What's the best backpack blower on the market?

[indiansprings]

I bought a shinny string trimmer because of the rave reviews on LS after having three FS80's and a FS90 for the boys lawn service. The shinny is a nice dependable lightweight piece, but I wish I had bought another Stihl.
They were using the biggest hand held BG 56? blower and it lasted two seasons of use and bit the dirt the last week of mowing season.
We have looked at the Efco and Shinny line as well as Kawi the last three weeks and we think (99.9%) sure we are buying the Stihl 600.
You might spend the money to talk to Leonard at Coast to Coast in Monett, Mo he sells Shinny, Kawi, Echo and Stihl blowers to quite a few commercial/big lawn operators. Rare a shop carries that many premium brands. Broiler(chicken) house
operators have to use the back pack blowers all the time, you see more Stihl 600's and Echo's more than any other brand in this part of the country. The same with commercial lawn operators.

 

[Andyshine77]

Is it speed only or points for style? Kinda hard to judge just like figure skating

You forgot about delivery.

 

[biggysmalls]

Bought a Shindaiwa 802 last fall.I was not disapointed.

 

[Andyshine77]

Bought a Shindaiwa 802 last fall.I was not disapointed.

They're all good products. Around here I see the LLC's running Stihl, Echo and Redmax.

 

[TimberMcPherson]

We have 2 of the big echos, 755 I think. They do good, aside from when its left in the hopper of the chipper wrong and your guy starts the chipper up. Then they dont do so well.

 

[02duramax]

Echo PB 770T

I have 6 Echo blowers and four of them are 770's and the two others the 750's. I cant say one bad thing about them. They start right up everytime and get the job done fast! I can Get a 770 for $425.00

 

[tdi-rick]

[snip]
They do good, aside from when its left in the hopper of the chipper wrong and your guy starts the chipper up. Then they dont do so well.

:msp_laugh:

Of course the real fix to needing a blower is to live in a country where the trees aren't deciduous

(Ok ok, so ours drop their bark instead )

 

[Streblerm]

This could be a useless post because I haven't used all the blowers in your list. I did compare the Echo 770 and the Stihl BR-600. Those are the two dealers close to me. The Stihl blew the echo away (pun intended). I am not married to Stihl, but if somebody makes a better blower than the BR-600, I can't imagine needing it.

I don't use mine for leaves as much as apples and black walnuts. The Stihl will blow black walnuts that have been run over with the mower tires and are pressed flush into the ground.

As far as the 4 mix, I have an older KM-110 that I bought well used. It has needed nothing but a simple valve adjustment in four years. I figure that the BR-600 will probably last a lifetime at the rate I use it.

As soon as it dries up just a little I am going out to blow all the gravel that the snowplow pushed off back onto my driveway.

Another vote for a blower that didn't make your short list.

 

[blsnelling]

I'm curious why so many are still recommending the BR600 over the competition. Was it the first blower to make that kind of power? There are plenty other quality models making equal or more power now. Is it just a comfort level thing? Stihl has the brand recognition, the BR600 is known to be a good blower, so that's just what most people buy? I won't buy a product just because it's a certain brand. I want the best product for my money, and I'm willing to search that out. What gives?

 

[wendell]

I'm curious why so many are still recommending the BR600 over the competition.

Because it is a Stihl

:hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Streblerm]

I'm curious why so many are still recommending the BR600 over the competition. Was it the first blower to make that kind of power? There are plenty other quality models making equal or more power now. Is it just a comfort level thing? Stihl has the brand recognition, the BR600 is known to be a good blower, so that's just what most people buy? I won't buy a product just because it's a certain brand. I want the best product for my money, and I'm willing to search that out. What gives?

In my instance the brand had nothing to do with it. As a matter of fact, after a poor experience with Stihl's supposed "pro" SH85 handheld blower I almost swore off Stihl forever. If I could've tried a Shindaiwa blower before I bought it I very well might have bought one as I think highly of Shindaiwa in general. I looked hard at the Kawasaki (Maruyama) blower too. I almost bought a John Deere branded one.

I don't think the specs for these blowers tell the whole story. Comparing specs of the Echo vs the Stihl It would appear the Echo should have an edge. I wouldn't even put the Echo in the same category as the Stihl in power and build quality.

I can't speak to the others. They may be some mighty fine pieces of equipment, but I would advise you to go out and put your hands on some of them before you make your decision.

I replaced a top of the line Solo blower with my BR600:
Amazon.com: Solo 471 53cc 3 HP 2-Stroke Gas Powered Commercial Grade Backpack Blower With Tube Mounted Throttle: Patio, Lawn & Garden
You'll notice the specs are very favorable compared to the BR600. Check out the first review! I wonder if that person works for Solo. In my experience the Solo wasn't even in the same ballpark as the Echo and just worlds away from the Stihl.

The "best" blower can be very subjective thing. The BR600 was good enough to make me stop looking at other blowers.

