New top handle

[Will C]

52 minutes ago, Joe Newton said:

Double no

Triple no and an extra no for good measure. The msa160/161 don’t oil for long before giving up and the bars are made by Cadbury 

[Peter 1955]

20 hours ago, Trailoftears said:

Someone far more knowledgeable than myself might like to start a post on pros and cons of both systems?Would be v.interesting to a lot of us I'm sure.Leaving aside the idiosyncratic stihl system-still mixing fuel/no sump-i.e.is that the best or worst of both Worlds? 🤔

With 4 strokes I'm thinking added weight-sump/valves/springs/more moving parts/more potential for problems-plastic cam lifters etc-so all the 'bad bits' there.On the other hand-more environmentally friendly/quieter/more durable/more torque and so on.

I'm really not up on the theory/details, all I can say is that the fact that the 4-mix engines run on exactly the same fuel as I put in my chainsaws means no risk of mis-fuelling. For me the big plus is that the 4-mix are very economical, and in my humble opinion, powerful. Against, the valve gear requires regular maintenance, to ensure reliable operation.                                                                                                                                  I know many people said they preferred the power delivery from the 2 strokes, and I told my dealer that I felt the 4-mix engines didn't seem to run at as high revs, which made the strimmer lines less efficient.                    I once used a big Husky 2 stroke strimmer, which was woefully underpowered, and had a raging thirst, so I'm in no hurry to change from my 4-mix ones. Other people's views may differ.   

Edit: My son's views differ. He gave me his old 2 stroke Kombi, he's gone battery powered.  😂        

Edited March 15 by Peter 1955

[Trailoftears]

Yep,I completely take your point.I agonised over whether to replace my fs240-c with like for like,or dare I try the fs 131 I think it was,and in truth,it was both a tad lighter and the power output was also a wee bit better.But the 240 won the battle, Partly because I could recycle the old one for parts,also the throttle response/acceleration is superb.Also of course I simply couldnt afford to drop £700 on an unknown quantity and possibly hating it!

[Trailoftears]

In truth,the 4 stroke m/c is probably better re: vibrations too.But whats great now is I keep both gear heads on board,one has the guard with heavy duty sq.line on for summer use.The other has a brushknife with no guard on for winter h.duty b/cutting,can whip either over by loosening a screw or two-no more cleaning/ undoing the manky screws holding the guard on plus putting the screws back in to keep the threads clean.Happy days 👏

[Peter 1955]

18 minutes ago, Trailoftears said:

In truth,the 4 stroke m/c is probably better re: vibrations too.But whats great now is I keep both gear heads on board,one has the guard with heavy duty sq.line on for summer use.The other has a brushknife with no guard on for winter h.duty b/cutting,can whip either over by loosening a screw or two-no more cleaning/ undoing the manky screws holding the guard on plus putting the screws back in to keep the threads clean.Happy days 👏

Far be it from me to point out that I have one Kombi shaft with two different sizes of line available, one with guard for metal shredder knife and the like, and one with no guard with the blade badged by some as chisel tooth ( the one that looks like a chainsaw tooth )  all swapped merely by turning the locking shaft knob on the power unity. That could be construed as being a smug git, so I definitely won't do that. 

Seriously, for years, I've looked at buying a big strimmer/clearing saw, but having gone down the Kombi route years ago, there's no way I can justify that. I can't even justify the short reach HL 92K hedgecutter, even though I desperately need one. 

The miserable swines at Stihl purposely made it so that I can't build one out of retired machines, as  the drive shafts are all differing lengths and fittings, grr! 

[Trailoftears]

Yep,Stihl are good at what they do for sure and brilliant marketeers to boot!If I was young 🙄 and starting out,I would certainly look at the kombi range.But,As I'm not,I doubt the kombi range would stand my regular use/abuse tbh.But if I was young (sigh),I would worry about having all my eggs in one basket/engine unit,also I would see more joints as more potential failure points-if you see what I mean?

Traditionaly,I like the idea of a clutch/gearhead,both with a square female aperture mated to a solid square shaft.Tho,I note Stihl are increasingly using 10/12? Star type splined shafts now,which fills me with no confidence from an engineering point of view-much easier to strip the shaft ends in my book?🤔

[Sviatoslav Tulin]

On 14/03/2024 at 20:50, Trailoftears said:

I suppose most of us are conservative with a small c,and tend to stick with stuff we know and trust.I've not bought any echo stuff over the Years,but come close a few times.I will say,I have rarely-if ever heard anything bad about them.Most of my stuff is Stihl and I've probably spent say 10 grand on their small engined stuff and (generally) its been pretty good.However,I dislike the way more and more of their brushcutter/big backpack blowers are going 4 stroke-they may well be perfectly fine-but I simply dont want them.If I'm left with no choice of 2 stroke options-then husky/echo will get my business.

I had bad experience with Stihl 4mix rubbish, very bad design I would say .

[Ledburyjosh]

The echo 2500 battery shouldn't be over looked mind. It's impressive (tested side by side in a 4" log cuts faster than the new stihl battery top handle and 151 which i wasnt expecting) and amazing erganomics all without the faff of pulling a cord to start it.

It's an absolute winner for pruning, but equally will keep cutting with a 10" bar all in wood.

[Botty Cough]

21 minutes ago, Ledburyjosh said:

The echo 2500 battery shouldn't be over looked mind. It's impressive (tested side by side in a 4" log cuts faster than the new stihl battery top handle and 151 which i wasnt expecting) and amazing erganomics all without the faff of pulling a cord to start it.

It's an absolute winner for pruning, but equally will keep cutting with a 10" bar all in wood.

Was waving the msa220 around today. I'm not sure it's very handy.seemed big and cumbersome over my 151 petrol saw.

Not got my paws on the echo electric yet.

[Ledburyjosh]

Yup I found the msa220 horid and lacking power.