I used to have a real good grip on Milwaukee warranty. I passed that job to one of the younger who work here. Used to be 3 years on tools and I think 2 years for most batteries. They have a flow chart now on their site. When I fist started in this arena there were very few 'warranties' with lots of brushes and switches sold. They also used to say 'Made in USA' on them. Go figure. Sounds like you are out of business with red tools. I know a few that run blue tools who are happy. They do make some stuff in ccp, but at least not owned by.
I should add the power head had a year left on its warranty. Yeah I'm totally done with Milwaukee at this point. I've actually had several issues in the last two years that had already soured me on their equipment. My M18 chainsaw failed with the same issue as the powerhead six months ago, and I've had to warranty other things like batteries and a pruning head (I keep my batteries in a climate controlled room btw). I'm not sure what my next brand is gonna be. I think I'm probably going to diversify. There really is very little actual benefit to sticking with one brand. It's actually more of a liability than anything because if the brand goes downhill, as has happened with Milwaukee, you are stuck. Given there are battery adapters these days for everything it's even less of a matter. Probably do Dewalt for wood tools, Makita or Rigid for metal/auto, and Ego/Echo for lawn tools. I actually already have a bunch of Ego stuff on the way as I'm brainstorming a way to convert the existing M18 Quik Lok attachments I have over to Ego. I've got the plan in mind just need to get the equipment and test it out; looks like the idea is; remove drive shaft, cut outer housing down by about an inch, re-drill + mill the holes back for the locking mechanism and bushing, then re-install bushing and drive shaft. I'll post a guide here if I'm successful.
Ya know the saying, if it's too loud; you are too old! I don't own a 2 cycle that I have not opened up the exhaust on.
I just added a second port to my MS271 muffler, I swear it's quieter after! I bought this thing from an old timer, he bought it new...it was extremely loud, for a stock Stihl, so I thought it was either already modded, or burnt out in some way. When I pulled it off it was bone stock, and in very good condition...I decided to open it open more since it couldn't get much louder, but I was not expecting it to get quieter! Stock muffler just has a port on the right side, I added a second on the left...I suspect it's not really quieter, the sound just bounces off the log differently than before. I still need to open up the intake/air filter housing now too...
I did lawns and landscaping for well over a decade and for me the top trimmer is Husqvarna. Durable, reliable, and for me over the years the biggest factors, weight and smoothness. Holding onto a trimmer for 10 hours a day you definetly notice smoothness. I have for my place the 122L (I think) for the past 6 years, never an issue. I abuse it too with a brush cutter attachment. Make sure to get one with a straight shaft, the curved ones are awkward. Petrol Grass Trimmers
The Echo I bought is NOT smooth. Left my hands buzzin. If I was using it all day every day no way it would be smooth enough. For my purposes it's fine though, if mildly annoying. Seems like the curved shaft trimmers are universally hated and basically only useful for very short folks. I suspect with the curved drive shaft they're a lot less reliable, and there is probably some power loss too.
