Recommendations for gas handheld blower

I don't know if this is the best hand held blower or not. I've had it for 8 years and use it a couple of hours per week year round. Starts easy. No vibration. It's never been a problem or required repairs. It seems powerful to me compared to my previous corded Weed Eater. Probably not as powerful as most backpacks, but it does the things I need it for.
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I have one acre and about 50 oak trees. I battle leaves all winter.

I bought the nice Stihl handheld with the anti vibration springs in the handle. It’s very good. Can’t remember the model. I also have an echo and a hitachi blower in the garage. The hitachi has good power but vibrates like crazy and gives hand fatigue. The echo has mediocre power but works great, but is more fatiguing than the Stihl. The Stihl is the best handheld of the bunch.

My wife surprised me with an Echo backpack blower for Christmas. It’s huge and takes up a ton of space in the garage , which annoys me, but the wife bought it and it’s here now.

The backpack is the best for removing leaves. I use it most of the time I have to blow leaves. I have used the Stihl for hours too and it’s almost as good as the backpack blower, but not quite.
 
I have 2 BG86 Stihl blowers, I purchased one for hangar cleaning as the EGO 650 and Kobalt 80V were unable to do the job well. I liked it so much, I purchased one for my house. The one at home has the muffler mod (hollow inside and larger muffler outlet) and it's got a bit more power. Sounds good too.

I'd say they have adequate power and a good long run time on a tank. The flat nozzle really makes good velocity for blowing heavy things like pebbles. The round nozzle moves more air and pushes loose leaves a bit better.

I also have a 21cc Echo. Which is really a nice older machine, but down on power compared to the BG86.

Maybe the one downside is the BG blowers without the muffler mod have slightly slow throttle response. But no problem once it's locked on "full power".

The tailpipe no longer has a screen and is drilled out to about the max size possible. It's not loud and sounds much more healthy.

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And the muffler mod which bypasses the internal baffle by drilling through it with a unibit.

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My vote would be Echo.
I have a Stihl BG50.
I wouldn't wish that pile on my worst enemy.
Interesting. My BG50 is at least a decade old and has been flawless although it admittedly only gets used a few hours each year.
 
Interesting. My BG50 is at least a decade old and has been flawless although it admittedly only gets used a few hours each year.

The decade old part of your comment probably explains much.
Mine is about three years old.
I went to a large Stihl dealer in the area who claimed to have a master tech.
Went in, looked at it, and bought it.
The tech went to the back to get one in the box. He set it up in front of me.
He couldn't get it to start.
If I had it to do over again, I should have left then.
He went to the back and got a second one in the box.
He came back and set the second up. It wouldn't start.
He finally got it going and putz'd around with it until it ran decent.
It (along with the Stihl curved shaft trimmer I bought a year prior) are both the hardest starting pieces of OPE I have ever owned.
However, at least the trimmer runs well after started. This blower is rough running, stumbles, and has a huge lag upon pressing the trigger.
I had it back to the dealer 2X the first year, only to get the that's the way they all are speech.
The $79. Craftsman that I had previously was nicer to use.
I say Echo because the SRT-225 that I have had for years has been flawless.
I use it about once a year. The absolute most it has ever taken to start it has been three pulls.
I'm done with Stihl anything. I'll drive the extra distance to an Echo dealer.
 
The decade old part of your comment probably explains much.
Mine is about three years old.
I went to a large Stihl dealer in the area who claimed to have a master tech.
Went in, looked at it, and bought it.
The tech went to the back to get one in the box. He set it up in front of me.
He couldn't get it to start.
If I had it to do over again, I should have left then.
He went to the back and got a second one in the box.
He came back and set the second up. It wouldn't start.
He finally got it going and putz'd around with it until it ran decent.
It (along with the Stihl curved shaft trimmer I bought a year prior) are both the hardest starting pieces of OPE I have ever owned.
However, at least the trimmer runs well after started. This blower is rough running, stumbles, and has a huge lag upon pressing the trigger.
I had it back to the dealer 2X the first year, only to get the that's the way they all are speech.
The $79. Craftsman that I had previously was nicer to use.
I say Echo because the SRT-225 that I have had for years has been flawless.
I use it about once a year. The absolute most it has ever taken to start it has been three pulls.
I'm done with Stihl anything. I'll drive the extra distance to an Echo dealer.
A bad experience like that can certainly sour you on a brand and I can understand your frustration. I would probably feel the same way.

I'm an admitted Stihl fan with 2 chainsaws, 1 telescoping chainsaw, 2 weedwhackers, and the blower although I also have a small Echo limb trimmer that I bought last year mainly because it was $100 cheaper than the Stihl version and I'm happy with it so far.
 
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