Gas choice

[thinkxingu]

Originally Posted by Biggd

The older equipment always seems to work well. Some of the newer equipment, esp the Chinese made crap, is junk. I had a Poulin lawn mower that I bought at Sears 25 years ago, never failed to start. I had to retire it because it was burning too much oil and left a cloud of smoke when I cut the lawn. I bought a new Husqvarna a few years ago to replace it. I have to take the carb off every spring and clean it to get it to run right. I've tried running it dry, always use stabilizer but it has a cheap Chinese carburetor on it and the float needle always has to be cleaned.
I'm slowly turning over many of my tools to battery powered. I bought a Makita chain saw this past summer to replace a 40 year old Homelite, which never failed to start, by the way and I'm going to buy a Makita lawn mower this winter.
Just removing the anxiety of not knowing if these things are going to continue to start when I need them is worth the price.
I'm a retired mechanic so I can fix all the gas equipment when it fails but I don't want to anymore, don't even want to work on my vehicles anymore.

I was told some years back that the carb issue is less about manufacture origin and more about efficiency and EPA regulations. That the needles are more precise/efficient and, thus, more prone to blockage.

In terms of electric tools, I'm totally with you on the whacker, blower, etc. but for my snowblower, tractor, and chainsaw there's no way I'd go battery...at least with today's tech. They just simply can't compete.

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[Biggd]

Originally Posted by thinkxingu

I was told some years back that the carb issue is less about manufacture origin and more about efficiency and EPA regulations. That the needles are more precise/efficient and, thus, more prone to blockage.

In terms of electric tools, I'm totally with you on the whacker, blower, etc. but for my snowblower, tractor, and chainsaw there's no way I'd go battery...at least with today's tech. They just simply can't compete.

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Old carburetors were never made with plastic components years ago. I've rebuilt a lot of carbs in my day and the needles don't look much different, but they do have a lot more plastic components.
I love my Makita chain saw, I don't cut as much wood as I use to, so it works great for me. It's a 16" with double 18V batteries, just as powerful as my gas saw. I bought it with 4 batteries and I can just switch batteries and keep cutting. It will give me an hour of cutting and it takes about 45 minutes to charge them up. So, with the 4 batteries I could go all day with just switching out batteries.
My biggest problem is I will run dead before that!
As far as the lawn mower, I don't have much grass, so I only need a push mower. A Makita battery mower will suit me just fine.
My snow blower and backpack blower will stay gas powered and my tractor is diesel.
I haven't found a battery powered leaf blower worth a dam!

[John Mercier]

The lawn mowers also have that option to switch out the batteries.
I'm not sure if the Makita blower is a two battery system, I didn't pay that much attention, but Makita doesn't have the added backpack or harness system like Ryobi does... so it may be an issue.

[thinkxingu]

Originally Posted by Biggd

Old carburetors were never made with plastic components years ago. I've rebuilt a lot of carbs in my day and the needles don't look much different, but they do have a lot more plastic components.
I love my Makita chain saw, I don't cut as much wood as I use to, so it works great for me. It's a 16" with double 18V batteries, just as powerful as my gas saw. I bought it with 4 batteries and I can just switch batteries and keep cutting. It will give me an hour of cutting and it takes about 45 minutes to charge them up. So, with the 4 batteries I could go all day with just switching out batteries.
My biggest problem is I will run dead before that!
As far as the lawn mower, I don't have much grass, so I only need a push mower. A Makita battery mower will suit me just fine.
My snow blower and backpack blower will stay gas powered and my tractor is diesel.
I haven't found a battery powered leaf blower worth a dam!

See, I totally dig my Greenworks Pro 60V hand and backpack blowers, but there's no way you'll catch me with a 16" battery-powered chainsaw! Stihl 361 FOR LIFE.

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