Ive worked on some much stuff at my new Job....

[RED-85-Z51]

I started Full time last friday, worked Monday, and Today, In that time-

4 Echo SRM-260's
1 Echo SRM-311

1 Echo SRM-2500

1 Echo-SRM-210

1 Poulan Wild Thing

1 Husky 55

1 Husky 350

1 Echo CS-510

Homelite Trimmer

Green machine trimmer

Yanmar 17hp tractor

Snapper GT

Simplicity 3110

Stihl MS180C

And probably alot more...just forgot.

000000000

None of the Echo stuff was in due to Failures though, NONE OF IT. It was all regular service stuff, all the trimmers belong to a landscaper who owns 20 trimmers, and brings in 5 at a time for maintainnace, busted plastics, etc. These trimmers are run 5-6 days a week, every week, without fail. They are all run with Echo oil, and use Echo line, 89 octane. Most are over 2 years old.

The Echo saw needed a new sprocket, ran like a champ, even to be a discontinued model.

The Wild Thing surprisingly ran great, just needed tuning.

Husky 55 needed tuning, it's been run hard for many years.

The Stihl ran like crap, really hard to start. Ended up being the choke return spring had come off, and it was choking, unchoking, at will. Also...kudos to STIHL for putting the only freaking adjustment in a position where you have to snake a long narrow screwdriver blindly through the handle, case, and into to carb box to adjust the idle...That took some real thought...:monkey:

I worked on an CS440 Echo that had been sitting for probably 2 years in the back of the shop, it had some of the nastiest gas in it id ever smelled, it came out dark orange. Dumped the gas out, added some fresh, put in a new plug, and gave it a spritz of Chemtool down the carb throat and it started on 2 pulls and ran out great. Going to clean it up tomorrow and sell it

So far, I havent had a DOA echo peice of equipment, and Ive worked on some really rough peices so far.

My first DOA at this shop was the HUSKY 350. Owner bought it new, cut about 2 chords with it and it lost compression. he brought it in, and I pulled off the muffler, and the slug was all scored to hell. He said "keep it" and bought a NEW Echo CS-520, very happy with that saw so far.

Im thinking about trying to rebuild the Husky 350, it is literally like brand new except for the roasted piston. It has a half tank of mix gas in it, and it wasnt tuned lean, it doesnt show any signs of being run on straight gas, he brought in the can he used, and it was about half used, 1.5 gallon can, give or take.

Im having a ball working at this place, really high volume, and it's FALL...

 

[ccfr63]

I was a 2-stroke mechanic back in the early '90's at a dealer that sold quite a bit of Echo equipment but very few of the chain saws. Everybody loved their trimmers and blowers but when it came to saws they always wanted a Stihl or Husky, I couldn't convince them that the Echo saws were great also. In the five years or so that I worked as a mechanic and all the stuff I fixed since I don't think I ever worked on a piece of Echo equipment that hadn't failed due to severe owner negligence. Echo makes great equipment, I was surprised when I read on this site how many people dislike it.

 

[RED-85-Z51]

I was a 2-stroke mechanic back in the early '90's at a dealer that sold quite a bit of Echo equipment but very few of the chain saws. Everybody loved their trimmers and blowers but when it came to saws they always wanted a Stihl or Husky, I couldn't convince them that the Echo saws were great also. In the five years or so that I worked as a mechanic and all the stuff I fixed since I don't think I ever worked on a piece of Echo equipment that hadn't failed due to severe owner negligence. Echo makes great equipment, I was surprised when I read on this site how many people dislike it.

People dislike it because it is a great value. All Echo equipment is rated at 300 hours emmission compliance, something that husky and stihl CANT say.

When the EPA cracked down on 2 stroke engine manufacturers, there were 3 options.


1. phase in mini-4 strokes

2. Make the 2 strokes more efficient by improved intake deisgn, chamber design, timing, etc..

3. Make 2 strokes burn cleaner due to Strato-charging.

Stihl went with 3 and 1. All Echo equipment utilizes a 2 stroke design, all pas emissions, and pass emmissions with the longest possible compliance period, class "c".

Echo offers the longest warranty's in the market...Longer than Dolmar, Stihl, Husky...all of em.

Echo offers easier pull starting than other brands.

And in most cases they cost less, and weigh the same, or less.

Why people bash them, Ill never know.

