Shindiawa vs Stihl ?

[AAffordable]

I am going back and forth on the Stihl or the Shindawa T2500. We currently have a Stihl FS81 and it is about 10 years old and it still starts on first pull and runs great, we use blades on it most of the time. Has anyone used the new Shindawa T2500 weedeater? What does everyone prefer? I was told that Stihl has been knocked off of first place by Shindawa the last 3 years but Stihl will be knocking off Shindawa next year with Stihls new products.

[DELTA]

reply

I use Stihl everything: chainsaw, trimmer, hedge trimmer, hand blower and back pack blower.Next season I will buy the Stihl trimmer wih the interchangable attatchment for a stick edger and a longer hedge trimmer. I buy all from the same place, I know the gas/oil is all the same,same spark plugs and I know they will be serviced. my shop has signs up specifically stating certain brands they will not service and while aI was there yesterday they turned a guy away for service on an echo BP blower. I can't make a comparison because I refuse to buy anything else but i love my men of Stihl, they run great and whenyou're working you need something yo know will start everytime. As far as who is number one, that is really so subjective, I run into that debte with mowers. Each has oone thing another doesn't, does that make it better or does it cut better? Sometimes differences are differences because patents prohibit otherwise. If it ain't broke don't fix it and don't shop around.....Stihl ain't broke . One opinion.

[Scott]

reply

Delta, you're my kinda gal...
I don't have Shindawa dealer available in my immediate area so I know nothing about them but I've heard once you go over, you'll never come back.

[Scott]

reply

Delta, you're my kinda gal...
I don't have Shindawa dealer available in my immediate area so I know nothing about them but I've heard once you go over, you'll never come back. Your dealer should have a demo model, tell him/her to let you wack with it for a day or two, then try a stihl FS 85 and make your purchase. Also let us know how they compare.

[Green Giant]

reply

Shindaiwa for me...
Stick edger I bought in 95 is still running strong.Used everyday,HARD.The Shind. BP blower I bought about the same time I recently sold. Still running great but the frame was shot. Hard to get parts also.(they don't make that model anymore!)
Hows that for durability?
I've had misc. Stihl products in my 15 years and all were quality but did not hold up as good as the Shindaiwa equipment.
JMO though.[]

[Scaper-S2k]

reply

A husqvarna will chew a Stihl to bits. And from what I have been told, Shindaiwa is 'close' to the Husqvarna. I bought out a small operator this Spring. His FS81 (?) hangs at the shop every day, he grabs the Husky first.

You wanna try a Husky?? The 322L is one of their straight shaft units. It is built the same as their commercial 325lx (well 98% anyway). I have both and prefer the 322l over the commercial unit. The 325 has the 25cc. But the 22cc is plenty for a Husky. Cost is minimal. And Lowes now carries them (and the 325lx). Go get the 322 first over the 325.

New employees that have been accustomed to the Stihl in other companies(usually the FS81) can't believe the difference. The Husky is just a beter unit. We run the older 225's also. Never had one go down on us in 10 years. They get abused every day. Not much can stand up to 10 or 11 years of commercial abuse with no maintenance but a plug and 1 year air filter change.


Now the 322 that I use everyday will be going into it's 4th year with no problems. All the older 225's still purr like new.

No lie.

Hey DELTA, you live close enough to me...stop down and bring your Stihl, I'll make you a believer.

Stihl makes great chainsaws and back pack blowers, I love them. But the trimmer war is won by Husky.

[Green Giant]

reply

Scaper
Husky?
Never heard of it. Never seen any of their products here. I've seen some "Husky" brand equipment at Homeless Depot. Same stuff?
Lots of equipment dealers here but no Husky products.

[rkbrown]

reply

Dennis:

Scaper is referring not to the Home Depot housebrand "Husky", but rather "Husky" as in Husqvarna.

[Green Giant]

reply

Thanks for the clarification Rob.[]
Never tried any of their products. A friend of mine had one of the BP blowers that he had bought new.(Back in 91-92 I think)
He had a lot of problems with it and as I recall there was a problem with a particular model.
Safety recall of some sort.

[AAffordable]

reply

Scaper, You are the first person we have heard that claims that husqvarna is better than Stihl and that is not just coming from shops that sell both, but also from when I was in Miami Fl. The two shops that are near us here carry Stihl, Shindawa, Husqvarna. They claim that they sell Stihl and Shindawa 10 to 1 over the Husqvarna. We have a 132r Husqvarna and the Stihl FS81 would eat it up and spit it out.
We are not being like Zack the lego maniac, We are just giving our opion and everybody in our areas thoughts. The Stihl FS81 that we have gets used alot and mostly with a blade since we do alot of brush clearing.It has never had one problem, it has also been run over 2 times.Also the state uses Stihl here.
We do appriate your thoughts and our so glad that you are around for everyone since you seem to have alot of experience.

