I have not seen one that is worth taking to the shop to repair. It sounds like a fuel and or air problem if you are getting spark (assuming the coil is good). For fuel, the filter/lines could be cracked or clogged. The carb could be gummed up. Worse would be if you had an air leak. Check that your air filter is not clogged.

We are an old homelite dealer that still services homelite products. (Although we don't retail it anymore.) Contrary too popular belief, Homelite is the most liberal of all of the manufacturers when it comes too passing out the warranty candy. They give us carte blanc too fix their garbage and no longer hold us too a limit 75% of the value of the unit before exchange. (Just fix it, no limits, no authorization required, send in your claim and collect your money.) Because we are located near so many of the big junk stores we get enough volume too justify stocking things like shortblocks, flywheels and carbs that we wouldn't stock for the high end stuff like Stihl. That adds up too a quick turnaround on Homelite products and we can't give with the other products. "I told him Homelite said it would be free under the warranty." It really doesn't work that way. Whine-line reps cant give warranty authorizations over the phone too customers who then "pass the word" on too dealers granting free give-aways of their parts and labor. Somebody has too pay for the mechanics time spent on determining what the problem is and if its covered under warranty or not. (Nobody works for free.) Yes, Homedepot is a very wonderful place for granting you a return on your unhappy purchase. But, they don't service anything and have nothing too do with any warranty coverage. You are still stuck with the dealer if you should have any problems with your Echo product. Homelite is what it is.....but they do honor their warranty policy.

Plug sounds OK, they shouldn't be oily. Odds are good the spark arrestor is clogged up. Needs to be cleaned. These are screens in the muffler, usually they are behind the outlet deflector. Some Homelites have them inside the muffler requiring disassembly of the muffler to get to them. If cleaning the screen doesn't correct, remove the muffler and look inside the exhaust port to see if it has carbon build up blocking the port. Here's a tip. If the screen is carboned up there is almost always dark gooey stuff around the deflector. You won't normally see this if the port is clogged.

I live in CT. and use a STIHL BR600. It works even better than my older BR420C. It starts very easily, and runs great at all temperatures. I have not seen any Redmax units in my area. I don't think there is a dealer near me who carries them. From what I read, the Redmax and the STIHL are the two top of the line blowers most often used. I believe the STIHL is lighter and quieter. Charles Ranheim