MowerMike
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2012
- Threads
- 85
- Messages
- 964
Echo SRM-225 it is
Went to the dealer open house today and there were manufacturer trailers for Echo and Stihl outside with demo tools, so I tried a few and chose the Echo SRM-225. Like y'all said it's really nicer than the Stihl homescaper trimmers like the FS 56 RC-E. It's surprisingly light and easy to handle, so I won't need a shoulder harness. I really like the thickly padded lower handle. The Echo rep advised me to get .080 line instead of the stock .095, telling me that although it would wear quicker it would do less damage to the bark on my trees or my wood fencing. He told me that since line is sold by the pound, rather than length, that the cost would be the same. I'm starting out with a one pound pack of CrossFire line in case I don't like it. He also told me that I will never need to lubricate the shaft and gearbox, and that I should never remove the grease cover or dismantle the shaft, because I'll most likely just do more damage than good. So it looks like I wasted good money on the Echo grease that I bought earlier this week. Maybe the store will take it back, since I haven't opened it.
The owner of the store rang me up with a 10% discount on the trimmer, as well as the line and a 2-pack of Echo edger blades. He took the serial number and got my info to register the trimmer with Echo and then gave it to a shop tech to gas it up and make sure it was in good running order. I'm impressed with this dealer and will definite give them my future business if they carry any products that need.
After getting home today, I used the trimmer for about 1/2 hour, and it made short work of some heavy monkey grass that need chopping down at the roots. I initially had a hard time getting it to feed more string until I figured out that you have to bump it pretty hard for it to advance it. When it tilted it to edge it stalled out, I think because the gas tank didn't have enough fuel in it and the fuel filter was not immersed in fuel. Once the fuel tank got near empty I refilled if with Trufuel, which I use in all my 2-cycle tools. One interesting side note is that the Echo PE-225 edger that I bought a week ago at Home Depot was "assembled in PRC", but the SRM-225 I bought today was "assembled in USA" I asked the Echo rep where the Echo short blocks are made, and he said they are all made in Japan, and all the higher line trimmers and edgers are assembled in the USA.
I told the rep that I was using Trufuel, and he said that in about a month from now Echo will introduce their own branded synthetic premix fuel that uses their new Red Armor oil. He said the fuel itself is the same as Trufuel, which is also the case with Stihl MotoMix. He said pricing will be comparable to Trufuel.
Went to the dealer open house today and there were manufacturer trailers for Echo and Stihl outside with demo tools, so I tried a few and chose the Echo SRM-225. Like y'all said it's really nicer than the Stihl homescaper trimmers like the FS 56 RC-E. It's surprisingly light and easy to handle, so I won't need a shoulder harness. I really like the thickly padded lower handle. The Echo rep advised me to get .080 line instead of the stock .095, telling me that although it would wear quicker it would do less damage to the bark on my trees or my wood fencing. He told me that since line is sold by the pound, rather than length, that the cost would be the same. I'm starting out with a one pound pack of CrossFire line in case I don't like it. He also told me that I will never need to lubricate the shaft and gearbox, and that I should never remove the grease cover or dismantle the shaft, because I'll most likely just do more damage than good. So it looks like I wasted good money on the Echo grease that I bought earlier this week. Maybe the store will take it back, since I haven't opened it.
The owner of the store rang me up with a 10% discount on the trimmer, as well as the line and a 2-pack of Echo edger blades. He took the serial number and got my info to register the trimmer with Echo and then gave it to a shop tech to gas it up and make sure it was in good running order. I'm impressed with this dealer and will definite give them my future business if they carry any products that need.
After getting home today, I used the trimmer for about 1/2 hour, and it made short work of some heavy monkey grass that need chopping down at the roots. I initially had a hard time getting it to feed more string until I figured out that you have to bump it pretty hard for it to advance it. When it tilted it to edge it stalled out, I think because the gas tank didn't have enough fuel in it and the fuel filter was not immersed in fuel. Once the fuel tank got near empty I refilled if with Trufuel, which I use in all my 2-cycle tools. One interesting side note is that the Echo PE-225 edger that I bought a week ago at Home Depot was "assembled in PRC", but the SRM-225 I bought today was "assembled in USA" I asked the Echo rep where the Echo short blocks are made, and he said they are all made in Japan, and all the higher line trimmers and edgers are assembled in the USA.
I told the rep that I was using Trufuel, and he said that in about a month from now Echo will introduce their own branded synthetic premix fuel that uses their new Red Armor oil. He said the fuel itself is the same as Trufuel, which is also the case with Stihl MotoMix. He said pricing will be comparable to Trufuel.
