looking for a gas skeeter blaster. Stihl, solo, invatech, tomahawk....... What is the good, bad and ugly on these. Thanks Keith
Never been around these. My instinct says look at Echo, but I see that they only sell those to Countries without arbitrary emissions orders. If I needed one, from your list I'd be looking at Stihl and Solo. No Solo dealers around me and I feel like maybe a fogger might be cantankerous at times (nozzles, valves, orifices and whatnot? That'd have me looking at Stihl.
I think I will look into the Stihl. I'm surprised echo is not in the game. Skeeters are going nuts with all the rain. Thanks for the replies!
Their units probably run best since we're not allowed to have them. They do make two models. They are found on the Echo Global website.
I have a Chinese Invatech (old model) and it's been fine for 6+ years that I've had it. I think I only paid $249 for it years ago. Mine holds 5 gallons where the new version holds less I believe. I had to replace the valve that controls the flow of product though. I have been wanting to upgrade to a Stihl or some other model as I'm sure I am on borrowed time with this cheap thing I have. I bought it not knowing how well spraying would work. I use it with Talstar P. Works GREAT for mosquitos and ticks along with a bunch of other stuff.
Well I pulled the trigger on a stihl SR-430. Sure looks like something from ghost busters. Take a while for the sting to go away. Now it's going to rain for a few days........
unfortunately, yes. I called the company before I bought and asked them where it was made. They told me Canada. When I received it, I could tell right away it was Chinese.
So I thought I'd give a review on my mosquito spraying experience. I used the stihl SR-430 to spray "compare and save" brand 7.9% bifenthrin at 1oz per gallon and "Ny-guard" brand IGR at 4ml per gallon. First off the things quite heavy when full of water, very top heavy and awkward. It would definitely spray 40' up a tree.......if you were on a 20' ladder. That said the results are very, very good indeed. Mosquitos are pretty much non existent along with spiders, ants and other creepy crawlers that used to cover our yard and house. Trees show no signs of the carpenter ants that used to be plainly visible. Even with the crazy amount of rain we've been getting the stuff is still doing it's job. If you're contemplating purchasing one I'd venture you won't be disappointed with the results. Doing 5 yards plus my shop by the woods averages $8.00 per application for the first spray and as you only need to spray IGR once per season the 2nd and 3rd spray for the season will only be $4.00 each.
I think that's why all of them now have reduced capacity now. Mine is 5 gallons and when full it's fine for me, but I can see how a smaller person would have issues. I typically re-fill it 3-4 times per application. Last summer I only applied it once, due to lack of rain. This summer I will have to do it at least one more time. yep, same here. I've been spraying now for 6+ years and always have great results.
