Backpack blower recommendations

Zbizzle911

Zbizzle911

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Looking for a backpack blower for the house. Want something good that works good. Looking at the Stihl br350 anyone got any experience with one? I don’t need a top of the line blower bc im not going to be using it for a living.


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Price wise for a smaller homeowner blower I’d get stihl
 
I'm not sure if that's the model I have, I think I picked middle of the road from commercial to homeowner.

I've never owned Stihl before moving here 2 1/2 years ago. So with a grain of salt, the weed eater, blower and hedge trimmer have been flawless. I don't do any winterizing besides stabil in the gas can I use to make the from.
They have always started with 2-3 pulls. And get after it. The hedge trimmer gets used 0nce maybe twice a year. The weed eater and blower every 2 weeks during the season.
I'm kinda hoping my chainsaw dies so I can get a Stihl saw too.
 
I use a lot of Stihl products (Chainsaws, weedeaters, etc.). But, for the past 7 years the wife and I have been using a pair of Husqvarna BT150's. We use them to tend 5 or more places and they have been run hard. $300 bucks at Lowes if I remember correctly and 10% off that if you are a Vet. I replaced the carbs last year, took 5 minutes with a $10 carb off of EBay. Still running strong. I do have a bigger blower for deep, wet leaves but the little 150 will still serve you well.
 
Stihl is really good, but here are the bad points (in my experience):
1. everyone wants to borrow it.
2. use your OWN mix. don't allow "borrowers" to use theirs.
3. the spark arrestor clogs up a lot. just use a wire brush to clean it (or remove it).
 
You can't go wrong with a Stihl. I'm still using a BR420 that is at least 15 years old and the first 5 years of it's life was on a full time commercial landscape crew!
 
Literally just got of the shower after blowing all the leaves up for the past 5.5 hours (couple beer breaks and dog play mixed in) today on about 1/3 an acre. It is a Stihl BR380 that is 5-6 yrs old. I ended up with a 20'x20'x6' pile of pecan and maple leaves.

For all the other times of the year, mowing grass, blowing the driveway, the 380 has worked fine, but this once a year blow the whole yard with semi-moist leaves into 4-5 piles does make me want more! If you don't have a lot of leaves to blow during the fall, I'd say the 350 will work fine for you but if you are looking at a fair amount of blowing I'd look into a 450 series. When this one craps out I'll go for the 450. Rather have it and not need it than need and not have.

I've only run pure gas through it. I go out of my way to get pure gas for my small equipment.

The biggest complaint I hear from people about Stihl is not being able to start them. I.E they flood them and once flooded there is no starting them until they dry. Once you convince them to turn the choke "on" and pull 2-3 times until it "pops over" then turn choke to "off" it will start in 2 pulls. This is across all 5 stihl products I own. Fail to follow this and it isn't going to start well.
 
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The only thing I'd say bad about it, need a "special" tool to adjust the carb.
 
I have one of those Stihl blowers that makes your right arm get seriously tired from pushing against the thrust coming out of the blower nozzle. Lol!
 
I have the Husqvarna 150BT clear about 2 acres that disappears in oak leaves weekly. Been running that thing 3 or 4 years haven't touched it for maintenance, shut it down and put it away when done. No ethanol.
 
I bought one last year (2017). Went with an Echo PB-580T. It was down to either it or the comparable sized Stihl. The Echo warranty is better (5 years residential no strings attached vs. 5 years with use of canned fuel).

I looked at a used Echo before buying new. It had an issue of bogging at wide open throttle after warming up. Couldn’t resolve it. So I went with a brand new one. As you may have seen in my rant thread about EPA restrictions killing small engine carbs, I had the same issue with my brand new Echo.

I just got it back from the shop this week after THREE visits to get it right. Echo finally put a new carb on it. Their claim is that I ran bad gas through it. Mind you, I use the same non-ethanol gas in my lawn tractor and weed eater and it’s just fine.

I have mild regret for not going with the Stihl. I don’t know if it would have had the same issue or not, but they just seem like slightly better grade than Echo.

Don’t get me wrong, the Echo blows like a tornado when it’s at 100%. It’s been a great purchase with the exception of this issue this fall. My Echo weed eater does great. A fart could start the damn thing.

But there’s something slightly amiss with Echo blowers. Really hate to speak against the brand that I spent $350 on...
 
The BR600 is lighter with more power, spend the extra money.

Echo and Redmax makes some nice ones also, I have the older Redmax 8001 that is a beast.
 
I used an old BR400 for at least ten years before upgrading to a larger echo blower. My dad has that one and it is still running great. Close to 20 years old now. I upgraded to a stihl BR600 a few years ago and my brother has my old echo. I love the BR600 and have had no issues with it. Also have a small Husqvarna 125bt backpack I bought roughly 10 years ago for my kids to use. Hasn’t had near the use of the larger blowers but is still running just fine. Kids still use it and I use it for cleaning gutters occasionally. I think you will be fine with most of the larger name blowers.
 
One of my employees has a landscape business. He brings his Stihl 450 to work so he wont have to rake sticks up. That thing will blow some stuff across the yard. When I upgrade we will be getting that model.
 
I would recommend a Stihl BR600, more power and lighter weight than the BR350. If you dont want to spend that much, I would spend the extra $50 on the BR430 for 60cfm and 20mph gain over the BR350.
 
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I'm 6'2" and my Echo fits just fine. If anything, being taller helps because you don't have to hold the tube while you walk to keep it from dragging on the ground. You can always shorten the barrel, but you only get about 4" of play from the factory.
 
Cowboy said:
Stihl fuel oil mix already has stabilizers in it if you use their mix.
Click to expand...
And that should be the last fuel that gets put in it before putting it up for the season! It is not and ethanol based feuel and it sets the carb up for the Sean until spring. Ethanol draws water out of the air and degrades the internal parts of the carb. I run this through all my small 2 stroke engines prior to putting them up.
 
I have had other types of yard equipment but now have exclusively switched to Stihl on everything. I suggest the Kombimotor and the blower attachment. Then you can buy individual tools to go on the one head. I have the older model KM110. The largest now is a KM131R which gives 30% more run time. Add the BG-KM blower attachment and this combination is very good. I have most of the attachments offered- tiller, brush cutter, trimmer, extension pole, chainsaw pruner. Runs and starts every time for 7 years.
 
I bought a Stihl BR700 2 years ago and there's no looking back. I now tell my pin oak leaves to F off! I still have a handheld Stihl that's about 15 years old and runs just fine. It just doesn't have the horsepower to do the yard.
 
I got an old BR400 ... it’s not the latest and greatest Stihl but I don’t know what I’d do with out it. My one hate is for extended work time (fall leaves) just ear plugs aren’t enough ... gotta go with full earmuffs or my tinnitus kicks up big time. As to gas mix ... I always run one cap of Sea Foam in each tank refill even with ethanol-free gas like al my small engine tools.
 
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