 

[Lakeside53]

One day and you've already drunk the cool aid? :monkey: lololol


Guess you don't work near a HD... and have to deal with all the warranty crap! HD is driving echo dealers out of business here.

I don't have a beef with Echo at all, but the latest set of carbs are pure junk... No L mixture adjust??? , and NO H on many.. great...

Why do you think Stihl isn't 300 hours on emissions?

As for your Echo's "all pass" - that's today.. not too difficult a problem.. What about 2010... I hear here there's a lot of cat mufflers in Echo's future.

 

[bcorradi]

Also...kudos to STIHL for putting the only freaking adjustment in a position where you have to snake a long narrow screwdriver blindly through the handle, case, and into to carb box to adjust the idle...That took some real thought...:monkey:

PM me your address and I'll send you a 25c stihl screwdriver...it works effortlessly for me every time.

 

[bcorradi]

Im thinking about trying to rebuild the Husky 350, it is literally like brand new except for the roasted piston. It has a half tank of mix gas in it, and it wasnt tuned lean, it doesnt show any signs of being run on straight gas, he brought in the can he used, and it was about half used, 1.5 gallon can, give or take.

Im having a ball working at this place, really high volume, and it's FALL...

I have a hard time believing the 350 failure wasn't fuel related. What do you think caused the failure?

 

[Lakeside53]

All the Trimmers from one guy? lolol... well.. of course they work! Wait unitl you get all the homeowner blowers that haven't been started for a year, and have last year gas from the "year before" can in them.

I bet 80% of my works is fuel related...

 

[Lakeside53]

PM me your address and I'll send you a 25c stihl screwdriver...it works effortlessly for me every time.

And it's no longer than any other screw driver!

 

[ccfr63]

The Depot's near my house (I think there a 5 in my area) seem to be selling their Echo's at about the same price as the local dealers. I didn't know about them not having carb adjustments on their new equipment though, I sure would hate to see them start to go downhill. As far as 80% of your work being fuel related, I totally agree, it's probably closer to 95% around here though.

 

[Just Mow]

People dislike it because it is a great value. All Echo equipment is rated at 300 hours emmission compliance, something that husky and stihl CANT say. Great for marketing but does not mean that the engine will last 300 hours.

When the EPA cracked down on 2 stroke engine manufacturers, there were 3 options.


1. phase in mini-4 strokes

2. Make the 2 strokes more efficient by improved intake deisgn, chamber design, timing, etc..

3. Make 2 strokes burn cleaner due to Strato-charging.

Stihl went with 3 and 1. All Echo equipment utilizes a 2 stroke design, all pas emissions, and pass emmissions with the longest possible compliance period, class "c". I hate to burst your Echo bubble but they are not all 2-stroke. In Europe they have 4-stroke because their units don't pass the emissions standards over there.
Stihl did go 3 and 1, good choices, the 4-mix units allow them enough credits to be used towards building the other products that they sell so much of. When you make and sell more chainsaws and ts units than anybody else worldwide it helps out.
If Echo thought they could make a 2-stroke to remain compliant for future emissions then they would not have joined up with Shindaiwa to be able to purchase the C-4 technology from them. Look for Echo hybrid C-4 trimmers very soon next year. Wow and they say they make 2 cycle because they can. What a joke.

Echo offers the longest warranty's in the market...Longer than Dolmar, Stihl, Husky...all of em.
Well when Home Depot tells you we will stop selling your equipment if you do not give us something to differ us from Lowe's and Sear's what did you expect. They did not do this for the dealers to help them market the product, it was done for the other channels that they sell through.Echo offers easier pull starting than other brands.

And in most cases they cost less, and weigh the same, or less. Not compared to Stihl

Why people bash them, Ill never know.

Not bashing just stating the facts.

 

[Just Mow]

One day and you've already drunk the cool aid? :monkey: lololol


Guess you don't work near a HD... and have to deal with all the warranty crap! HD is driving echo dealers out of business here.

I don't have a beef with Echo at all, but the latest set of carbs are pure junk... No L mixture adjust??? , and NO H on many.. great...

Why do you think Stihl isn't 300 hours on emissions?

As for your Echo's "all pass" - that's today.. not too difficult a problem.. What about 2010... I hear here there's a lot of cat mufflers in Echo's future.

They already have cat mufflers on their equipment here in Texas.

