echo or ego?

Im looking to possibly get into a battery line of outdoor equipment. The two best seem to be the ego and the echo lines. People who have tried both what are your thoughts? Looking for trimmer, blower, chainsaw, possibly mower but not sure. 

This guy did a test with the Echo Ego and Kobalt/Greenworks 80v blowers the Echo seemed to have problems

The echo chainsaw also had its problems as can be found in some YouTube reviews.

The ego blower then has its controls in a real stupid place. Cant reach them with your hand.

Depending on how urgently you need the chainsaw…. Makita’s 18X2 trimmer and blower are top notch. A new brushless chainsaw is in the works for 2016.

And these batteries also fit the drills/ grinders/jig saws/ etc…

A Makita brushless chainsaw you say! Ooh LA LA. I’ve barely been able to resist the X2 chainsaw so far almost buying guide it a few times. You just gave me the extra strength I needed! Lol

Hahaha well no more then my Makita representative mentioning it but all he said before has come out true so ^^

Sweet! What other bits of info are you keeping secret?!?!

Any more word on the recip?

Rrich1, sorry to hijack your thread..

I don’t use much cordless OPE but it seems like ego is a strong choice..

Like Korno said, you may want to consider Makita for their X2 36v line. The brushless Trimmer and new brushless blower are supposed to be great, they also currently have a chainsaw that member ChrisK has and raves about.. if you could wait it out for the new one I’m sure it would be insane.

Cost wise I’m sure it won’t be the cheapest line to get into but they make really top quality tools and the other benefit is then you would also have access to makitas huge 18v line with the same batteries you use for the 36v stuff (makitas 36v uses 2 of their standard 18v)

The recipe saws will be zt the stafda trade show these days so info should be available shortly 🙂

The Makita chainsaw is only 10″ though. The EGO is 14″ and very powerful. Not sure about the others.

We (oztooltalk) reviewed the whole EGO range quite extensively, and its very good. It’s weak point was the 12″ Line Trimmer, not sure if the newer 15″ is more powerful, but the extra diameter is certainly needed. The BL 18×2 Makita trimmer looks like a beast, as does their blower.

Yeah thats why i said if the chainsaw isnt needed very soon 🙂

Altho in honesty you can put a 14 inch bar on the Makita. It’ll pull it without a doubt. But since the chainsaw aint brushless yet the batteries wint last that long. Beter to wait for a newer brushless model 🙂

Items are not needed right now as winter is coming and wont be doing anything outside. Makita line looks nice and is an option. Too bad im already invested in Bosch otherwise it would be a no brainer. 🙂

Maybe a good way then to sign in on the most impressive and extended 18V line up of the moment 😀 hahaha ^^

Lego my Ego. Ego is the hands down winner there.

I really like my Ego blower, it’s waaay more powerful than I ever imagined and it’s really quiet. You could have a conversation while using it, I could hear my neighbor’s music playing clearly while I was using it last…bet you could set up a Bosch radio and still hear it while using the blower. With Turbo mode the battery does discharge pretty quickly but it doesn’t get hot and you don’t need to always use that button, like you’d probably imagine. Battery and charger are REALLY nice quality.

The downside, the knob does feel cheaply made.

I like ego, my neighbor has that blowrr it has a good feel to it.

Jimbo

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Dewalt 40 volt line looks good and I have seen good reviews on it.  But No mower option in that line.

]Been waiting for about a year for a good price on the “Ego” edge trimmer” and today at good old Home Depot they had it on sale for 135! Couldn’t resist that one. So I picked the last one they had up. 

I wonder if the non brushless trimmer is getting discontinued. They didn’t mention anything about a new string trimmer the press release a few days ago. $135 is a good deal though.  I bet they the old leaf blower will be on clearance soon now that Ego has an updated version

yeah 135 is almost a throw away price. if it lasts a couple of years that will be ok with me. 

I picked up the Ego 12in trimmer with 2.0 battery display model with out charger for $50 and bough the charger on eBay for $20. Keeping my eye out for the blower to go on clearance too. 

Mondo1310 wrote:

44 minutes ago, Mondo1310 said:

I picked up the Ego 12in trimmer with 2.0 battery display model with out charger for $50 and bough the charger on eBay for $20. Keeping my eye out for the blower to go on clearance too. 

Killer deal!

Good deal. I got the last one at HD with battery and charger new in box for 125. 

I would go with ego

Makita or EGO.  I have the EGo and love it.  We just got the new mower, blower and chain saw, but haven’t used them.  I love the Makita string trimmer and blower.

