PAS vs Kombi

[bplust]

Hi all,

I have a friend interested in buying one of these multi-tool powerheads for personal (not commercial) use.

I have no experience whatsoever with either, to the point that I have never even held either of them.

I know that first and foremost, he needs to replace his trimmer, so he'll get the trimmer head, and probably (if available, I don't know much of anything about these), he'd go with a pole saw, a hedge trimmer, and maybe some other attachments.

Warranty is not a consideration, as we have to do some serious traveling to get to a good Stihl or Echo dealer, so him or myself would take care of maintenance.

Any and all input is appreciated. Obviously, the Echo (He is looking at the PAS266 IIRC) is more appealing due to price point, but if quality is an issue, he is willing to spend accordingly. I personally think that Echo saws are good and their professional trimmers are great, so I urged him to not overlook them as a brand. But I know nothing about the PAS system (or the Kombi system).

Thank you in advance for any replies,

Bryan

 

[Gunn]

I have the km110 unit. The power is nice. I have had 0 complaints about it.

 

[Onan18]

Can't go wrong with the PAS266, 26cc true two stroke engine. I sell a lot of them and never have any problems out of them. Quality is just as good as Stihl, or Husqvarna or RedMax.

Joe

 

[fordf150]

Personally I would go echo. They are solid reliable units that seem to run forever and need very little if any maintenance. If they aren't abused and are run with quality oil you can figure on an air filter every couple years, fuel system rebuild in about ten years..... That's about as maintenance free as you get. Now on to the disclosures.....



I sell echo

I've never ran one of the stihl kombi units except for 5 minutes at a time when they come in the shop for work and even then it's only the trimmer attachment

 

[Onan18]

I am with Nate, I sell Echo, but I used to sell Stihl and work on quite a lot of them. The 4 MIX makes great torque but they are prone to air leaks and cam failures when they get a little age on them. My SRM 230 is 16 years old and the only thing I have done to it is clean the air filter and rebuild the fuel system once, at about the ten year mark, still on the original spark plug even.

Joe

 

[bplust]

Are all Kombi's 4 mix?

Thank you all for the replies!

I agree Joe, the SRM (I have experience with a number of 230's and 260's) trimmers rock! I've seen some with fixed jet carbs, which I don't care for, but still, they seem to give little to no issue, and a good amount of the trimmers I work on are used by professionals. I am very impressed with how the Echos holds up.

Bryan

 

[bplust]

I know my buddy will want to run a brushcutter blade on the trimmer attachment... is the Echo powerful enough to do this efficiently? He's got a lot of burdock and a good amount of >1" saplings to take care of where the mower cannot go (VERY rocky piece of land).

 

[Gunn]

The Stihl km94 and 56 are 2 strokes. The 56 is the home owner grade while the 94 is pro.

 

[Onan18]

What Gunn said about the 56 and 94, although is sounded like you were looking at commercial grade so the 94 would be the two stroke Stihl.

To answer your question about the blade the PAS266 will run a blade all day without breaking a sweat.

Joe

 

[Fish]

I have an FS90R, and it has seen 8 or more years of hard use. I simply get the kombi attachments and put them on the end of my fs90r, works great!

 

[GCJenks204]

I did this same debate this spring. It really came down to having an existing relationship with my Stihl dealer and him giving me a good deal, so much that it was actually less than the Echo. I have the straight trimmer and tiller attachments on the KM94. I like the true 2-stroke nature and lots of power. I only have about 5 tanks or so through it so I can't tell about long term use but it seems stronger and stronger every time I use it.

I honestly don't think you can go wrong with either unit, I just think you should do the math on which attachments you need. Some are cheaper from Echo, some cheaper from Stihl.