Stihl br380 vs 400 vs 420

[jordan]

Needef a blower so just picked up a br380 in decent shape for $100. I was looking online and it seems like the 380, 400 and 420 all have the same motor, but the 400/420 put out more cfm. Is this just a different hose? What exactly are the differences? Can the 380 be 'upgraded' to match the performance of a 420, or is there even much of a performance difference in real work?

Thanks

 

[XSKIER]

Great blower, sweet deal! I don't think I'd get into modding the blower, just use it as is and upgrade at your next opportunity.

 

[sawfun]

I dunno why but probably the same differences as between the br550 and br600. Same weight and same hp. Different performance numbers. Fuel economy is supposed to be better with the 550 over the 600.

 

[Weesa20]

I built all three from the crank up and have both a 380 and a 420 mag in my shop right now...yes, they have different tubes and few other minor differences like pads and air filtering. So, yes, the 380 can be upgraded to the performance of the 420 but honestly it probably isn't that much of a difference. It I recall right, the 380 is designed for higher airspeed and lower volume, 420 is designed for higher air volume and lower air speed.

 

[jordan]

I built all three from the crank up and have both a 380 and a 420 mag in my shop right now...yes, they have different tubes and few other minor differences like pads and air filtering. So, yes, the 380 can be upgraded to the performance of the 420 but honestly it probably isn't that much of a difference. It I recall right, the 380 is designed for higher airspeed and lower volume, 420 is designed for higher air volume and lower air speed.

Interesting. Thanks for the feedback! So I suppose then the 420 isn't necessarily better depending on how much and how far you are blowing

 

[Weesa20]

Yeah, none of the machines in that series gets great performance reviews, especially compared to BR500, 550, 600; or big shindy; echo; redmax. The 420C Mag was a marketing stunt by Stihl, in my opinion. I like them though because they aren't 4-mix engines and they are very easy to work on- can change out the topend in less than 30 minutes. They are pretty dead reliable and the parts are all pretty interchangeable.

In fact, I have a 420 that knocks like a diesel truck and I've run three tanks through it at full throttle and can't figure what it is knocking, just can't kill the thing.