I got the old brushed Ego string trimmer for 105 on clearance after a HD 25 off coupon. The next thing I want is new 21″ lawnmower. I really like my EGO stuff. I will probaly sell my Greenworks 80v tools this fall and pick up the ego snow blower when it comes out this fall. I would love to be on the EGO beta test list 🙂

I haven’t tried the above, but the Ryobi blower has a nice balance to it.  I swung by the garden tools and their lineup has expanded a lot since last I looked.  If I see a good deal on their stuff, I may jump on it.  

PROTOOLNUT wrote:

On 1/2/2016 at 6:38 AM, PROTOOLNUT said:

TIA has kind of proven by now that when it comes to the cordless line, Ego is kind of the way to go, I mean, who doesn’t like the idea of a 56v chainsaw of raw cutting power har har har. 😀

Unless you need an attachment capable trimmer. I was going to go with Ego, but the trimmer not being attachment capable was an issue since I have a lot of high and deep hedges what would require a pole hedge trimmer to trim. That is why I went with Ryobi instead.

I ended up with Makita. They ran their promotion last month, buy 3 bare tools and get 2 4amp batteries, charger, and a contractor bag. Got their low level string trimmer (my craftsman of that same size was plenty for my yard, no brush) and the 36v leaf blower. love that thing. 

dwain wrote:

On 11/9/2015 at 6:12 PM, dwain said:

We (oztooltalk) reviewed the whole EGO range quite extensively, and its very good. It’s weak point was the 12″ Line Trimmer, not sure if the newer 15″ is more powerful, but the extra diameter is certainly needed. The BL 18×2 Makita trimmer looks like a beast, as does their blower.

Dwain, I watched your reviews of the Ego line. Really good stuff. It was the first time I noticed some interesting differences between the US versions of the Ego products and those that can be purchased outside the US.

For example, the Ego 15″ brushless string trimmer you guys reviewed came with a quick release handle adjustment lever and a shoulder strap. The green quick release handle adjust can be seen in the pic below.
 

The US versions do not have these options (apparently to keep costs down for Home Depot). Perhaps there are other cost cutting measures employed, but that’s the only visual one I could tell.

It’s currently not possible for US customers to purchase the nicer units you guys get outside the US. It’s also not possible for US customers to order the quick release handle as an accessory from Ego or its partner retailers or Amazon. Although we can order the shoulder strap through a couple online e-tailers for around $18 USD.

According to the Ego Trade Catalogue available on the Ego Ireland site [http://egopowerplus.ie/pages/ego-catalogues], they recently came out with a backpack battery unit as well as a handlebar string trimmer. As of yet, both are only available outside the US, so we can’t get our hands on them. Have you guys had a chance to check these out? Perhaps an upcoming review. Hopefully these will be made available in the US soon.

Pics follow (click the pic for full size)…

Hey Scott. EGO tell me that they are bringing in 4 new tools to the Australian range later in the year. I believe they are a brushed line trimmer (not sure about the handles), new blower, self-propelled mower and new hedge trimmer. We plan to review them all.

I’ve not heard about the backpack battery, but I’m not holding my breath.

Thanks for your kinds words. Bummer that you miss a few useful features.

Thanks Dwain, more about the “brushed line trimmer”. By that do you mean “blade”? So they are going to offer a dedicated brush cutter trimmer with a blade as opposed to string then? If you can find out, it would be interesting to know if the brushcutter trimmer will be able to accept standard line spools as well as the brush cutter blade.

Thanks for keeping us in the loop!

HI Scott. No I meant BRUSHED line trimmer. As in a second brushed line trimmer.

Interesting. Why would they do that? Brushless motors are typically more efficient than brushed motors.

The current gap they have in their lineup is they don’t offer a brush cutter. Either a dedicated tool, or a replacement head for their string trimmer (similar to the way Bosch does it with their cordless trimmers)

The .095 string has a limit to what it can effectively cut. That’s where the “brush cutter” comes in. It uses a metal blade to chop down everything in its path short of small trees.

I like the handlebar trimmer, but I believe it needs to have the option to use a metal brush cutter blade to make sense in their lineup.

Dwain, have you guys had a chance to check out any OPE using the CORE motor technology?

The developer of the technology is based in Montana USA. They have been acquired by MTD who is using the CORE motors in their line of outdoor power equipment for their Troy-Bilt and Cub Cadet brands. The Troy Bilt mower looks pretty cool (similar to Bosch)

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Hi Scott. No I’ve never seen that range. Australia tends to have a smaller OPE and power tool range than the US. Sometimes we see similar products re-badged as well known Australian brands…

Thanks again Dwain. Really appreciate your insights and perspective. 

While I have your ear, perhaps the next time you have a chance to speak to your Ego contacts in Australia, ask them about this soft start “feature” that they speak of in their marketing material. Most reviewers ding them for this and most users want instant feedback from the trigger, not delayed power runup. But they are touting it as an intentional feature. What is the cause of it?