Chris Green wrote:

John Rumm wrote:
Yup I have the pac man tool, and spent many hours reading / watching
lots of the info out there. Alas no amount of re-tuning would make up
for a knackered cam profile.

It may be later models have starting using metal in critical places and
they have improved, I have not paid much attention to it since. However
the key point remains, that its performance even when new did not match
the two stroke version, and neither come close to the Stihl.

I had a 2-stroke before the 4-stroke, I never got on well with it. I
don't find the 4-stroke underpowered.

As I said at the top of my post, this was just my experience with the
particular models I bought. The situation is likely to be different with
different examples of the same models, different models, and different
applications; so don't read too much into my experience, its anecdotal
evidence from a sample size of one.

As is mine of course! :-)


With respect to "power" (in quotes because some of the criticism was
down to lower revs rather than out and out power), I found the 4 stroke
was ok on trimming although could not get the same line speed which
meant it would not cut as quickly or cleanly in some circumstances.
Chainsaw work was fine, just a bit slower. Hedge trimmers were ok. The
blower attachment was a non starter. All of those would have been
tolerable if I could have got it to run reliably.

I use mine as a strimmer (good), rotavator (surprisingly good),
chainsaw on a stick (good). I have a 'hover mower' attachment which
is not very good and a hedge trimmer which I rarely use.

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Honda. Mine's survived 10 plus years
of fairly moderate use, and still starts first time every time. Never
had any problem with it, apart from having to redo the cord when I
forget to extend it, but I've only used it as a strimmer.

--

Roger Hayter