Comments on: Stihl SH 86 C-E Shredder Vacuum Blower

By: pat ludlow

pat ludlow — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:22:31 +0000

We bought this and the most frustrating thing is switching between the blower and vac. The ring that holds the nozzle on has very faint ridges to help you grip and turn the ring, but it’s impossible to get it off if you have it on pretty tight. The plastic is really cheap and the ring broke and it’s been on order for 3 weeks now. We bought it in September, it’s not December and we’ve used it twice. I would probably recommend buying a different brand.

By: mobile, al

mobile, al — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:23:20 +0000

I have had an SH 86 for about a month, if you are buying it for the vac feature know that it has it's limits. You could probably rake and bag 576 cubic feet of leaves before the stihl would shred it all. Although it tolerates small twigs well, large pieces of mulch and fruit from my sweet gum tree will stop it cold, and it is annoying to stop and unclogg it every two minutes. It does well when sucking up just leaves and I love to use it when cleaning my driveway, patio, etc. The quality is great and it is very easy to use. IMHO you will not find a handheld leaf vac without the above cons. It does do a great job reducing the leaves. I give three stars as a leaf vac and five stars as a blower.

By: Gardar

Gardar — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:42:27 +0000

I purchased a Stihl 85, and I am not impressed with the quality of the product. It works fine as both a blower and a vacuum/shredder, but the hinge on the door that covers the blade broke and the parts are sill on backorder, I had only used it a few times. Very poor quality and very poor customer service, others must be having the same issue since the parts are on backorder. I would NOT recommend purchasing Sthil to anyone.

By: The suck of raking leaves - MBWorld.org Forums

The suck of raking leaves - MBWorld.org Forums — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:13:41 +0000

[...] with experience with this blower Vac from Stihl? http://gearpatrol.com/blog/2008/11/1…vacuum-blower/ I am looking for a new one myself and I like the vac part for cleaning up once I have made my [...]

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:35:50 +0000

I purchased one in March 2009 vacuumed a few leafs and blew the the drive and sidewalks off all summer , worked great. Now its fall and I starting trimming shrubs and vacuumed 2 bags of clippings and the vacuum tube melted from the inside, stretched and fell off 2 inched from locking ring. Dealer said a stick got caught in it and was spinning which caused the tube to melt and was not covered under warranty. They put a new tube on for $29.95. Spinning??? I say bull! Had a cheap $100 dollar blower vac from Poullan for 10 years and vacuumed hundreds of bags and never had that happen. I think the vac tube is made from the wrong plastic composite. Going to the dealer to pickup and raise hell.

By: Nick

Nick — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:46:19 +0000

I purchased a SH86 This Spring and has been a great unit for me in my lawn mowing business! It has tons of power for blowing and sucking up leaves

By: goose

goose — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:30:32 +0000

ive had a bg85 for a while now and am very impressed with it so far . ive only recently found out that it can be converted into a vac/shredder so ive been looking forward to gettin the conversion kit for it but if the newer sh86 is a load of rubbish would it be worth buying .