Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire ECHO and Stihl string trimmer woes.

I am intrigued by the battery trimmers and saws, especially for the convenience factor. That being said, if they are anything like battery shop tools, the cost of batteries going bad will far outweigh any trouble out of a gas machine.

Well, I just got back our local Stihl dealer. They had some pretty good manufacture coupons downloaded from online and redeemed at the store. Picked-up their FS 70-R string trimmer for $269.95, marked down from $339.95. Also Picked-up their MS-170 chainsaw with 20" bar and chain assembled for $159.95, a $20 discount. Then a Protective gear kit... for $99, marked down from $149.95.

Of course by the time I added in two-cycle oil, bar oil, a better head for the string trimmer, and a spool of line, all the savings were eaten up. All toll it all came to $745.

Pretty good Saturday morning... my first time out with the face mask and gloves. Pretty much haven't been out of the house in going on 3 months.


Phil

+1. Started up last week with 3-4 pulls after 6 months hibernation.

I don’t think so.
That’s a 30cc saw.

I have 4 Stihl gas power tools. I use stihl oil and real gasoline. Never been any ethanol in any of them. They all run great and I never have had to have any service done. I store them full of fuel.

+1. After 9 years my Echo got hard to start and ordered a new carb off ebay. It was around $18...couple screws, couple lines to hook up and problem solved.

I took the advice of a lawncare business owner and purchased a Stihl 45 trimmer and xtra polycut head new in 2007 and has served me well. I use it extensively on my three farms around the houses and outbuildings where I can't get a lawnmower or bush hog to. Store with a full tank of non-ethanol gas that has been treated with Seafoam. Seafoam is always mixed with the gas.

This spring first cold start was 4 plunges on bulb, 3 pulls with choke, one cough, move to run and pull, fire and trim.

Tried those....pull pull pull pull

You get the story

I do the same except for the full tank thing, just leave it the way I last use it
My trimmer starts the same as you described and has for many years, as have my two Stihl chainsaws and a leaf blower.
Never ethanol and always treated gas.

I hear what you are saying. However, I am a construction guy and have built 5 houses by myself. Twenty years ago, I turned away from nails and bought my first DeWalt cordless drill and started shooting screws. I hardly even use nails any more.
My current drill is a 14 volt I bought 12 years ago and it is still a champ. I have 10 year old batteries that still work great.

But time will tell. I just used my new Kobalt weed eater and lawn mower today for 40 minutes and it is a delight to run these machines and not have to put up with the hassles of gasoline and oil etc. These machines are just 6 weeks old but, so far, get 5 Gold Stars. Time will tell.
If the batteries are half as good as 10 year old DeWalt batteries then, these yard tools are as Good as Gold.

Store them with full tanks of aviation fuel and your problems will go away.
I cant. Believe the problems guys have with simple outdoor power equipment engines.

Have run an old (pre-Echo buyout), solid shaft Shindiawa T242 trimmer for nearly 2 decades. Looked at all the other big names (Honda, Stihl, Husky, etc.) but then walked into the local shop that served many of the area landscapers and he had a Shinny engine milled with it's guts exposed next to some of the other "name" brands. Damn thing was built like a Rolex, two rings instead of one, chrome-lined bore, beautiful cylinder casting and machining on the crank. Said there's a reason all the landscapers run them and showed me what brands he had hanging in his shop awaiting repair. Mine gets used hard on more than 20-acres for 6 month/year. Ethanol-free fuel w/ 2-cycle Tanaka oil seems to keep the spark arrestor screen clean and internals nicely lubed. Empty out fuel each fall and run her dry. She never fails to fire up with just a few pulls every spring and did it yet again a few days ago. The Turfgro Vortex trimmer line is the best I've run. Very smooth running, quiet and doesn't break. This setup is a pleasure to use....

I have two Husqvarna units. great trimmers.

"Have run an old (pre-Echo buyout), solid shaft Shindiawa T242 trimmer for nearly 2 decades.

My Shindaiwa T260 lasted 18 years. Last summer I forgot to the replace the foam air filter. The old filter went to pieces and got sucked into the engine. After that it sucked a small stick or rock into the engine and the piston hit it closing the spark plug gap. It also damaged the piston or rings because it only like 20 psi compression after that. I bought a new T262 Shindaiwa that's almost identical to my old T260 except the T262 has a much better air filter set up, a paper filter with a foam pre-filter. I guess there's a still a few new Shindaiwas around, for sale, I found mine in Virginia. If you at ,look at some of the new Echo trimmers you'll find that they are actually identical to Shindaiwa trimmers. The company that owns Echo bought the Shindaiwa factory so I can still get parts for my trimmer.

One point in favor of the Echo on paper is that they are all ‘pro’ saws and trimmers in the sense that they have two ring engines, etc as was said of the shindawa above. The other brands really have two levels of build, and the ‘pro’ costs quite a bit more. Echo also has a 5 year consumer warranty, longer than many new cars. The only echo I own is nearly 40 years old, but I would look real close at a new echo saw should the need arise.

Small engine carbs are usually pretty cheap. I’ve replaced several instead of fiddle fugging with them.

I just bought a carb off Ebay for $13 new shipped for my Stihl FS80. HAI SCROLLED DOWN A LITTLE they have carb kits with spark plug, gaskets,line and other stuff for a few bucks more. Supposed to be here Friday. Weeds should be ready by then... right ? Tried the Seafoam trick and nothing. Ray

25 year old Echo trimmer just got an eBay carb this year and runs great again. $15 got a carb, spark plug, three fuel filters and three priming bulbs plus new fuel lines. Maybe took twenty minutes to switch out carb and filters. Now, the trimmer head is in pretty rough shape and the shaft isn't exactly great but maybe there's a year or two left in this trimmer. I never worried about fuel stored in the tank as long as it was stablized.

I use exclusivly the Stihl 2 cycle oil in my Stih trimmer. It has never failed to start on the second or third pull in the spring in 8 or 9 years. Carb has never been off it. I've had amazing luck with that oil and rec gas. I use it in every 2 cycle i own. Guess I'm lucky because mine has been an anvil. Never flooded once. Hell its still got the original plug in it.

SOOO, I got the carb... put it on and put some gas in it and it popped and died first pull...……. then it got ugly and has been nothing but a head ache since. I have had it adjusted so it would start, run wide open and idle and I figured I had it ready to go. I went in and put new string on it and greased the cutter head and it won' start. Been screwing with it for 3 days and no luck. Know a guy that ran a stihl shop for several years. Hope he can keep me from running over it with the truck. Ray