Really? I've read mixed things about the high torque. It seems like its great for some types of uses and great for some other types of uses. I was leaning towards normal torque. But of course the added expense is minor so I could be swayed..
Depending how heavy the grass is I guess, i definitely could see the higher head speed working better with line on most grass unless extremely heavy or thick stems. In this case I’d want a grass blade not the string. Personally I would go standard model with higher head speed since the torque model is just geared down to get it.
I'm not chewing through particularly heavy brush most of the time. I feel like getting a unit with higher speeds and wider swaths is gonna do it for my purposes.
A decision has been made. Just got home after picking up my Echo SRM-3020. Initial impressions are positive. Great balance and the weight is about the same as my M18 with 12ah battery hanging off the back. I'll fire it up tomorrow and write some thoughts.
Looks like it need adjustment is all. Something a dealer should have done before you left with it. Thats the slack adjustment in the vid.
Hmm. Last night it looked like the little round piece was broken with a factory defect but in the morning light it appears you are right and its just a slack adjustment issue. I was able to get it re-attached by just moving the throttle in and putting the cable where it goes. Naturally, the manual isn't a manual at all but is simply a list of warnings written by attorneys, so the adjustment procedure is not in there. Used to be when you bought a car the manual explained how to adjust the valves, now it tells you not to drink the coolant. Where can I find a service manual for this thing?
Yup, that's all I found...not to say someone doesn't have a bootleg service manual out there, but looks like they don't make them readily available anymore...pretty common these days. Heck even a lot of OEM dealers have to jump through hoops to have full access to everything the factory has to offer service wise anymore (all brands) You may have heard of the big lawsuit against John Deere for owners just to be able to plug in and access the computer for diagnostics?
Can't help you there. I rarely have the need for a service manual on ope. Id just adjust it until you have wide open throttle and it returns to idle.
Yeah I'm sure I can figure it out but the mechanism is a little weird (looks like one of the jam nuts has to sit inside a slot a certain way). I also want to run a full PDI including putting my tach on it to make sure nothing else was done incorrectly.
I reached out to him and he didn't have it, he gave me one lead that also didn't pan out. I suspect I'm not going to be getting my hands on the service manual. On one hand, these are simple machines, and it's unlikely I'll need to rebuild it in the next decade. On the other, I spent a ton of money for a professional machine and I'm chained to my dealer which is an uncomfortable feeling. I've rebuilt engines without documentation before but it is always easier with than without. If there was a similar trimmer from another brand with shop manuals available I'd probably return this unit. But I think I have the best unit possible, given the available tradeoffs.
Ran a couple tanks through the 3020 this morning. The Good - Enough power. I'll never run it harder than I did today and the power was solid. I cannot get it to bog ever. I do run it full throttle quite a bit though, so I do not think a smaller model would have sufficed - Weight and balance. Fine. No heavier than my milwaukee with battery - Starts instantly The Bad - It's extremely, annoyingly loud. I was not expecting to need PPE for a trimmer. I checked the manual to see what the decibel rating was so I could check the OSHA chart and comply as required as sound safety is not just db but db over time. Echo omits this rating which is completely and totally unacceptable. How do you have a 50 page manual where 45 pages are safety crap and not have a basic safety spec like db. Not only does my Stihl blower list this spec in its manual, they engineered the product to remain just under the level where you can run it all day without earmuffs. - The fuel economy is terrible. Hopefully this improves as it breaks in. Running through half a gallon in 2 hours sucks. I know its a big trimmer, but geez.
