What's the best backpack blower on the market?

[joe25DA]

I was going to get the red max, but after my meeting with the people at that dealership I walked away. Then I remembered I could get the 8500 in orange and gray. Problem solved my dealer carries husky. That said my dad has had a br550 for 12+ years and been very happy with it. We have a 600 at work that gets used hard and has been dependable, like brad said the weight to power is good. I even have a low hour old school br420 57cc I love that blower! All in all that the husky 580 is a beast. Lives up to the hype.

 

[bwalker]

I ditched the muffler screen and screen holder on my 580 and gained a bit of power. Also gained a few hundred rpm.
I was a bit concerned about it being lean, but it ran for 6 hours straight at full throttle saturday burning stumps without issue.

 

[Flash]

I stopped by the husky dealer to demo a 580 today. That was a pretty slick machine. It is heavier. But all the weight was on my hips and not noticeable. In contrast, the echo 770 was about the same weight and was terribly uncomfortable. It hit on my back higher up than the 580 and i had to "work" to be in an upright position. That and the back padding was pretty stiff.
I really liked the adjustable handle and the handle controls.
The air barrel was a bit short for my liking so I had them throw on another section. That degraded the power though. I don't know if it it didn't seal right or if it had to do with the length. With the extra section off, power was nice. It put a smile on my face.

 

[joe25DA]

The 580 is a bit heavy, but I don't mind. The straps are wide and thick padded also the waist and chest straps disperse the weight very well. I actually find the 600 a bit uncomfortable and not due to the weight.

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

1-Year Update:

The RedMax EBZ8500RH blew very strong out of the box, just under full throttle. Personal opinion: it seems like a Stihl BR600 Magnum, but with much more air volume (and being somewhat heavier, not as good on gas, and way louder). If you remember, I detailed a specific need for power to rip & launch wet oak leaves into wooded land and wanted more....and the smaller pipe I'd ordered wasn't cutting it.

I added one extension pipe and changed the nozzle to the scraper--that did it, but it's a real bear on the arm. Serious power, incomparable power, but it's a monster. Lawn-bombs away! (Yeah, it launches them with a vengeance.)

To open this year the RedMax two-stroke started in seven pulls, where as the Stihl 4-stroke started in two, and wanted to start in one. The Redmax ran a bit rough for 1/8 tank but was perfect after that, the Stihl ran perfect from the start. The RedMax isn't Brad Snelling's silky smooth-running machine, rather it's a troll with a spiked club that's going to do some damage. The only real issue is if the thumb-throttle is pushed a bit too far forward it dutifully shuts the unit down, and won't restart even with a quick flick back and plenty of RPM--off is "off," which requires a dismount and pull-start. My extended tube makes the re-mount a bit of a proposition, but it's doable.

My previous impressions throughout this thread (last year about the same time, also the best price I could find and free shipping) were accurate, tube thickness and all. I really like the RedMax for the power, but the Stihl BR600 Magnum is an excellent choice for normal jobs. Although, tell you what, with the normal nozzle the RedMax takes a mountain of leaves and re-plants them wherever you want in no time, no time at all.

If you're wondering how controllable the RedMax EBZ8500RH is, take a look at the girlfriend with the standard equipment:

​

 

[Deleted member 83629]

i want the F18 billy goat tried it at a demo has a briggs and stratton vanguard engine.
you can blow a house down with it.

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

i want the F18 billy goat tried it at a demo has a briggs and stratton vanguard engine.
you can blow a house down with it.
View attachment 457941

If pulling a trailer and it has a ramp, or the truck has a lift-gate, that blower is an option for certain types of terrain, such as mostly flat, open, large areas. One of the members bought something similar (check back in this thread) and loves it. For swaths of land it must be great due to the volume it's able to move.

I am not able to use such a blower. It's hard to maneuver on hilly, narrow areas, especially where discharge directional control is important. (Blowing a rock into a plate-glass window is financially unrewarding.) As I'm discharging down and on an angle to the edge of the woods, then into the woods, the blower would want to roll away constantly, and it would be a battle to maintain control on steep grade.

 

[ANewSawyer]

My local Redmax dealer has a deal on the EBZ8500 and EBZ7500. It is $50 off and this is supposed to be national.

 

[Deleted member 83629]

I would get either redmax or husq brand blowers they seem to have great feedback and lots of power.
my second choice would be echo it isn't as powerful but it is reliable and always starts.

 

[166]

The other thing is what's "best" is dependant on what your doing with. In my climate the time between when leaves are fully dropped and the snow flies is very short or some times non existant. It also tends to rain alot this time of year. I also use a blower to remove snow off cars, wood piles etc. Also use it for burning stump piles when clearing land. For these types of applications I want the most powerful blower made. Hence I went with the Husk 580/ Redmax 8500. I had a Redmax 8000 before that that I ran for over a decade, including 6-7 years commercially with great results, so the 580 was a no brainer.

Why would you own a 8500/580?

 

[sweetjetskier]

We are running 3 back packs this year: Shindaiwa 630, 802 and a brand new Redmax 8500.

