Blower recommendations

Status
Not open for further replies.
I have the re-badged Tanaka version of the Hitachi. It's a little hurricane, and can't be beat for the money.
 
I picked up a small electric Toro blower at Lowes to blow out the garage and porches and it cranks out as much air as the gas blower.
So light and easy to use. Best $40 I've spent in a good while.
 
I just went thru the same choices. I liked the Tanaka/Hatachi, but in the end, the Echo 250LN was my choice. It's very well built, has good power . and air flow and it seems to be a very good blower so far. I can't really think of anything bad about the Echo. The T/H blowers have shorter tubes that don't get the airflow down on the ground as close as I'd like, and really, that was the ONLY deciding factor. I honestly don't think you could go wrong with either of the three.
 
I tell most people, for home use, to buy the cheapest, curved shaft Echo Weed Whacker, the lowest priced Echo Blower, and/or the appropriate sized Stihl Chainsaw FROM A DEALER. They come adjusted, tweaked, and ready to use for many, many years without problems. I did clean up a Tanaka blower at the beginning of this season for a guy. It felt like it could twist your arm off. Depending on price I might be tempted to start recommending them. I haven't done any research on them yet. By the way, I used to recommend Toro mowers and snow blowers. Their quality has decreased to the point where I tell people to buy whatever is cheapest and replace it often if they can't afford a Honda mower or an older Ariens/Toro/Murray/Snapper/Honda blower. The nose dive in quality for most small engine outdoor products is shameful.
 
I like my Dolmar PB251.4 4-Stroke. Uses a Makita engine which is the exact copy of the former Subaru Robin EH025. Chrome cylinder, ball bearings, forged crank. Sips gas.
 
Originally Posted By: yeehaw1960
I tell most people, for home use, to buy the cheapest, curved shaft Echo Weed Whacker, the lowest priced Echo Blower, and/or the appropriate sized Stihl Chainsaw FROM A DEALER. They come adjusted, tweaked, and ready to use for many, many years without problems. I did clean up a Tanaka blower at the beginning of this season for a guy. It felt like it could twist your arm off. Depending on price I might be tempted to start recommending them. I haven't done any research on them yet. By the way, I used to recommend Toro mowers and snow blowers. Their quality has decreased to the point where I tell people to buy whatever is cheapest and replace it often if they can't afford a Honda mower or an older Ariens/Toro/Murray/Snapper/Honda blower. The nose dive in quality for most small engine outdoor products is shameful.



I agree with you about the cheapening of products. We live in a throw-away society. Nobody fixes stuff any more and the stuff anymore, especially when replacment is comparable to cost of new...
 
The Hitachi/Tanaka twins are made in China, if that matters to you.

The issue with the Hitachi model is where to get it serviced if you need to use the warranty. Some areas don't have any Hitachi service centers, so you wouldn't really be able to use the warranty. I've also looked at the Hitachi, but the 7 year warranty wouldn't do me any good, as there aren't any service centers near me.

I personally prefer Stihl, Echo and other brands of outdoor power products. They're both assembled in the USA for the lower-end blowers, I believe. There are also good choices from Shindaiwa, Redmax and others.

The Dolmar listed above also gets good reviews and I considered getting one recently. I think they're also "assembled in the USA," or something similar.

Echo and Shindaiwa are now in some kind of partnership, so there is some model overlap. Husky now owns Redmax, so the lowest Redmax blower is a rebadged Husky. But the higher-end blowers are made in Japan and are real Redmax equipment.

I would also second the recommendation that you make sure to buy from a dealer if you plan on every using the warranty. Echo is sold at both Home Depot and real Echo dealers. They should be pretty much the same price, or maybe $10 or $20 more at the dealer.

In theory, a dealer would warranty an Echo blower bought at HD, but in practice you might not find them as willing to fix a big-box Echo as one they sold.

You could also look at the Italian brand Efco. Their blowers are made in China, but supposedly they use a lot of Italian parts in their Chinese power equipment. Whether that's true or not I don't know, but someone on a Chainsaw forum claims an Efco rep told him that.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top