Category: News

According to news reports, a strong early snow season has major supplier Ariens Co. already sold out of snowthrowers, and even though the company is still building them, the ones on the factory floor are all spoken for in their distribution chain. Company officials report that many of its dealers are already sold out of…

Leaner engine operation…higher operating and component temps…decreased CO emissions…higher idle speeds…increased NOx emissions…erratic operation…complete stalls with E15 and E20 gasoline blends. Look for more details upcoming here on poweretblog and in the Jan/Feb. issue of Power Equipment Trade, but I’ve just gotten my hands on the impressively titled “Effects of Intermediate Ethanol Blends on Legacy…

Dealers, landscapers and others who attended the 2008 GIE+EXPO had the opportunity to brush up on key handheld power equipment topics at the “Handheld Power University” Jointly sponsored by Shindaiwa, Oregon Cutting Systems, and the Equipment and Engine and Training Council (EETC). The Handheld Power University presented easy-to-digest, 15 minute presentations that were applicable to…

This one hits close to home, folks: Debbie Watson, former Power Equipment Trade advertising sales representative from 1992 until fall 2002, died November 28 at age 45 after a long battle with skin cancer. Beautiful and vivacious, Debbie brightened every life she touched—and was a very successful PET ad-selling machine. For a while she was…

This news item gives dealers an idea of the push toward getting more ethanol—and renewable fuels in general—into America’s transportation fuel system. As many industry officials have said, more ethanol and new blends are eventually coming to a fuel tank near you, and it’s up to manufacturers and dealers to adapt and develop strategies to…

The North American Equipment Dealers Assn. (NAEDA), Farm Equipment Manufacturers Assn. (FEMA) and FEWA-AIMRA have completed an agreement to initiate the launch of a new online system to process warranty claims and warranty registrations. When officially launched in January 2009, the Warranty Claim Processing System will allow users to electronically complete warranty registration, file warranty…

I guess it was only a matter of time, especially after the Wall Street Journal article we mentioned a while back. The other day I was watching TV, and what came on the screen was a “YAMAHA RHINO ALERT!” ad from a trial lawyer firm looking to put together a class-action lawsuit against Yamaha, manufacturer…

As I mentioned in the first poweretblog post following GIE+EXPO, ethanol was a hot topic at the event. We’ve got more coverage of ethanol issues that came up during GIE+EXPO in the December issue of PET, with comments from OPEI officials and a quick take on an ethanol technical session given by Stihl technical training…

A complete roundup of the 2008 Power Equipment Trade GIE+EXPO Dealers Choice Awards winners and finalists is now available online at PET’s website, www.poweret.com/dca. There’s also coverage of the winners and finalists in next month’s December hard-copy issue, but the Internet version, not constrained by those pesky page counts and ad budgets, contains larger photos…

Alert PET reader John Greco in Old Forge, Pa. spotted the almost-forgotten McCulloch BP-1 chain saw in the photo on p. 48 of the PET November PowerGuide issue and sent a note thanking us for running it. Greco, who sold McCulloch for Eastern States Distributors and as a factory rep back in the day, noted…