I never said the emissions standards were guidelines, I said the factory settings were guidelines. Just because you set a needle to 1 1/2 turns out like the guidelines say does not mean it is within the EPA standards... or are you saying that you know it will be within standards.
The cheap brands won't varnish from the shieves because they are not run at the factory... very few brands other then the high end, are run at the factory. Husky used to be run at the factory, I no longer see evidance of this but 50% of new ones I see come in are running way too rich.
Anyways, the OP has a Ryobi which is a "cheapy" brand.
So the question still stands, who has the equip. to test if thier engines are running to EPA specs?