"EFI means more power - you sure won't see us going back to anything less."
-- Artie Harton, Yardbusters, Inc.


"Down here in Georgia, we grow really tough warm-weather grasses," says Artie Harton of YardBusters, Inc., in Marietta, Georgia. "Most of it's Bermuda and every spring we have to go in and scalp it - cut it right down almost to the dirt. We're sold on the letters E-F-I. We're running Walkers here with electronic fuel injected engines from Kohler, and they just power right through no problem. We're more productive, absolutely. EFI means more power - you sure won't see us going back to anything less." Kohler Engines product manager Cam Litt says that introducing electronic fuel injection on the 26 HP KOHLER® Command PRO® horizontal-and vertical-shaft engines change the equipment-purchasing terrain for turf professionals.

"Every car and truck and SUV out there has electronic fuel injection and has for 20 years, and there are plenty of good reasons for the change," says Litt. "You get a 10 to 15 percent increase in horsepower, an optimal throttle response, and a nearly 30 percent bump in fuel efficiency. What's not to like? Plus it's easy-to-use and almost never fails - just turn the key and you start-up, whatever the temperature."

YardBusters has been buying for power for almost 15 years. "We started out with the 16hp Walkers," says Harton, "and we've worked our way up each year as mowers and engines have gotten bigger and better. We purchased some of the first EFI engines that came out about two years ago and just bought another new one this year. This business is about productivity, it's easy to be busy, but it's hard to be profitable. The little things add up. Little things like starting up on a cold Georgia morning, like less maintenance and running smoother, like putting more hours on the EFI engines. We also looked at the big numbers - like gross sales - and over the last few years we've scaled back, invested in the tools that will make us more productive, and gone after higher-profit jobs."