They are all great runners, the 630 has a million hours on it, runs like a champ. 802 has 500k hours and is still a champ.

The 8500 is the grand champion: power, ergonomics, fuel economy, etc.

If I was on the prowl for new back pack, the Redmax 8500 comes out on the top!

Stihl blowers are at the bottom of the heap here, so not an option for most

 

[ANewSawyer]

Is there a consensous as to whether the 580 or ebz8500 is better? Some people say the straps are better on the 580 but I would think it would be personal preference. I liked the cruise control on the EBZ8500 but I am concerned about accidently shutting the unit down.

 

[bwalker]

Is there a consensous as to whether the 580 or ebz8500 is better? Some people say the straps are better on the 580 but I would think it would be personal preference. I liked the cruise control on the EBZ8500 but I am concerned about accidently shutting the unit down.

I thought the Redmax straps where more comfortable, but Redmax is a mail order only proposition for me. Have a good Husky dealer, so that's the route I took.

 

[joe25DA]

We run back packs 6hrs a day this time of year on campus. We have an echo 500, the 600 Stihl and I use my BR420. I've only used my husky 580 for about 2hrs total, maybe an hour straight. The chest and waist straps make the weight a non issue. Do the red maxes have the straps? Can't remember.
The echo has the most hours and none have been easy. It's 50cc and gets the job done. It sips fuel, not super loud and it's not uncomfortable.
The 600 is very strong as others have said. It's louder than the echo but it also has 15ccs on it. Moves leaves very well. Burns 2/3rdsmore fuel than the echo
I use my 420. I am in the minority I'm sure but I like just about everything better on these backpacks than the 500,550,600 that replaced them. And yes I'm aware of the power increases. Power is good, the controls are better than the 600 (you can lock the throttle at any point not just wide open.) and it's the most comfortable back pack I've used. Lastly, conventional 2 stroke, bolt on jug to a mag crank case. These run so good they didn't even put primer bulbs on them.
The 580 is a beast, comfortable, I like the hip mount controls, like the echo and like the 420 the throttle can be locked at any point. If you are blowing out flower beds with ANY on the 50cc^ machines full throttle will make a mess and easily tear out planted flowers. I bought the 580 cause a lowlife robbed my Kawasaki back pack off my truck while I was on the other side of the building. I wanted the best, strongest back pack available, that's the 8500/580. No wuestion

 

[ANewSawyer]

The Redmax has straps but there is no buckle to draw the straps together. I was worried about the shape of the backguard/pad but I really liked the feel of the 8500 when I tried it on at the Redmax dealer. I want to try the 580 but I don't know when I will get to a Husky dealer. I have a Redmax dealer about 8 min from me and a Husky is a solid 15 min drive.

The IPLs do a good job of showing the difference between the two straps. Husky: http://www.partstree.com/parts/husq...ts-husqvarna-backpack-blower-2011-05/harness/
Redmax: http://www.partstree.com/parts/redm...ack-blower-sn-10200101-above-2012-08/housing/

 

[ktoom]

My question is, has anyone put the husqvarna straps on a redmax? I like the husky strap setup, but dont care for the throttle tube setup.

 

[Onan18]

I have, not a direct fit but will work with a little tweaking. Of course you could just buy a Husqvarna with the LH controls.

Joe

 

[joe25DA]

My question is, has anyone put the husqvarna straps on a redmax? I like the husky strap setup, but dont care for the throttle tube setup.

You can get the controls on the hip

 

[ktoom]

Im not a fan of the hip mounted setups. I like to be able to control everything with one hand. The handle on the 580BFS is still off set to the side anyways.

I was thinking about going with the ebz8500rh and putting the husqvarna harness setup on it, but they want $110 for the harness/pad setup.

Which brings me to my next idea of putting the 8500 throttle tube assembly on the 580. In order to put the throttle assembly from a 8500 to the 580, it looks like you would have to change the swivel joint and the mid pipe. $64 for the throttle assembly and $11 for the 2 tubes. The swivel joint on the 580 has grooves on the pipe that help hold and guide the throttle assembly in place. On the same note, i have herd people say that the 8500 throttle assembly isn't that comfortable cuz its in one position and is not adjustable.

Last weekend I picked up a 580bts for my brother in laws business. I was going to buy 2 of them, one for my brother and one for my self. Nobody around me had 2 in stock. I was crunched for time, so I couldn't drive all over to get another one. I thought to myself, maybe this is a sign that I should just try my BIL's 580 to make sure I would like it lolol. I service his handle helds and mowers for him, so he had no problem with me trying it out. I put a tank and half of fuel through it and checked all the hardware. I was very impressed with the blower. It not as heavy as people made it out to be.... Yes are br600's feel lighter, but there's a price to pay for everything. The only thing that kinda bothered me was the throttle setup. I tried it a few different ways, even switching the location of the clamp so that the throttle assembly sat above the pipe. I ended up putting it back to the stock way. Yes I could live with it, but I would like to know what the engineers were thinking, that made this setup?

 

[joe25DA]

Here is the 580bfs