Mark Brummel Kooralbyn - 1st August 2022
After having the machine for a little over 3 weeks I can say it is performing pretty well, the motor has plenty opf grunt and is comparable to the 28YO 2 stroke Solo it replaces. It is strong enough to rip through some thick lantana and coupled with the "Brush Destructor" flail blade makes short work of trunks upto 75mm diameter without bogging down. Fuel economy is pretty good, I got well over an hour of work out of the tank. A negative of buying here is that the Bushranger guys send their machines to a non related dealer to setup for them. Mine was a Stil dealer about 60km away and honestly they didnt give a toss about the machine or setting it up to suit me. I had to adjust everything once I got it home as the handlebars were in the wrong place and the support where the harness clamps to was not in a balanced position and forced the machine into my hip. I am also disappointed in the gearbox, it looks weak and compared to the gearbox on my old Solo is miserable. This said, it performed well in the brush and so far (fingers crossed) has survived the pounding it was receiving. The Honda motor is a joy to use and fires first time, its a very light pull compared to all my two stoke machines and sounds great still some 20db less than any 2 stroke. The Stil dealer who recived the machine told me the Bushranger harness supplied with the machine is miserable and they gave me a harness similar to the stil ones, personally I find the Ryobi harness to be better, easier to get on and off with a better thigh pad to protect from continuous bumps. The machine is quite light compared to my old Solo and current 50cc Ryobi. NOTE: This machine does not come with the additional warranty for using the Bushranger 4 stroke oil. I do not understand why but their eligible machines do not include the Honda ones which I didnt realise until after I got home with it. Overall, I am happy with the purchase even with the shorter warranty and the self setup. I was not happy with the requirement to go to a dealer when they could have simply shipped it direct to me as this added significant cost for fuel.