 

[CentaurG2]

Go team stihl!
Brand recognition means a lot to many people and stihl does go out of their way to promote the brand as any company should.

Seriously, the br600 is an excellent choice. Compared to the big redmax, it is lighter, more compact, stores easier, has way better anti-vibe and would probably be better on fuel. Around here, they are usually about $100 cheaper than the redmax. Whats not to like?? If my big redmax died, I would probably pick up the stihl or a smaller redmax backpack.

In my opinion, those big backpack blowers have way more power than most homeowners need. I also own a billygoat and a small redmax handheld. Each has its place but I use the hand held way more than the other two combined.

 

[promac850]

This is directed at the one(s) who mentioned porting a leaf blower... Dammit, now I have to go out and port that old Crapsman leaf blower that I've got laying around. Another project to do this spring, as well as swapping interior parts on one of my cars, and fixing/porting the string trimmer...

 

[Swamp Yankee]

I'm curious why so many are still recommending the BR600 over the competition. Was it the first blower to make that kind of power?

In my case, Yes

When I bought my BR600 years ago, there wasn't another blower available with comparable specs, at least not from any dealer within a 50 mile radius. It was the Stihl or less performance.

Think you're doing the wise thing by checking them all out, it's going to be your tool and you'll have to live with the choice and use it. If I'd had the same opportunity, I would definitely have comparison shopped as well.

Take Care

 

[Andyshine77]

I'm curious why so many are still recommending the BR600 over the competition. Was it the first blower to make that kind of power? There are plenty other quality models making equal or more power now. Is it just a comfort level thing? Stihl has the brand recognition, the BR600 is known to be a good blower, so that's just what most people buy? I won't buy a product just because it's a certain brand. I want the best product for my money, and I'm willing to search that out. What gives?

Brad this is the U.S. of A. as long as it has the right name on it people will buy it blindly.

 

[Edge & Engine]

I ran the Shindaiwa EB802 & EB854, Echo 770 and Stihl BR600 at the Louisville Expo last year. On the test tube, the Echo 770 was the clear leader.

 

[Andyshine77]

In my instance the brand had nothing to do with it. As a matter of fact, after a poor experience with Stihl's supposed "pro" SH85 handheld blower I almost swore off Stihl forever. If I could've tried a Shindaiwa blower before I bought it I very well might have bought one as I think highly of Shindaiwa in general. I looked hard at the Kawasaki (Maruyama) blower too. I almost bought a John Deere branded one.

I don't think the specs for these blowers tell the whole story. Comparing specs of the Echo vs the Stihl It would appear the Echo should have an edge. I wouldn't even put the Echo in the same category as the Stihl in power and build quality.

I can't speak to the others. They may be some mighty fine pieces of equipment, but I would advise you to go out and put your hands on some of them before you make your decision.

I replaced a top of the line Solo blower with my BR600:
Amazon.com: Solo 471 53cc 3 HP 2-Stroke Gas Powered Commercial Grade Backpack Blower With Tube Mounted Throttle: Patio, Lawn & Garden
You'll notice the specs are very favorable compared to the BR600. Check out the first review! I wonder if that person works for Solo. In my experience the Solo wasn't even in the same ballpark as the Echo and just worlds away from the Stihl.

The "best" blower can be very subjective thing. The BR600 was good enough to make me stop looking at other blowers.

Not to pick on you here, but your whole post is subjective. I could say my 8510 has no equal, I haven't had a single issue with it and it has awesome power. With that said I know better, if I had to guess the other two cycle models will last longer and with less maintenance, the valves do need to be adjusted on the 4 cycle engines including the 4-mix.

Brad I totally understand wanting a two cycle instead of a four cycle, it makes seance.

To have an opinion is fine, but lets not start acting like our opinions are fact, especially when you have little or no experience with other brands IMHO.

 

[saxman]

Brad, I don't blame you for researching all of the premium brands of blowers, that makes you an educated consumer, which is a good thing. BUT, as we have discussed here before the main factor for me is dealer support. I have no doubt that the Echo, Redmax and Shindaiwa blowers are as good and perhaps better than the BR600. In my area I have a great Stihl dealer with a gold level tech. I have bought lots of Stihl products from him (see my signature line) and have been very pleased with their support on any issue I have had. As for the other products, I don't even know where I could buy one if I wanted, so for me the choice was an easy one.

Steve

 

[blsnelling]

I'm sure dealer support is a very big reason why so many run the BR600. And don't get me wrong guys, it's one of the strongest blowers out there. I'm not trying to take that away from it. I'm just saying, why not consider the others. I did, and I just brought home a brand new .........................................................................:msp_love:

 

[Andyshine77]

I'm sure dealer support is a very big reason why so many run the BR600. And don't get me wrong guys, it's one of the strongest blowers out there. I'm not trying to take that away from it. I'm just saying, why not consider the others. I did, and I just brought home a brand new .........................................................................:msp_love:

Echo??