Choose outdoor equipment by the work and operating limits
Choose equipment against the job’s measurable limits: load, access, material, terrain, supply and storage. Then compare complete model packages, required accessories, transport and component service requirements. A headline watt, pressure, bar length or reduction ratio answers only part of that decision.
Equipment tasks
- Choose an air compressor by delivered flow and duty limit
- Battery energy and approved tool fit
- Brush-cutter blades: verify the whole approved configuration
- Choose a chainsaw by cutting task, weight and approved bar
- Choose a cut-off saw by wheel approval, depth and dust controls
- Edging, aerating or dethatching: identify what the lawn needs
- Choose a hedge trimmer for reach, stem limits and safe handling
- Choose a leaf blower: airflow, nozzle, runtime and carrying
- Choose a leaf vacuum by collection task and claim definitions
- Choose a log splitter by log fit, handling and full work cycle
- Choose a pole saw by controlled reach and the branch drop zone
- Generator load sizing and connection choices
- Choose a pressure washer: flow, supply, nozzle and surface
- Choose a mower by access, slope limits and mowing route
- Is a robotic mower right for the boundary, slope and schedule?
- Choose a snow blower by surface, clearance and snow load
- Plan a standby generator: fuel rating, transfer and service
- Choose a string trimmer and reload the approved head
- Stump grinder or earth auger: access, utilities and rental cost
- Choose a tiller for soil, rows and controllable depth
- Choose a walk-behind mower by access, control and clipping plan
- Choose a water pump from head, flow and permitted material
- Choose a chipper or shredder by feed material and limits
Measure the job before comparing specifications
| Task | First input |
|---|---|
| Backup power | Running and starting loads, voltage and connection |
| Mowing | Access, terrain, permitted slope and usable width |
| Water work | Supply or pump curve at actual head |
| Cutting / chipping | Approved material, size and matched cutting assembly |
| Cordless work | Session length, charging access and approved platform |
For example, Honda’s WB20 maxima are separate curve endpoints; maximum GPM is not the flow at maximum head. The robotic-mower guide separates an interior slope rating from a stricter boundary rating on the cited Husqvarna models.
Compare the full setup
A bare cordless tool may omit its pack and charger. A generator price may omit the safe building connection.
A rental quote can omit transport and required accessories. List those items before comparing totals through purchase planning.
Once the machine is identified, the maintenance directory supplies model-qualified service examples. Parts and fluids remain tied to exact identifiers, not this class directory.
Reference
Equipment, by what the machine has to do
Twenty-three classes of machine cover almost everything in a home garage or a small contractor’s trailer, and each one is bought on a different number. A generator is sold on two wattage figures that are not interchangeable. A mower is sold on deck width, which is limited by the narrowest gate on the property.
A chainsaw is sold on bar length and bought on three chain measurements that bar length does not give you. A pressure washer is sold on pressure and finishes the job on flow. These pages set out, for each class, what the specification means, which figure decides the purchase, what the machine needs in service, and where the class-level answer stops and your own machine’s manual has to take over.
Why the class decides more than the brand
Owners tend to shop by brand and then discover that the decisions which cost money, what fuel goes in, how it is stored over winter, which part number fits, what goes wrong first, are set by the class of machine rather than by the badge on it. A two-stroke chainsaw and a two-stroke trimmer share a fuel problem. A walk-behind mower and a snow blower share an oil-change problem.
A generator and a pressure washer share nothing with either except the engine underneath.
Compare the specifications that govern the class’s intended work, the things that are quoted at you and mean less than they sound like, and the maintenance the class needs. None of them lists specifications for named models, since that number varies model to model; where a figure is model-specific, the page says so and tells you where on the machine to find it.
-
EQ-01
Portable generator loads and transfer connections
Running watts against starting watts, why inverter and conventional units are different machines, what dual-fuel costs you in output, and the carbon monoxide shutoff standards that separate a 2018-and-later unit from an older one.
-
EQ-02
Standby generators
What an automatic transfer switch does that a cord cannot, why a standby unit is sized in kilowatts against a load calculation rather than a wish list, and the weekly exercise cycle that is the single most neglected item of ownership.
-
EQ-03
Walk-behind mowers
Deck width against the gate you have to get through, self-propel drive types, what mulching requires of the blade and the deck, and the operator-presence control that has to stop the blade within three seconds.
-
EQ-04
Riding and zero-turn mowers
Where a zero-turn stops being faster, why the slope figure in the manual is the specification that matters most, hydrostatic against gear drive, and the deck-spindle service that decides how long the machine lasts.
-
EQ-05
Snow blowers
Stage count identifies the mechanisms that gather and discharge snow. What the auger touches decides which surfaces you can clear, and shear pins are a designed sacrifice rather than a fault.
-
EQ-06
Chainsaws
Bar length is the least useful number quoted. Chain pitch, gauge and drive-link count are the ones you buy on, the chain brake and low-kickback chain are safety features with a standard behind them, and the oiler is what wears the bar out.
-
EQ-07
String trimmers and brushcutters
Line diameter and head type do more for a trimmer than displacement does. A suitable powerhead can use a compatible rigid brush-cutting blade with the specified shield and harness.
-
EQ-08
Pressure washers
PSI is the number on the box and GPM is the number that finishes the driveway. Cleaning units combine them, the nozzle color is an angle rather than a size, and the pump type decides whether the machine is repairable.
-
EQ-09
Log splitters
Tonnage sells the machine and cycle time finishes the pile. What a two-stage pump does, why vertical operation exists, and the hydraulic maintenance nobody mentions until the pump is noisy.
-
EQ-10
Tillers
Front-tine, rear-tine and counter-rotating tillers suit different ground and are not interchangeable: buying the wrong one for unbroken ground presents as a machine that bounces rather than digs.
