I can't swear to this, but I'd bet it is an MTD product. Same thing sold at Lowes under the Troy-Bilt brand name. These things used to be made by Ryobi. Really not bad for the money. Power is pretty good, many question the durability but if you use it for a few minutes a week it should last years. Louder than better units as the muffler is cheap.

Here is a link that might be useful: mtd home page

I agree, it is all about money. Not to mention I pay dearly for my Honda trimmer and the carb went out the first year even I always had fresh gas( 91 oct. never more than 1 month old and with stabil). Cost me $85 the fix ( after big fight with the dealer because they said it was old gas and was not covered!!)
Still it really don't run right, after a few trips to the dealer wasting gas, I just chuck it to loss cost!!! Still working, just die sometimes in the middle and hard to start again.

The bottom line is, even if you pay a lot, you don't necessary get what you paid. And forget about buying from dealer if you are a home owner and not in the business. From what I read in other sites, dealers charge for repairs A LOT OF TIMES regardless of warrante, always have some lame excuses. LCO depend of fast turn around so they go to the dealer. For home owner, buy in big store!! At least you have 30 days return, and they don't whine like the dealers. Even from Amazon. I have better service from Amazon than the dealer.

I believe Craftsman trimmer are MTD. I have the Troy Bilt 4 cycle trimmer, it sure last longer than my $420 Honda!!!

You have to watch out that the cheaper trimmers are shorter and is not goof for your back.

Well, for $109 marked down from $149, I picked it up. I agree, it looks a lot like the Troy built at Lowes. I had a Steihl that I never liked how the line fed and it is wore out. Put it out on the lawn and it was gone in 20 minutes! I do like how the line feeds on the Craftsman. I never had much use for their lawn products, so wish me luck. With 2 kids in college, $ are at a premium and I bought this with cash out of my allowance from my wife for my birthday present! Ha!

Make sure you use Stabil in the gas and use 89octane.