Big Boy String Trimmer

[afpettijohns]

Just starting out, not enough research and I'm paying for it. lol I foolishly bought top of the line consumer models on my blower, string trimmer, hedger, mower and edger. All troy bilt. Though only paying about $1500 for them, I am finding out they won't last. Wish I found this forum earlier. I just got my first real toy for my birthday yesterday. A top of the line echo srm-280t. It's about ten pounds lighter than the troy bilt and wow, the power difference is huge. The troy bilt also has this huge guard that gets in my way while edging. When I went in to Anaheim Lawn Shop to look for my present from my brother we asked quite a few questions and the guy was going to sell us a Kawasaki with only a 90 day warranty for $435 saying warranties don't mean anything. The echo has a 2 year commercial, if a company warrants it for 2 years they are betting that it will last that long. He told us prices on the echo and I pulled out my EVO Shift and started looking on the internet to make sure I wasn't being screwed. He almost ran to his desk to crunch numbers and gave me a price of $269 which is $20 less than a quick scan on the internet stated. YAY Internet. That phone is worth it's weight in gold. Anyway, I got one, I got one and I think I will be so happy. Hopefully I can upgrade all my equipment before they break down. Vrrrrm Vrrrm Aleister

Attached Images

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[Hedgemaster]

Lawn care business tips

Don't feel bad, I'm running mostly Craftsman stuff at the moment! Feels good to have the real deal. Line trimmer was my first piece of commercial equipment too. I got a Stihl FS90R for $300. I chose it because it accepts gearbox attachments at the end - just swap out the trimmer head. I figure I'll either sell my Craftsman items to fund better stuff, or keep them and use 'em as backups when I replace them with the "good stuff".

[ToastedToad]

Commercial stuff is all well and good, but we can only get what we can afford right? I feel it's more important to do good work, give great customer service and just plain survive this first tough year than to try to have all the right gear. Once we have the customer base the money will be there for the nice high end ZTRs and stuff. Having said that, if you can always buy gear that can be serviced by a local shop, and has readily available replacement parts so we can keep workin!

Just an opinion from a guy doing work with consumer grade stuff that wishes he had an Exmark!

[afpettijohns]

Finding out that the average life of my mower is 200 hours and blower's life expectancy was only 50 hours was mind blowing, considering the lifespan of a commercial mower is about 2000 hours. Three times as much for ten times the life. Wow.

Oh, my consumer stuff will be kept as backups or I'd have to afford two of everything. One of everything is going to be a struggle. lol

[roysyardandhaul]

I,m learing how to maintain my equipment - Right now I have a Echo Back back blower with a clogged fuel system- A piece of crap Ryobi powerhead- that prob needs the spark arrester cleaned and Spark Plug changed ( I hope)
and a Stihl Chainsaw that is hit and mis-no to mention that my Honda mower is on it's way out but it's time for a new one anyway. This is the way it go's when you use your tools more in one month then the average guy will in a year.

[wandfsmall]

2cycle equipment is where you see the best savings going to better equipment. A entry level commercial Redmax trimmer for example could run as low as $250 where a poulan trimmer is $199 a blower would be $169 where a poulan is $119. Another thing is your mowers engine choice could give you a lot of life if done right allowing you to save up to buy commercial equipment, Briggs and Stratton Proffesional series engines and els engines make shops the most repair money for example.

[fieroboi]

Originally Posted by ToastedToad

Commercial stuff is all well and good, but we can only get what we can afford right? I feel it's more important to do good work, give great customer service and just plain survive this first tough year than to try to have all the right gear. Once we have the customer base the money will be there for the nice high end ZTRs and stuff. Having said that, if you can always buy gear that can be serviced by a local shop, and has readily available replacement parts so we can keep workin!

Just an opinion from a guy doing work with consumer grade stuff that wishes he had an Exmark!

Good point! I'm sure many of us would love to drive Cadillacs or Lincoln trucks too .... but one has to balance what is available to spend with getting the job done! I too started out with some troybilt and other residential stuff and slowly upgraded as money has allowed. There will still be some residential grade things I probably will continue to run, as most commercial grade equipment is an hour away and SERVICE is what is truly important to me. I'm huge on maintenance, I've got a Cub Cadet mower here that has 500 hours on her and she still looks and runs like the day i bought her. My local dealer here will fix my equipment immediately or give me another machine to keep going.

Lloyd
Blue's YardFX
Camrose, AB

[hawthornelawncare]

Originally Posted by afpettijohns

Just starting out, not enough research and I'm paying for it. lol I foolishly bought top of the line consumer models on my blower, string trimmer, hedger, mower and edger. All troy bilt. Though only paying about $1500 for them, I am finding out they won't last. Wish I found this forum earlier.

I just got my first real toy for my birthday yesterday. A top of the line echo srm-280t. It's about ten pounds lighter than the troy bilt and wow, the power difference is huge. The troy bilt also has this huge guard that gets in my way while edging.

When I went in to Anaheim Lawn Shop to look for my present from my brother we asked quite a few questions and the guy was going to sell us a Kawasaki with only a 90 day warranty for $435 saying warranties don't mean anything. The echo has a 2 year commercial, if a company warrants it for 2 years they are betting that it will last that long.

He told us prices on the echo and I pulled out my EVO Shift and started looking on the internet to make sure I wasn't being screwed. He almost ran to his desk to crunch numbers and gave me a price of $269 which is $20 less than a quick scan on the internet stated. YAY Internet. That phone is worth it's weight in gold.

Anyway, I got one, I got one and I think I will be so happy. Hopefully I can upgrade all my equipment before they break down.

Vrrrrm Vrrrm
Aleister

Hey man dont feel bad. You have to start out with what you can. Cant expect to have top of the line stuff from the get go. And besides anything can last long as long as you keep up with maintnance and treat it right