No Redmax experience, but I bought an Echo 200, Stihl BG55, and a Stihl BG85 this past year. No question - the BG85 is worth every penny over the others.

We just recently started stocking the Red Max hand helds so can't tell you about longevity but Red Max has always had pretty good stuff in the past. Judging from percieved air flow out the nozzle the BG 85 puts out more air.

Carb problems and ignition coil problems have plaqued Still blowers in recent years, in dry climates like we have here in Vegas. Not so much in wetter climates. Areas with a lot of static electricity reak havoc with many coils on many brands of blowers these days. Most newer models are using multi stage advance igniton systems which can have their control modules popped by static that is created in the blower chamber. Everyone is working on a fix, some have done better then others, all have made improvements from 3 or 4 years ago.

Most of the better brands have a life time warranty on coils, for the part only, once regular warranty is gone. Coils automatically have a 2 year full warranty because they are part of the regulated emission components. So aside from some potential down time you probably won't lose anything cash wise if one gives up the ghost on you.

Most of the Stihl carb problems have been corrected and even those that crop up about 95% are discovered at intitial start up by the servicing dealer at purchase time. We have had some carb issues on Red Max trimmers that happened within a couple of weeks of purchase. These are lean throttle up hesitations that don't seem to show until the engine has broke in a bit. RM is aware of the problem and we just replace the entire carb rather then fix them.

None of these problems are exclusive, we see them with Echo as well. Its all a matter of the manufactures trying to keep up with emission regs much like the automotive industry did in the 70's and early 80's. Only computer controlled electronic fuel injection really got most of the bugs worked out while restoring power lost. Count on it, one of these days your 150 dollar blower will have 500 dollars of emission equipment on it.

Thanks Guys, I will get a demo of the BG85. Sounds like it could take the place of both my handheld needs and it could replace my Homelite Backpacker I have had for 7 years. The homelite has been great and I use it weekly. Just put some new gaskets, primer bulb, fuel line and adjusted the carb.
It still runs great but not as much power as the BG85. Guess I got lucky with it but want to upgrade.

I've been happy with the BG85. I've had it for 2 seasons now. It is very powerful for a handheld. Far more powerful than the box store backpack blower my neighbor just bought.

I like that the engine develops full power rather quickly from a cold start. My Echo string trimmer can take a minute or two to warm up before its really ready. On the negative side it can sometimes take 5-6 pulls for me to get it going when cold.

I bought the vac kit for it, IMO not worth it. I used it once, it's not a very powerful vac and the bag doesn't hold very much.

If you plan to use it for extended time periods I hope you have a strong arm. It starts to feel heavy to me after about 15 minutes. A tank of gas seems to go for 30-40 minutes. If you don't have ear protection I recommend it. It's amazing the difference a $20 pair of ear muffs can make.

My Stihl dealer went out of business this year. Luckily there are two others in the near by towns. So far the machine has been reliable. I've never had it in for service.

Even with the negatives I mentioned I would still buy it again.

Thanks Doopster. I did some research and some BG85s seem to have gotten bad carbs and were hard starters.Hope they got them fixed..
I have tendonitis sometimes in my arms and was wondering how It would feel after 30 minutes of blowing leaves...
I have ear protection.

I have had a BG85 for a few years now and starts easy eavry time.I use it year around from 100 to 0 degree temps no problem starting and plenty of power.

Went to my Stihl dealer Demo day today. Had him gas up a bg85. Went to the grassy area with leaves embedded in it.
Not impressed. Bg85 really had no more power than my Homelite Backpacker...In fact I added a slightly curved section to the end of the backpacker to give a little more lift to leaves and that works better than the bg85 trying to blast the leaves deeper into the grass. At first I thought he gassed up the bg55 by mistake but no it was the bg85. Another guy was testing out the Redmax 7001 backpack blower...all I can say is wow. He let me try it, its heavy but you wont have to wear it very long to get the job done.
That guy went and tried the 8000 model too, thats what he bought. Will see if I can try the Redmax handheld, this dealer did not stock them.

If you have arm problems robster and are planning on blowing leaves around for 30 minutes or more, I would suggest giving the backpack blowers some thought. I've had my Stihl BR400 for four or five years now and am very happy with it. It's easier to swing that tube around for an hour than to maneuver that handheld for the same time.

If you have arm problems robster and are planning on blowing leaves around for 30 minutes or more, I would suggest giving the backpack blowers some thought. I've had my Stihl BR400 for four or five years now and am very happy with it. It's easier to swing that tube around for an hour than to maneuver that handheld for the same time.

Yes, I have a backpack one now, but need the handheld one to leave for cleanup duty at another property. Was hoping the bg85 had enough power to replace the backpacker as well, but its not the case.