Thanks: A Affordable lawn care & Pressure cleaning

[Scaper-S2k]

reply

Husqvarna is not as popular in the USA. That is why other brands sell better. Notice that some here have never heard of them. Dealers will always push Stihl over Husky now because Husqvarna is now sold at Lowes......so if you like the Husky, you won't be back to the dealer. But you will if he hooks you on Stihl.

I have a Husqvarna hedge trimmer (normal type design) that absolutley SUCKS (about 5 years old). Horrible unit. I also know that their first designs on back packs were not good.

However, their line trimmers and chainsaws are top notch and always have been. They are the backbone of the company I would say. We've used lots of trimmers, and hired many guys that have used many brands. It takes about 2 days, and they become 'defenders of the Husky'. We have a few older 225L (heavy built) Husqvarna's that have been runing for about 11 years I think. Maybe 10. I change the plug in the Spring, and clean the air filter. On our commercial sites, we trim longer than we mow (more sidewalks and parking lot edges). They purr. And never need to rev over half throttle.

Now, the newer ones are totally different. They are extremely light, and absolutely great balance. I personally like the 322l over their 325lx commercial unit. It's a little quieter. The only 'problem' with these newer units is that they are designed to be run almost full throttle. But man, it's just not needed with them. So, they will drip a few drops of unburned oil from the muffler. But they still run like champs. I'd rather see a few drops of unburned oil than hitting a rock at full throttle taking out a window.

I've told many about them, the ones that go out and actually buy them have e-mailed me telling me how nice they are. I never lie about equipment, it leads people wrong. And I'm tellin' ya, the 322l will hands down out perform the Stihl unit. Stihl makes great chainsaws and backpacks (I own them). But I'll never own anything but Husqvarna trimmers.


When the older 225 units were about to be changed, E-Bay was selling un-opened boxes of them for premium dollars. They are like gold. I would spend $500-$600 each on the older style without batting an eye if I could find them (probably double their price). But, the new ones are top notch also. We've never had one stop on us, veteran user or trainy, they keep purring.

[Scaper-S2k]

reply

I should also mention something else.

IF you go out and get one, get some better line. Like Lesco's lime green square .090 line. The line that comes in the Husqvarna is garbage.

I have also found that turning the handle backwards (so it faces away from you) feels a little better. I don't mean turn the handle upside down, just flip it around.

One guy that e-mailed me agreed about the handle and also said the standard line wasn't the best, but quieter than what he had been using. But I prefer the Lesco lime green square stuff.

[AAffordable]

reply

Husqvarna has a new line out that is great it is silver and called titanium line also I have found that I like the blue line that is twisted I think it is called suffix line great stuff too. The titanium line does seem to not were down but the suffix line seems to cut threw almost anything with no problem. Thanks Scaper I am going to check out the Husqvarna 322L tomorrow.

[Scott]

reply

I wonder if the dealers have a larger profit margin on Stihl than the huskys. That could also be a reason why they sell or push more Stihl equipment?

Mr Admin, do you offer either of these at your shop? and if you do am I right in saying one offers a better profit margin over another?

[GrassMaster]

reply

Hello Everybody:

I'll Try Not to Get on a Rant about This, Well Maybe? This is a Sore Subject for Me, But I'll Tell You What I Know.

I've Only Sold, Snapper, Echo, Redmax, Mc Coullouch (Spelling?) & Honda? But I've Heard of Many Brands.

The Above Equipment has around a 15% to 20% Mark UP. Honda Offers 25% if You Move a Lot of them.

Now I've Heard that if You Move a Lot of Stihl, You Get Extras, Like Taken Fishing in the Bahamas. True or Not I Don't Know.

If You are a Dealer & You Have a Lot of Different Lines, It Will be Hard for you to Get in Highest Percentage Bracket. So This is Why Some Dealers only Carry a few Lines & They Have a Pile of Parts.

Almost all Parts have a 40% Mark Up, Honda Has 50%, Most Accessories, Like Baggers, Thatchers, Trimmer Heads, Brush Cutter Kits & So Forth Have a 15% Mark Up.

