Solo 451 3-Gallon 2-Stroke Gas Powered Backpack Mist Blower, Lightweight, Low Fuel Consumption

Over the years our family has always looked forward to the pest guy's quarterly visit. I guess you could say our slice of the earth amounts to a little over 2 1/2 acres in a subdivision west of town. Additionally we have water features, a watershed creek that runs on the backside of our property, & we also have 2 Great Danes. So everything considered we're a haven for flying insects. The bug man would usually put forth a genuine effort (at least to the proportion of his hourly wage) but never had the knowledge nor the time to effectively walk the entire property. So I began on my own with Echo's YardShield addon to the leaf blowers, the chemical Echo's uses is Permethrin, which is a good choice, however anytime you raise the blower tube even close to the horizon the delivery rate rolls off to near 0ml/min. Additionally, Permethrin is easily washed away with a just a slight rain, it's incredibly toxic to fish & honeybees & just doesn't lend itself well to an urban area with frequent rain fall. This brings me to a point that's all too important before you commit to purchasing a Solo mister blower. Insecticides used with this unit are not typically wrapped in flashy colors, cartoons bugs being struck by lightning, or diluted chemcial by volume. You'll have to actively engage the internet, read your labels, & research the effects, so you have a clear understanding of various pesticides & most importantly how it affects the human body. One thing is for sure, whatever you buy to pesticide or even fertilizer, expect to be walking in a cloud of it until you stop the blower. This is an atomize cloud of chemical which would be almost as effective at getting into you bloodstream as injecting a few cc's of it manually, by design the human lung absorbs whatever you put in it be that is air, cigarette smoke, crack vapor, & even pesticides. The lung doesn't pick & choice what to absorb that's what the brain is for it's division of labor, so be warned & wear something to protect youself from the uptake. Finally through all of the above, I can say the Solo 451 is a very well built machine. Designed primarily as a delivery mechanism for fertilizer, pesticides, & even seeding it works exactly like a German sports car. Similarly you wouldn't think of taking your 325i to Home Depot to pickup quikcrete & some treated lumber, you shouldn't consider the 451 a dual purpose machine, it can work as a leaf blower but it's design is a mister blower. The seals & fasteners that you'd need to remove for conversion to a blower are not designed for repetitive removal. Also, just like a BMW there are some areas that make you wonder why they had to over engineer some areas, one example is the intake cover, seals, & filter, it's just a complicated mess of geometric shapes which come together (with a little patience) to a very close tolerance fit. This is unnecessary & with the use of plastics which will warp & change dimensions with temperature/time make me consider this area a weak link. Performance of the Solo 451 is quite impressive, you almost wish they had a decomp. button for initial startup. Even with chemical in the hopper tank, if you pull the starter recoil without holding the frame you will pick the machine up before you break over TDC! Yeah, it's got some compression, & starts on the 1st or 2nd pull. There's no doubt alot of power with this unit. Delivery rates are higher than I thought relating to the chemical delivery, so no need for high concentrations of your pesticides. I might even consider their low volume delivery option. I do have & installed the pump option which gives you almost a flat or consistent delivery at all angles of the blower tube & I highly recommend this option as well. Fully load with chemical & gas it's a little heavy but not bad, however, the straps they supply are really cheap straps, I tried to contact them & make sure these are what they thought are good straps, i'll update everyone on this later in the summer. Last thing, is the noise level, it's pretty quiet & considering the power, compression, & volume of air it's extremely quiet Overall it's a very good machine & my initial thoughts are that it will last a long time. Perhaps there may be some maintenance required on my part but the mfg. is involved more so with the customer than any other mfg. I've purchased from. It's not like you never want to work on your BMW anyway so long as the maintenance schedule isn't as retarded as a Mercedes. I'll give an update after we send the kids back to school.***** a quick update, the machine is operating great. I started with Talstar which is really a great pesticide, long lasting & doesn't wash away. Also believe it's toxicity is less, last year I was using Permethrin & accidentally killed all the algae eating fish in our neighborhood ponds!! This year the new fish are still there, so woo hoo!! The only downside, I'm seeing is that with a good broadcast & good product the Solo is sitting in the garage a little too much... I have almost 3 acres & have sprayed 3 times this season. I'm thinking about treating the neighbors yards just so I get some more use out of the Solo...*******final update*** I said I'd update this after we got the kids back to school, so here goes. I've spent the season blowing pesticide on my property, my parents, & a friend, whom most folks would consider a "hick". The Solo performs flawlessly with the optional pump installed & using the various nozzles there really no place you can't get to. The metering valve gives you complete control of the delivery but it's best combined with the pump. Weight, yeah it's heavy, with 3 gals. of chemical it's somewhere around 40-50lbs. so take note. One thing, I didn't like was the straps, they are WAY too small, weak & you run the risk of having an accident with them. Seriously I don't know why they would ever include those straps, consider alternative straps like me & the wider the better. Last thing is the oil premix, 25:1 or 20:1 if you don't use their oil & I believe them, haven't found any Solo brand 2 stroke oil yet as most of my equipment is echo. Considering the amount of use it's not really an issue. You should see a little smoke with 20:1 premixed, if you don't add more oil.Steve

