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Stihl RL540 / Viking LB540

Following on from our previous post asking for scarifier recommendations, we've more or less decided on the Stihl RL540, appreciate it's not a Camon or Sisis but for the amount of work can't justify that cost.

It seems identical to the Viking LB540 ? We know Viking has all been rebadged as Stihl and the Viking stuff had a poor reputation ( our dealer described the mowers having gearboxet made of chocolate, and they sold them)! 

So question is anyone used/using either machine?

Be more interested in feedback on the Viking scarifier as the rebadged Stihl hasn't been on the market for long, but any comments welcome.

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  • PRO

    All I can say is my rl540 has been spot on with no issues and does a great job for the price. The bag is a waste of time as it fills far to fast. It may be a bit of a ball ache when it comes to replacing the tines but after 2 seasons use there is still loads of life left in them.

  • Hi Peter, the Stihl is a rebadged Viking according to my local dealer - essentially the same machine.  We have had the Stihl RL540 for 2 years - we don't do a huge amount of scarifying but it has always done a good job, starting first time.  Our local dealer uses them as their hire machines so they must be pretty happy with them in terms of reliability etc.  As others have said, never use the bag.  Just rake/blow and collect the waste in bulk bags.

  • I've got the Viking and it will happily scarify medium to large lawns, think the biggest I've done was 400 sq metres. Sturdy machine and reliable, as said don't bother with the box, rake and bag is the way to go.Think the only difference between the Viking and Stihl is change of colour from green to orange.

  • PRO

    We needed a small lightweight scarifier to complement our Eliet and Bannerman scarifiers. Bought the Stilh scarifier, was used yesterday on some early scarifies and the guys really liked it. Good performance, easy to use and very maneuverable. I think for smaller lawns (say less than 300 sqm) going forward it will be the first one out of the van. For bigger lawns will likely still be used on fiddly parts and the headland passes. It will be interesting to see how well it holds up against heavy use.

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