-
EQ-11
Hedge trimmers
Blade length determines reach; tooth spacing and blade condition affect the cut. Blade gap and stroke rate decide the cut, straight, pivoting and extended-reach are three different jobs, and gas, corded and battery are a close call in this class.
-
EQ-12
Compare batteries by watt-hours and compatibility
Check battery-platform compatibility, stored energy and sustained output separately. Watt-hours is the figure that compares packs across brands, where cordless has closed the gap on gas and where it has not, and how a lithium pack degrades and should be stored.
-
EQ-13
Robotic mowers
The boundary system, not the blade, is what differentiates these machines. Perimeter wire against wire-free GPS/RTK navigation, the lift-and-tilt safety standard, and why they run in frequent short passes instead of one weekly cut.
-
EQ-14
Edgers, aerators and dethatchers
Three unrelated periodic lawn-care jobs sold as one category: a clean vertical edge, relieving soil compaction, and pulling up thatch a mower cannot reach: with very different real-world schedules.
-
EQ-15
Stump grinders and earth augers
What limits a stump grinder’s depth and width, the utility-locate and face-protection routine that keeps a rental job safe, and the bind injury that one- and two-person earth augers share.
-
EQ-16
Leaf blowers
CFM and MPH are both quoted and neither alone predicts whether a machine clears a wet leaf mat: blowing force, where published, combines them. Handheld, backpack and wheeled are an ergonomics choice more than a power choice.
-
EQ-17
Pole saws
A short chainsaw cutting head on a pole, for limbing overhead branches from the ground. The bar has a short working length, and the one hazard the whole category is built around avoiding is a power line.
-
EQ-18
Wood chippers and shredders
Size the chipper around normal branches and reserve its maximum diameter for occasional suitable material. A chipper cuts with blades against an anvil; a shredder smashes with flails. The intake, not the blade, is the injury this class is built around preventing.
-
EQ-19
Water pumps
GPM only means anything at a stated head: the same pump moves far less water lifting forty feet than lifting four. Centrifugal against positive-displacement, and what the trash pump’s solids rating permits it to handle.
-
EQ-20
Air compressors
CFM only means anything at a stated PSI. A compressor tank buffers brief demand. Sustained supply depends on pump output and duty cycle; drain accumulated water as the manual directs.
-
EQ-21
Cut-off saws
A handheld saw that spins an abrasive or diamond wheel to cut concrete, stone, pipe and steel. The blade’s rated speed must be at least the saw’s, and silica dust is the long-term hazard.
-
EQ-22
Brush cutters
A string trimmer’s heavier relative, with a rigid shaft, a harness and a head that can carry a metal blade. Blade thrust, the guard and the cutting sector are what to learn first.
-
EQ-23
Leaf vacuums and mulchers
Four machines sold as leaf vacuums, what a reduction ratio means, when a mulching mower is enough, and how to keep the impeller from clogging.
Part numbers and capacities by machine
Oil capacity, spark-plug number and gap, filter part numbers and the maintenance schedule are on the engine pages in the engines section, each citing its source. Belts and blades are ordered by the mower or machine model number, so find that first.
Around those numbers this section covers how to find the identification that lets you look the figure up correctly, which measurement you take yourself when a part number is unreadable, and what the specification means once you have it. Start with Find equipment model and engine serial IDs if the machine in front of you is unidentified, or take the measurement directly with the measurement-first parts pages.
- Control of Emissions from New, Small Nonroad Spark-Ignition Engines and Equipment: U.S. Government Publishing Office (eCFR), 40 CFR Part 1054.
- Consumer Turf Care Equipment, Pedestrian-Controlled Mowers and Ride-On Mowers, Safety Specifications: Outdoor Power Equipment Institute / ANSI, ANSI/OPEI B71.1-2017.
- Outdoor Power Equipment, Internal Combustion Engine-Powered Hand-Held Chain Saws, Safety and Environmental Requirements: Outdoor Power Equipment Institute / ANSI, ANSI/OPEI B175.1-2012 (with A1-2014).
Equipment, by what the machine has to do: questions
Should I choose power equipment by brand or by type?
By type first. Equipment class determines fuel, storage, parts identification and the service tasks to budget for. Two handheld two-stroke tools share a fuel problem; a mower and a snow blower share an oil-change problem; a generator shares almost nothing with either.
Settle the class, then compare brands within it.
Why is there no spec table for specific models here?
Because a guessed oil capacity, spark-plug gap or belt part number is worse than none: those figures vary model to model, and a wrong oil capacity can cost an engine. The equipment reference connects those numbers to the operating job: what a specification means, how to find the identification that lets you look your own model up correctly, and which measurement to take when a label has worn away.
What number should I shop on for each machine?
It is rarely the headline figure. A generator is bought on running watts, not the surge number on the box; a chainsaw on chain pitch, gauge and drive-link count, not bar length; a pressure washer on cleaning units, which is PSI multiplied by GPM, not PSI alone; a mower on the deck width your narrowest gate allows. Each class page names the one figure that decides the purchase.
What do all of these machines have in common for maintenance?
Fuel management. Most failures here happen at the moment of use after a machine has sat, and almost always because gasoline left in the carburetor for months has oxidized and varnished the small passages. Whether the engine is two-stroke or four-stroke, storing it with stabilized fuel or an empty carburetor prevents the single most common repair on every class of machine.
Does a handheld two-stroke tool ever use four-stroke technology instead?
Yes: some handheld trimmers and blowers use a compact four-stroke engine specifically to avoid fuel mixing, trading a small weight and complexity increase for that convenience. The class diagram's "handheld, carried" group includes both two-stroke and compact four-stroke designs under 50 cc, not exclusively two-stroke engines.