strimmers

[briggie]

so ....... lets talk grass strimmers .....ive been looking at a qualcast 450w one , seems to have good reviews , and its about £40 ........ any other ideas / advice ? .... like easy to change line reels is a must

[makeitfit]

Nah, let's take engines
Petrol, 50cc min or about 3 HP Straight shaft and rev the tits off it
That's all I know

[perelaar]

How much strimming do you want to do? If a lot, buy quality. I'd go for Stihl anytime, but pricey!

[Lazy-Ferret]

Originally Posted by perelaar

How much strimming do you want to do? If a lot, buy quality. I'd go for Stihl anytime, but pricey!

We have a Stihl one, and it just goes on and on. Can be a bit of a sod to start when cold, you have to learn a knack, but once you have it, they are a great bit of kit.

The other thing is, you can get a head that has 3 little white blades, that can fold in, and are held out by centrifugal force, rather than using they nylon line that seems to keep snapping, and lasts a lot longer as well.

As said, the auto feed can be more trouble than it is worth, when I had electric ones, I found that the friction of the unused line flexing one the spool, would get it hot enough to either weld it's self together, or weld to the spool, resulting in it not feeding, so you have to take it all apart to get it to wind out.

The last electric one I had was a Flymo, which fed a bit of line out every time you allowed it to run down in speed, and it had a little blade on the edge of the plastic case that trimmed it back to the right length, but not only did it have the same problem with the line welding to the metal bush it feeds off the spool through, it went through line at an alarming rate.

[macabethiel]

I bought one for work about 4 years ago with electric start think it was a Ryobi it has had some abuse and the cord is fairly easy to fit. Cost under £150 at the time think it was CostCo or Machine Mart. The charger and battery still work saves all that pulling effort with the starter pack.

[johnb5177]

It really does depend on usage, and user......

I use a Husqvarna professional model for work, 30cc easy start, auto spool head, which is the best I've ever used, and I have been using them for 35 years plus!

I use my kit hard, as it earns me my living, so I buy top quality, and look after it.....saws, rope, rakes, hedge trimmers etc.

I bought a small leccy one for SWMBO, to do around the borders and edges, and it's really good, Ryobi, I believe, good kit........

Definitely use eye and ear protection, but I use full face shield with built in ear defenders.

[rustic]

I guess it depends on what you are cutting and where, also how often.
Strimming the borders, maybe around trees a small electric one would be fine for most gardens, but if you want to hack down last summers growth over the whole lawn, just forget it, petrol all the way.

We have an electric one that you tap on the ground to eject more line... well it was designed for that... but you spend every 5 minutes pulling off the spool and manually letting some line out.

Also buy one where you can thread your own line onto it, cheaper in the long run.

None of these strimmers are designed for heavy use, half an hour every week is about it. Which is fine for most people, and we have had strimmers that have served us well for 15-20 years, but have required the odd rewire at the point of entry, and the odd epoxy repair to the casing.
Sorry can't help on that particular model, so I would go by the reviews.

The second item to buy, but you probably have them already, are wrap around eye protection glasses, little stones and grit are picked up and thrown against objects, and can flick up into your eye from any direction.

Rustic

[perelaar]

I'm all with Rustic here, put wrap around eye protection on. And, if you go for petrol, ear protection