Lets talk blowers

[JDsLawnCare]

So I'm going to be buying a new blower at the end of the week and I'd love to hear yalls opinions. I run a small lawn care business, about 15 customers now and continuing to pick up more daily. I know at my price range I wont be able to get into a full commercial blower, but I am looking for something that will at the very least make it through the rest of this season. I'm looking to spend 200-300. I dont have a prefference between back pack or handheld. But right now I am leaning towards the Stihl BR200 backpack blower. My reasoning for this is 1. The size of the unit (Im not a very big guy) 2. The price 3. Convinience of location of the dealer.

But I'd love to hear yalls thoughts on this particular machine or any other comparables.

 

[Ric]

So I'm going to be buying a new blower at the end of the week and I'd love to hear yalls opinions. I run a small lawn care business, about 15 customers now and continuing to pick up more daily. I know at my price range I wont be able to get into a full commercial blower, but I am looking for something that will at the very least make it through the rest of this season. I'm looking to spend 200-300. I dont have a prefference between back pack or handheld. But right now I am leaning towards the Stihl BR200 backpack blower. My reasoning for this is 1. The size of the unit (Im not a very big guy) 2. The price 3. Convinience of location of the dealer.

But I'd love to hear yalls thoughts on this particular machine or any other comparables.

Well I'll start off and say I am a Stihl Fan. The hand held units some will talk about are good units but IMO a lot harder on the body to use, they can ware you out buy the end of the day if you have or end up with a lot of clients. The Br 200 is an excellent blower and will do you a really good job and I can say that because I run the BR 200 in my business. Works well on driveways, sidewalks, entrance ways etc.

The Br 200 $279.95 it's hard to beat. The problem you may run into is the larger areas if you have any, it may take you a little extra time to remove the debris because you don't have the CFM/ Volume of air as the bigger units. The thing you may want to do is or when you can is back it up with a larger unit like the BR 550 or Br 600 when you can or as your business grows. All in all I think you would be happy with the performance of the BR 200.

 

[JDsLawnCare]

Well I'll start off and say I am a Stihl Fan. The hand held units some will talk about are good units but IMO a lot harder on the body to use, they can ware you out buy the end of the day if you have or end up with a lot of clients. The Br 200 is an excellent blower and will do you a really good job and I can say that because I run the BR 200 in my business. Works well on driveways, sidewalks, entrance ways etc.

The Br 200 $279.95 it's hard to beat. The problem you may run into is the larger areas if you have any, it may take you a little extra time to remove the debris because you don't have the CFM/ Volume of air as the bigger units. The thing you may want to do is or when you can is back it up with a larger unit like the BR 550 or Br 600 when you can or as your business grows. All in all I think you would be happy with the performance of the BR 200.

Thank you Ric. Honestly, thats exactly what I was hoping to hear. This is basically my first year in the business. I started out last year in July with a $75 craftsman mower and a troy bilt trimmer/edger/blower. Thankfully I made it through last year with the equipment I had. But this year im trying to step up a notch with my equipment. So far I've been able to get myself a Honda Hrs216 mower, an Echo PAS225 trimmer and edger attachment, now its time for me to get a better quality blower. Like I said, i hope to get myself through this year and into next year a bit before I bump myself up to full commercial equipment.

 

[clpolcar]

You could look at the echo pb500 back pack blower. Its I believe 299.99. I have one and love it. Starts first pull every time. Its a year old. I am in my 3rd year doing this and keep getting more and more. I've always bought new until the end if last year. I'm not brand specific. I have stihls fs90r trimmer and love it. I believe the echo has better specs the the brm200.

 

[Ric]

Thank you Ric. Honestly, thats exactly what I was hoping to hear. This is basically my first year in the business. I started out last year in July with a $75 craftsman mower and a troy bilt trimmer/edger/blower. Thankfully I made it through last year with the equipment I had. But this year im trying to step up a notch with my equipment. So far I've been able to get myself a Honda Hrs216 mower, an Echo PAS225 trimmer and edger attachment, now its time for me to get a better quality blower. Like I said, i hope to get myself through this year and into next year a bit before I bump myself up to full commercial equipment.

Well you're going the right way. It will take a while but as long as you can keep bumping yourself up with equipment you'll do fine. The one thing to remember is when you can back your equipment up, don't leave yourself with just one of everything. Backing up your equipment prevents down time and possibly loss of clients. As I said the direction your going is the right way.:thumbsup:

 

[JDsLawnCare]

You could look at the echo pb500 back pack blower. Its I believe 299.99. I have one and love it. Starts first pull every time. Its a year old. I am in my 3rd year doing this and keep getting more and more. I've always bought new until the end if last year. I'm not brand specific. I have stihls fs90r trimmer and love it. I believe the echo has better specs the the brm200.

Thanks for the suggestion. Ill definitely look into it also.

Well you're going the right way. It will take a while but as long as you can keep bumping yourself up with equipment you'll do fine. The one thing to remember is when you can back your equipment up, don't leave yourself with just one of everything. Backing up your equipment prevents down time and possibly loss of clients. As I said the direction your going is the right way.:thumbsup:

No doubt it takes a while! But i thoroughly enjoy the work. And i enjoy when customers actually appreciate the hard work you put in for them, ive had customers double what i quoted them because they were impressed with the work i put in. That is especially gratifying. But you are certainly right about back ups, im constantly looking on CL for back ups, but im always lenient on buying used equipment without knowing how well it was taken care of.

 

[Ric]

You could look at the echo pb500 back pack blower. Its I believe 299.99. I have one and love it. Starts first pull every time. Its a year old. I am in my 3rd year doing this and keep getting more and more. I've always bought new until the end if last year. I'm not brand specific. I have stihls fs90r trimmer and love it. I believe the echo has better specs the the brm200.

Yeah the spec's are a little different but so is the cost the PB 500 list for $329.99 vs The BR 200 at $279.95. The spec's are not that much greater to warrant the cost difference. Your talking 465cfm with 165 velocity on the PB 500 vs 406 Cfm with 132 velocity on the BR 200 plus the the fact that I like is the PB 500 is 22.9lbs and the BR 200 is only 12lbs. In reality if all he is going to use the blower for is driveways, sidewalks, entrance ways etc. the difference between the two blowers really wouldn't be noticeable.

 

[JDsLawnCare]

In my research thus far, i really dont think I am going to be able beat the BR200 when it comes to my needs and price range. Thanks again for the input Ric

 

[jekjr]

Buy a Poulan Pro 200 MPH 430 CFM handheld. Some times you can get them for less than $100. Run it till it quits. By the you ought to have saved enough money to buy what ever kind you want.

We have one that we have run many hours. The only thing we had to do was adjust the carb. You will need to build an adjustment tool to do that. You can build one out of a short piece of copper tubing. We have one that was bought in Aug 2012 that has been used a whole lot and still runs great.

I know they are not popular but if I was starting again I would buy one again.

 

[edd]

if i was cutting just residential i would buy a handheld blower and never use a backpack......can get one of these for 150 dollars.......more convenient