Ryobi, huh? Dang. Well, kind of dang. It starts, runs, and powers quite well - It's reliable does a nice job. I recently had to epoxy the throttle trigger back together after a helpful buddy tried to fit the thing in my trunk rather than leave the string head hanging out the back. When I had the trigger out, I swore I saw the Stihl parts logo on it - lending credence to the notion that Stihl had it built for them rather than re-badging an exisitng product. Either way, it IS a good machine for my uses.
Thanks for the input, guys.