I'm happy with my Stihl fs40 curved trimmer. I bought it 2 years old a year ago from a customer of mine that I mowed lawn for. I'm in Canada. Not cool that the parts are hard to get in the states. Sometimes it's the opposite.
I've just never had a 2 stroke that ran as nice as this. It doesn't seem to smoke at all and it starts so easy and idles perfectly seconds after a cold start. I have an old weed eater leaf blower that seems to start almost as easily but it smokes a bit (on the same mixed gas as the trimmer) and surges a bit. For a machine that I paid like $27 for at a yard sale in the country I'm impressed but nothing seems to beat the way the Stihl runs. As always there are good ones and bad ones but I never had luck with trimmers or any 2 stroke engines before the trimmer.
Also my dad has a Stihl chainsaw and an echo trimmer. The trimmer wouldn't start this spring. He assumed it wasn't the gas because the Stihl was running fine on the same gas. Finally he replaced the old gas with new and it sputtered to life and then ran better and better until it was perfect again. Maybe the gas was bad and the Stihl engine had higher compression ratio that made up for lack of volatility in the gas? Who knows.
Not saying I will stick with Stihl for future products, but my experience has been great. I'm using Stihl oil mixed with 91 octane that's supposed to be ethanol free. When I run out of the oil I will by the premixed synthetic gas/oil mixed.
I've just never had a 2 stroke that ran as nice as this. It doesn't seem to smoke at all and it starts so easy and idles perfectly seconds after a cold start. I have an old weed eater leaf blower that seems to start almost as easily but it smokes a bit (on the same mixed gas as the trimmer) and surges a bit. For a machine that I paid like $27 for at a yard sale in the country I'm impressed but nothing seems to beat the way the Stihl runs. As always there are good ones and bad ones but I never had luck with trimmers or any 2 stroke engines before the trimmer.
Also my dad has a Stihl chainsaw and an echo trimmer. The trimmer wouldn't start this spring. He assumed it wasn't the gas because the Stihl was running fine on the same gas. Finally he replaced the old gas with new and it sputtered to life and then ran better and better until it was perfect again. Maybe the gas was bad and the Stihl engine had higher compression ratio that made up for lack of volatility in the gas? Who knows.
Not saying I will stick with Stihl for future products, but my experience has been great. I'm using Stihl oil mixed with 91 octane that's supposed to be ethanol free. When I run out of the oil I will by the premixed synthetic gas/oil mixed.