 

[Lakeside53]

The Depot's near my house (I think there a 5 in my area) seem to be selling their Echo's at about the same price as the local dealers. I didn't know about them not having carb adjustments on their new equipment though, I sure would hate to see them start to go downhill. As far as 80% of your work being fuel related, I totally agree, it's probably closer to 95% around here though.

It's more like 95% for homeowners equipment here also... but luckily we have a bunch of pro accounts, and those repairs are always more "interesting".

HD's here "toe the line"with pricing, but have a huge presence, extended hours, and pretty much open return policies... hard for the small guys to compete.

 

[pgg]

From Red-85

Echo offers the longest warranty's in the market...Longer than Dolmar, Stihl, Husky...all of em.

Echo offers easier pull starting than other brands.

And in most cases they cost less, and weigh the same, or less.

Why people bash them, Ill never know.


Here's why, echo's chainsaws are grossly underpowered, boring, tired and slow, if you use them every day you'll soon know...I've seen milkshake machines with more grunt, an echo wouldn't have the power to pull the skin off a rice pudding, they sound like tinny junk when you hear them across the gullies, an echo tweaked for more grunt won't last 5 minutes.. wouldn't matter but annoyingly echo have the cheek to brand their chainsaws as commercial grade..

 

[mountainlake]

From Red-85

Echo offers the longest warranty's in the market...Longer than Dolmar, Stihl, Husky...all of em.

Echo offers easier pull starting than other brands.

And in most cases they cost less, and weigh the same, or less.

Why people bash them, Ill never know.


Here's why, echo's chainsaws are grossly underpowered, boring, tired and slow, if you use them every day you'll soon know...I've seen milkshake machines with more grunt, an echo wouldn't have the power to pull the skin off a rice pudding, they sound like tinny junk when you hear them across the gullies, an echo tweaked for more grunt won't last 5 minutes.. wouldn't matter but annoyingly echo have the cheek to brand their chainsaws as commercial grade..

Bring over your stock 50cc Husky or Stihl And we'll run them againt my CS510 that's been running forever. Bring some money Steve

 

[SawTroll]

....
Why people bash them, Ill never know.

I haven't notised that people generally bash Echo, except commenting some times on the old-fashioned designs and lack of modern features on their chainsaws.

Another issue is that they no longer specs the power output of their saws - going back a bit in time, you find that there is a good reason why they don't - very low output for the ccs and weight of the saws, at least on those examples that I found on their UK web-site a few years ago.......

 

[Poley4]

echo's chainsaws are grossly underpowered, boring, tired and slow,I've seen milkshake machines with more grunt, an echo wouldn't have the power to pull the skin off a rice pudding, they sound like tinny junk when you hear them across the gullies, an echo tweaked for more grunt won't last 5 minute.

Don't sugar coat it, tell us how you really feel! I'm not saying one way or the other if Echo is on par with Stihl or Husky, but i do know that your statement contains very little truth.

 

[2000ssm6]

......

 

[mountainlake]

I haven't notised that people generally bash Echo, except commenting some times on the old-fashioned designs and lack of modern features on their chainsaws.

Another issue is that they no longer specs the power output of their saws - going back a bit in time, you find that there is a good reason why they don't - very low output for the ccs and weight of the saws, at least on those examples that I found on their UK web-site a few years ago.......

Troll If you want to see Echo HP numbers look on a Aus website. They're a little overinflated. Far as real life power, bring over your same cc Husky or Stihl and we'll see. Except the CS8000, that one just doesnt have it. I wouldn't bother bringing over anything but but thier best models. What modern features don't the Echo's have. Must be the toggle switch. My Cs510 has a side adjuster for the chain, choke that sets the high idle when pulled, 2 ring piston, closed ports, igintion advance, smooth and light. Steve

 

[mountainlake]

Don't sugar coat it, tell us how you really feel! I'm not saying one way or the other if Echo is on par with Stihl or Husky, but i do know that your statement contains very little truth.

Well I know having run Echo's homeowner Stihl and Husky and Pro models. The homeowner models aren't even close to the same power and cost just as much. Pro models are pretty even except the Echo's are a more torquey engine, You don't have to keep the RPM's just perfect without them falling flat on thier face.. Steve

 

[Just Mow]

Bring over your stock 50cc Husky or Stihl And we'll run them againt my CS510 that's been running forever. Bring some money Steve

Save your money and your wimpy saw:jawdrop: