Quote :

"more interested in reliability, quality, and (relative) ease of use."

Stihl provided the quality. Reliability and ease of use will be provided by you. Depending on how much you use your equipment or how responsible you are with fuel treatment you definitely cant go wrong with TruFuel.

If you understand the importance of proper oil mixture and quality gasoline I recommend buying Stihl Ultra HP oil. It is 100% synthetic oil with fuel stabilizers.

Personally, I run Klotz 50:1 in all my small engines. But I am also very picky about my fuel and add my own stabilizer. I still use a FS85 trimmer several times a week that I bought new in '01 along with a BR420 blower although now it's only used to dry vehicles after being washed since I bought a BR600 as a replacement. I have had zero mechanical issues with any Stihl equipment.

5/3/2015 9:48:44 PM

I'll most likely go with the trufuel rather than have to play the "which station doesn't use ethanol" guessing game. Sounds worthwhile to save myself some major headaches down the road.

5/5/2015 1:59:11 AM

That's one of the wisest posts I've read on TWW in a long time.

But I will say I have yet to have any ethanol related issues. I do use marine formula StaBil which is supposed to combat the effects of ethanol. I can only assume it works.

5/5/2015 8:15:05 AM

my new has gardners for the common areas so I have very little to maintain so I decided to buy some electric equipment since I don't need to use it often. this leaf vac/blower/mulcher actually works pretty well
http://www.lowes.com/pd_394421-79992-BV3100_4294612767__?productId=3726783&Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&pl=1¤tURL=%3FNs%3Dp_product_qty_sales_dollar%7C1&facetInfo=

I'm using it to clear out all the fallen leaves from my drains

5/6/2015 2:42:15 AM

Quote :

"So for the Stihl trimmers...is it worth the extra $100+ go to with the FS 90 R as opposed to the FS 56 RC-E? They're both 2-stroke straight shaft, but the FS56 is labeled as a homeowner model whereas the FS90 is a professional model. I see that the FS90 has a little more power and has a solid driveshaft, but not sure if that's actually going to make a difference or not. I would like to be able to use the cultivator attachment for gardening, so if that is only compatible with the solid driveshaft models, that could be a good reason. But I can't seem to find any info on what attachments are compatible with what models..."

I have the FS 90R and love it. Just about every attachment is compatible with this model. I also have the tiller and brush blade attachments. The tiller is good as a garden tiller (in loose soil); it will OK in some compacted soils, but it will wear you out since you have have to supply the weight. Brush blade has taken down multiple trees 4" in diameter and less. I don't know anything about the FS 70R.

My one complaint would be that I wish the shaft was a bit longer. I do a lot of edge trimming but I also do a lot of grass cutting in ditches/hillsides where I can't mow. This forces me to lean a bit to reach cutting height, and I'm not tall. However, it's not like there are longer shaft trimmers in abundance out there (in fact, haven't seen one).

5/8/2015 9:00:59 AM

I just went through the same debate last week.

Ended up going with the FS56 RC-E.

For my 1/2 acre lot, the FS 90R (or even the 70R) was not going to give me anything but different letters.

5/12/2015 9:27:54 AM

part of me is wondering if these new electric string trimmers are actually going to be legit using lifepo and brushless dc motors.


I mean if RC cars are pushing 2-5hp out of them seems like they would make decent trimmers finally.

5/12/2015 10:45:07 AM