So if You Really Look at it, They Don't Make Crap Selling New Equipment. Think About this, Say You Purchase a Certain Model of Equipment & It Doesn't Sell. You Have 2 Choices, You Sell it at a Discount or Hang on to it for Years. I Purchased 15 of The Cheaper Yazoo High Wheels Many Years ago, I Didn't Make a $100 of of Each Sale. It Took Me 3 Years to Sell those 15 Units.

After Paying to Load & Unloads, Storage, Putting Together, Selling (Practically Begging), Servicing Out Unit, Showing How to Operate Unit, Loading Unit, Eating a Repair or 2 Due From Customer Negligence & Paying Yearly Inventory Taxes on Unsold Units, How Much Money Do You Think I Made? LOL, If I would Have Paid them $500 to Take them Somewhere Else I would Have Made More Money?

Do You have Any Idea, How Long it Takes Sometimes to sell a $5,000 ZTR, To Gross a $1,000 & Then You Still have to Do All of the Above! I've Seen Dealers Just As Myself Sell Units at a Loss just to Get them Off the Property? Retail is For the Birds if You Have Ever Owned a Lawn Service, Landscaping or Pressure Washing Business!

If You Don't Have Work to do or The weather is Real Bad What Do You Do. I'm Forced to Pay My Guys & Some Days Maybe Bring in Nothing? I had a Saturday from 10 to 4 & there was 3 of us there, We Did a $50 Parts return & That was All? []

I Think Dealers Should Not Have to Pay Taxes or Stay open Except on Good Days & They Should Be Notified in advance!

<b>This is Why Some Dealers Have Such a Bad Attitude. Here's My Rant!</b>

The Lawn Service Industry is Slowly Putting the Power Equipment Dealer out of Business. Every Time a Lawn Service Business Goes into Business & Stays in Business they Take an Average of 50 Customers away from the Dealer.

(There is 50% Less Power equipment Dealers as There Were in 1990.)

On the Average that's at Least 50 Lawn Mowers, 50 Trimmers, 50 Blowers, Maybe 20 Hedge Trimmers & 50 Edgers. Ok, Probably 80% of this Stuff Must Be Serviced Once a Year & about 50% Will Brake Down at Least Once a Year. Most of this on the Average will Be replaced about Every 5 to 7 Years.

How Many Pieces of Equipment does it Take a Commercial Person to do 50 Properties? Then They Do Most of their Own Maintenance!

Waaah How Am I Suppose to Make Money With all this Happening? All We are Doing is Playing Lawn Mower Shop Survivor! Yes, In the Past 10 Years 8 Shops Have Went out of Business in My Area & Only 2 has Reopened.

Now You Can Go to Home Cheapo & Buy Honda, Snapper, Echo & Etc... 10 Years Ago, You Had To Pass All Kinds Of Criterial Just To Become a Dealer. If We Get Caught Selling These Products in Boxes to Customers, We Lose Our Dealership? But There's A Few Exceptions & These Are the Guys on The Internet That Already Move 1,000's of Their Product Locally. The Manufactures Will Not Say a Word to Them, But a Little Guy Does, well He Loses it All?

On The Internet, They Sell & Ship over the Internet, Because They Basically Don't Have to Stand There & Talk For Hours on End Trying to Sell it, No Putting it Together, No Servicing it Out, No Fixing it for Free if Customer Takes it Home & Puts Water in it or Hits a Root Same Day of Purchase & They Don't Have to Perform Under Paid Warranty Work?

I Base My Business on Service & Parts, Because That's All I can Do. As Far as Selling Power Equipment, No Money in it. Unless You Live in Large Populated Area & You Have an Exclusive. At One Time there was 8 Echo Dealers in a 15 Mile Area. Now Only 2 Dealeers, But Home Cheapo has them Now?

Did I Say That Retail is For the Birds? Yes, I've Been trying to Sell Shop Since 1995, I'm Not Going to Give it Away. Who Wants to Get into Power Equipment Business when it's Decreasing in Numbers Every Year?

At The Moment The University is Interested in Purchasing My Property. Hopefully They Buy it Soon! I have another Person That Wants To Purchase the Business End (Customer Base, Business Name & Inventory) This is Only People in 7 Years Interested in it, (I had a Business Broker Trying to sell it for 3 Years, He Gave Up) & I would Have Paid Him $40,000 if He Sold it.

I Haven't Heard Back from This Person Interested in the Business End, If I sell Property & Not the Business End of It, I stand to Lose about $150,000. This is a Tear Jerker! But I must Move on to Something Better! LOL, It Will Not Take Much Either?