I pulled the recoil to start my pb-500 backpack blower (barely used) and it tore my rotator cuff. When I pulled the cord, it had tension for the first couple inches, then no tension at all leading to my shoulder snapping back and tearing. I called echo and they told me to bring it to a dealer near me, the dealer said that it was a bad carburetor, and that the recoil was just fine. When I got home and inspected the carb (they took it off and never put it back on) it was 100% clean and functioning. Echo won't wven take my calls or respond to my Facebook messages. Do yourself a favor and don't buy their junk, all their machines are ***.