I got this blower about 2 years ago, for $250 at a local dealer. Initially, I was quite impressed with the unit, it had great power, and was great for clearing my large yard. I even stored it with Sta-Bil, and used Stihl 2-Stroke Oil at a 50:1 Ratio. However, the next fall season, it starts by losing power, followed by an occasional rattle. The baffle needed to be cleaned. Then, not long after that, It would stop running after 30 minutes of use, and not start again. Turns out, the coil separated. This fall, I take it and go to start it up. It hammers badly, and rattles. I took it in, and my local Stihl Dealer said that the bearings were gone, like as if it was running no mix! (I always used Stihl Oil/Gas Mix at 50:1.) It was too gone to fix.

I run a commercial gardening company and have used stihl leaf blowers for many years, each model over the years has had its positive and negative aspects. The latest model, the BG86 is the worst model i have ever used, it is so badly designed for a stihl, which are normally brilliant, in my opinion. It broke in 2 days, the collars broke. Then after 2 weeks the casing cracked, one good thing though about stihl is they replaced it within one month, unfortunately for the same model though, even though i asked if they could give me an older model. Which is fair enough.