo pb-8010 is what I would buy (I did lol)
redmax is a very good.. but even louder and more $$$
You cant really have too much blower.. esp if you need to move piles. if you are just blowing them out and mulching that is different.
some models may have catalyst ... the echo has stratocharge carb and no cat.. at least when I bought last year.
the bt150 would compete with the echo pb-580
Weight usually isnt an issue if the person can wear a 20-25lb backpack they should be ok.
I would go 2 cycle. The echo pb-8010 is what I would buy (I did lol)
redmax is a very good.. but even louder and more $$$
You cant really have too much blower.. esp if you need to move piles. if you are just blowing them out and mulching that is different.
some models may have catalyst ... the echo has stratocharge carb and no cat.. at least when I bought last year.
I own the makita 4-stroke. It’s a mixed bag. Good power, starts Great runs great. But the weight balance is terrible, it’s very uncomfortable to wear no matter how you set it. Before this I had a toro 4 stroke backpack blower. i could wear it for long periods but they didn’t get the hose right and had to cut some off the nozzle to get the airflow better. It ran great for 6 years and then the last two were one engine problem after another until I just gave up on it. Every small part in the thing just gave up at once. It was a good machine, but the lifespan wasn’t great.
My wife wanted to make sure to get something she can handle. She bought a Husqvarna 360BT today. Bought at a power equipment dealer and they fueled it up and taught her how to start and use it. Bought a 6 pack of Husqvarna XP+ oil, too.
thats fairly similar to the echo pb-755
Its a good blower probably around 650CFM, and 225mph at the nozzle.
Pretty sure they fixed all the carb issues a few years ago, and it should provide 10+ years of good service if you remember to use mixed gas in it.
optionally if you arent going to use it for months .. run the gas out.
edit: fixed bad edit.
Its a good blower probably around 650CFM, and 225mph at the nozzle.
Pretty sure they fixed all the carb issues a few years ago, and it should provide 10+ years of good service if you remember to use mixed gas in it.
optionally if you arent going to use it for months .. run the gas out.
edit: fixed bad edit.
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Very powerful..... Yes it will be more work for them.
With my BR800 when I put it on my back I can feel it wanting to push right. 120lbs would constantly have to be mindful of what they are doing and constantly will be fighting it. Can they do it? Sure. But that's gonna be a lot of work for them.
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