I have owned a solo 450 since 2007. I own a mosquito spraying company. The 450 has worked really well. I purchased two 451's about 2-3 years ago and have nothing but problems with them. First, the engine leaks a lot of oil, the gas lines are cheap and break all the time, the back strap clips are plastic and WILL break. They have a big problem with the starter pully. the pully rope comes out almost a foot sometimes before it will catch to try to crank and it is considerably hard to start sometimes. I've replaced the starter rope and still have problems The flow of solution that comes out is not consistent, especially when aiming up into trees. The wand will shake almost like there is something stuck in the line. There is a nozzle on the end where you adjust how much solution comes out, this will sometimes get clogged up with stuff also making it not consistently spray. It's so hard to find a solo dealer that works on them. I took one to Norther Tool one day about 5 years ago and the guy had never seen one before. It's also very hard to order parts. There us office is in VA and it if they are out of something it takes months to get parts because they have to order it from Germany, where they are made. They are also way understaffed there as well so good luck trying to get help. I've had to wait two months for the front grill that you will most definitely lose unless you tape it on.The good news! I bought a STIHL blower last year and it blows SOLO out of the water on all levels. Easy to start, white front grill, metal strap clips, and it ALWAYS blows out smooth even when aiming up. Oh, and there are more STIHL dealers around that can actually do work on them and have the parts because everything is made right here in the US.Thanks STIHL!

We purchased this mister/blower for our field services. The first one broke on the first day of use. Amazon immediately replaced it and gave a substantial refund for the inconvenience. Alone, that made the purchase worth it. Then of course there is the machine itself. OMG! We love it. Our field work has dropped from 2 to 3 hours on a job site to 45 minutes from setup to drive off. It starts every time without problem, delivers a consistent fog even with high viscosity material and just never quits putting fog and mist where you need it. This should be a mandatory fleet item for every municipality. The only drawback is balance. The weight is not balanced when the tank is full. I would have hoped for better balance for the many times you will refill the tank throughout a work day. However, everything this machine does far outweighs the balance issue. I strongly recommend the Solo 451 to anyone that wants a great machine, durable, efficient and that delivers exactly what is promised. I just don't think there is anything better on the market than this wonderful device. We love it! I love it! I am sold! This is a review from a professional service company, not a DIY user - You can trust this review!

After a year of paying and watching a local mosquito company to spray my yard I decided I could do it myself. I split the cost with a couple of neighbors and we gave it a try. I was a little nervous based a few bad reviews, but ultimately very happy. The sprayer has worked great all season. Starts on the first or second try every time, runs clean, and sprays a perfect mist. We haven't seen a mosquito all summer (used with Talstar).The tank does drip a little if you fill it all the way to the top but I hardly ever did that (our yard could be treated with about 3/4 of a tank). The only thing I would like to see is an assisted starter. You have to give a pretty good pull to get it to turn over. It always starts as soon as it turns over though.Well worth the money if you are planning on spraying for mosquitoes or other nuisance bugs.