I bought an Echo machine this year and I like the speed feed head overall, the only knock I have on it is if you get in some heavier stuff it has a little gap between the gear housing and trimmer head that tends to wrap up with debris. For instance, I have moss here and if you run through some of it, it will wrap and put a stop to the trimmer until you pull it out.....same with any kind of vines. Not a problem if you just trim grass and worth the minor annoyance for the ease of re-stringing. It is after all designed for just grass trimming and I guess I blur the line into light brush cutting along some of my ditch banks.
As far as Echo vs Stihl, I am a long time Stihl user and the differences that I see so far is that this Echo starts easier but the grass guard on it IMO is a little too big and tends to drag on the ground and hang up on stuff. Also, the engine is round on the bottom and tends to roll over when you transport the unit in say the bed of your truck. The Stihl's are flat and stay upright. This Echo has a lot of power for its size. Mine is the typical 225 unit that you see at Home Depot but it has bike handlebars and is marketed as a "brush cutter". I started to buy the next size up but the sales guy told me the 225 would do anything I wanted and he was right. I was in the market for a bike handlebar trimmer because in the last year or so the position I get in when using a loop handle trimmer kills my back. The Stihl I was using still runs fine....just decided to try something different. Both are good machines.....just with different little quirks.
As an aside, one of my good friends bought an Echo with the speed feed head from Home Depot and for some reason did not get a manual or any paper work. He was taking apart the speed feed head to re string it like you do a regular Stihl head. I saw him do it before I bought mine and just thought that was how it was. After I got mine I showed him how to do it right and boy was he happy!
