String Trimmers Review: ECHO SRM-2320T vs. Redmax TRZ-230S

Talk about some of the things that stood out to me using these two trimmers over the last couple months.

The first one being on the Echo here—you can notice the primer bulb and the choke are right here. So when you prime it, you choke it, you pull it—there’s very little movement here.

Versus the RedMax—you get a choke here on the back, the primer bulb is on the front bottom. So you’re priming it, you’re choking it, and you’re pulling it. Just a couple extra hand movements, but I do like the versatility and ease of this a lot better.

Going down to the triggers here—on the Echo, the Echo’s got a solid plastic trigger, which I really like.

Nothing can catch on it, very easy to use.

Versus the RedMax trigger—you can see it’s a hook. And over the years, I’ve used different trimmers with this type trigger on them, and they tend to get caught. And you can see the flexibility there—they snap off real easy.

So I really prefer the solid trigger over the open trigger.

Another thing that stood out was the on/off switches.

On the Echo, you have “Run / Stop” and you actually have to put it in position.

Versus the RedMax—all it is is push, it cuts it off. It’s spring-loaded and kicks back to the run position.

What stood out about the two trimmers on this end here is—the Echo comes standard with the Speed-Feed 400 head.

For those of you who use those, you know the ease in loading and using those. It comes with a Black Diamond trimmer line.

RedMax comes with their standard trimmer head. One good thing about it—it does have a reinforced button on the bottom of it for when you tap it.

This prevents some of the wear.

But to load string on this, you have to take the cap off, you gotta wind it on a spool, put it back in—and it takes two to three times as long to load this spool as it does this spool.

So I really prefer the Speed-Feed 400.

Third thing that stood out on this end of the trimmers is the placement of the guards.

The ECHO — you can see the guard is placed right up by the trimmer head.

And on the RedMax, there’s a big distance here between them.

What this does—it keeps the debris closer to the ground here, versus here. You can see how much further it can get off and potentially get out.

And you can see the width of the guard here versus the width of the guard on the Echo.

As you can see from the previous footage you just watched, I just finished utilizing these trimmers the past couple months and I’ve been comparing them.

Both trimmers are very similar in engine size, fuel tank size, and their abilities.

If I had to pick one, I would have to go with the Echo myself—primarily based on three things:

• The vibration – I was surprised at the amount of vibration that the RedMax trimmer produces. Using them all day long, that takes a toll on you and can be a factor.
• The design features – I prefer the design features of the Echo over the RedMax.
• The price point – MSRP for ECHO is $249.99, MSRP for RedMax is $279.99

I’d like to know what trimmers you are using—what your thoughts are on the various trimmers.

You can leave your comments below.

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Until next time, I’m Jim Nelson, GMG Lawn Service, and I’m out of here.