# Craftman vs stihl weedeater



## Bamafan4life

Im looking to purchase a straight shaft weedeater should i get a craftsman of stihl? any other suggestions? thanks.


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## jigman29

Stihl all the way,the craftsman in my opinion isn't built for heavy duty use like the stihl.I have one of the 4 stroke and once I got used to it I don't know that I would go back to the 2 stroke.It is the 110 and it runs around 350 but its on sale here for 300 right now.A little pricey for sure but you get what you pay for.


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## rhf42

Echo!


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## cball917

if your doing much cutting at all buy a well built one. stihl, echo or husqvarna


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## Confederate_Jay

Stihl is without a doubt the better of the two but......... you can buy 2-3 craftsmans for the price of the stihl and if you pay about 30 bucks for the extended warranty  Sears will repair or replace it if needed at no charge. I have a few of the craftsmans that I use several times every week. They are the covertible  type that you change change attachments. The pole saw attachment is very handy for hunters, I also have the blade cutter, and mini tiller for mine.


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## Georgia Hard Hunter

Confederate_Jay said:


> Stihl is without a doubt the better of the two but......... you can buy 2-3 craftsmans for the price of the stihl and if you pay about 30 bucks for the extended warranty  Sears will repair or replace it if needed at no charge. I have a few of the craftsmans that I use several times every week. They are the covertible  type that you change change attachments. The pole saw attachment is very handy for hunters, I also have the blade cutter, and mini tiller for mine.



Confed Jay raises a great point, if this is a once a week homeowner piece of equipment you can buy 3 craftsman at sears or Troy built at Lowes for what 1 Sthil costs. With proper care you can get 2 years use out of a Craftsman (estimate on the low end for comparsion purposes) so thats six years of use for the same money. Now if you enter in the extended warranty that could possibily add another 6 years (2 years per unit) thats 12 years of use for the same money as the sthil. Makes sense of course this using the new math.
But can you put a price on using a macho Stihl...LOL


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## hoboken911

Between those two I would choose the Stihl.  Buy once cry once.  But if I had my pick I prefer Echo equipment.


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## game dog

I believe that the craftsmans are made by MTD. I would go with the stihl. But , I would choose Echo over any of them.


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## The Bell Man

Stihl, well worth the extra money in the long run. I've been using one for the last 14 years.


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## trentb

Stihl an husky make a good one, i use each 6 days a week. but Red Max has them all beat Hands Down.


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## Miguel Cervantes

Stihl


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## deadend

trentb said:


> Stihl an husky make a good one, i use each 6 days a week. but Red Max has them all beat Hands Down.



x2 on the RedMax stuff.  I won't buy anything else now and its the only stuff that holds up for us day in and day out.


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## Bamafan4life

Uhm ace hardware has stihls for 199 but i dont think there the kind you can add anouther shaft for hunters and sears has the craftsman 4 cycle for 194 and you can use your drill to start it and add the other shafts.


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## Sterlo58

Stihl or Echo. I have the Echo and it is awesome.


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## rjcruiser

If you go four cycle, go with one that you still mix the gas.

The four cycles that you don't mix the gas on don't last long and are worthless imho.


Another vote for echo.


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## BBQBOSS

trentb said:


> Stihl an husky make a good one, i use each 6 days a week. but Red Max has them all beat Hands Down.





deadend said:


> x2 on the RedMax stuff.  I won't buy anything else now and its the only stuff that holds up for us day in and day out.



Yep, Redmax.


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## bigt61

If you get the ones with attachments that are cable driven, the cables wear out.

get a husqvarna.  save the receipt,and you've got a 5 year warranty from the factory. have any problems, just take it back to lowes and swap it out. they have solid shafts, and run much beter than stihl in my opinion.


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## stepup

I like the Husqavarna's about as good as any of them. But really out of stihl, echo, hasqavarna, and red max you cant go wrong.


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## pitbull

Redmax! Stihl is good and very strong but you will be visiting the mechanic more often.
My echo and redmax stuff has never been in the shop!!


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## tsknmcn

I bought a Craftsman with the convertable shaft 10 years ago.  I have never done anything to it and I will bet you a dollar to a doughnut that I can go outside, pump the bubble a couple times and it'll crank on the 1st or 2nd pull.

I take that back about not doing anything to it.  I wore the bump head down to a nub and replaced it this spring.


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## RangerJ

Since it was already mentioned, I Bought an Echo over 30 years ago still using it today.


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## browningboy

sthil ...no brainer !


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## BamaBart

I have a Stihl weed eater, leaf blower, and chainsaw. I use Stihl 2-stroke oil in them and have never had them worked on.


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## FX Jenkins

Georgia Hard Hunter said:


> Confed Jay raises a great point, if this is a once a week homeowner piece of equipment you can buy 3 craftsman at sears or Troy built at Lowes for what 1 Sthil costs. With proper care you can get 2 years use out of a Craftsman (estimate on the low end for comparsion purposes) so thats six years of use for the same money. Now if you enter in the extended warranty that could possibily add another 6 years (2 years per unit) thats 12 years of use for the same money as the sthil. Makes sense of course this using the new math.
> But can you put a price on using a macho Stihl...LOL



but your time is money and I'd hate to pay the cost of it not cranking when you need it and then having to drive to sears to drop it off and then drive back to pick it up...

just buy a Stihl 55 R and be done with it for 10 years...


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## Jetjockey

Stihl Combi unit.  You can get a straight shaft trimmer, a blower, a pole saw, edger, brush cutter, hedge trimmer, etc.....   With that said, Ive never run a Redmax.  But I have run a Sthil, Echo, Husquvarna, and Tanaka.  Im suprised nobody mentioned the Tanaka.  I would put the Stihl and Tanaka about even, both ahead of the Echo and way above the craftsman.  The reason I like my stihl is because of the Kombi unit.  But, If I was just purchasing a trimmer I would pick the Tanaka.  When I bought my Tanaka it was between the Tanaka and the Echo because of price.  My girlfriends dad was letting me use his Echo until I got my Tanaka.  The store I bought it from talked me out of the Echo and Im glad they did.  The Tanka was much easier to hold and seemed to have more power.  I had it for 4 years before I moved to GA and sold it to my renter.   Its been running just fine for almost 10 years now.  I really love my stihl as well, but it is heavier.  Im a big fan of Stihl and Tanaka, and now that Tanaka makes a combi unit, Im not sure I would have picked the stihl.


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## 2011GADawg

Stihl over craftsman, but for a weedeater I would go echo, my rule of thumb is echo for weedeaters, blowers, and edgers and stihl for chainsaws, trimmers, and the rest you could also check out shindaiwa because they are good too and echo recently bought them out so its basically an echo


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## chiefsquirrel83

Stihl! Craftsman has great hand tools but their power tools do not have the life time warranty and guarantee like all their other tools


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## Bamafan4life

My grandmother bought me a brand new stihl weedeater just like i wanted the other day out of no where, gee thanks grandma! i love it. i was ganna go with echo but i aint ganna look a gift horse in the mouth


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