Posted: 9/4/2012 11:47:33 AM EDT
| What are some good ones, that might work for a while, with a little maintenance. |
|
Quoted:
Don't spend your money on anything but Stihl. 2 or 4 stroke. Liking my new FS 90 R. I prefer Stihl but ended up buying an Echo before I realized Stihl made a similar consumer model. I am quite happy with the Echo and it eats everything I feed it including a VERY thick patch of ivy I have in front of my house that I have to keep under control occasionally. You would do well with anything Stihl or Echo and there are a few other brands out there that are a little more on the commercial side like Shindawa. You can get a great Stihl or Echo for around $200-$225 and if you use it at home you will have it for the rest of your life. Whatever you do make sure your trimmer takes at least .095, you might get away with a slimmer line as long as you are using it to only trim grass but in the long run you will not regret going up to .095. |
|
Quoted:
I prefer Stihl but ended up buying an Echo before I realized Stihl made a similar consumer model. I am quite happy with the Echo IIRC Echo actually doesn't make a "consumer grade" trimmer. They don't make a big deal about it but all their powerheads are 300 hour MBTF units.....again IIRC. I have three Echo trimmers and will never buy a different brand as long as they maintain current standards. 
|
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
I prefer Stihl but ended up buying an Echo before I realized Stihl made a similar consumer model. I am quite happy with the Echo IIRC Echo actually doesn't make a "consumer grade" trimmer. They don't make a big deal about it but all their powerheads are 300 hour MBTF units.....again IIRC. I have three Echo trimmers and will never buy a different brand as long as they maintain current standards. If you look at the equipment lineup since the Shindaiwa-Echo merger you can see that the Shindaiwa heritage has taken over the high end and the Echo heritage the lower end. Not that the Echo stuff is bad, the Shindaiwa is just better. The site talks about the "Legendary Shindaiwa T-270", and having one I do agree with the "legendary" status, a T-270 can do scary stuff. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I prefer Stihl but ended up buying an Echo before I realized Stihl made a similar consumer model. I am quite happy with the Echo IIRC Echo actually doesn't make a "consumer grade" trimmer. They don't make a big deal about it but all their powerheads are 300 hour MBTF units.....again IIRC. I have three Echo trimmers and will never buy a different brand as long as they maintain current standards. If you look at the equipment lineup since the Shindaiwa-Echo merger you can see that the Shindaiwa heritage has taken over the high end and the Echo heritage the lower end. Not that the Echo stuff is bad, the Shindaiwa is just better. The site talks about the "Legendary Shindaiwa T-270", and having one I do agree with the "legendary" status, a T-270 can do scary stuff. Well I bought my Echo Straight-shaft trimmer like 7 years ago for $219 and I don't know if it this was before or after that merger but the power and performance is on par with the commercial Stihls I used to work with. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I prefer Stihl but ended up buying an Echo before I realized Stihl made a similar consumer model. I am quite happy with the Echo IIRC Echo actually doesn't make a "consumer grade" trimmer. They don't make a big deal about it but all their powerheads are 300 hour MBTF units.....again IIRC. I have three Echo trimmers and will never buy a different brand as long as they maintain current standards. If you look at the equipment lineup since the Shindaiwa-Echo merger you can see that the Shindaiwa heritage has taken over the high end and the Echo heritage the lower end. Not that the Echo stuff is bad, the Shindaiwa is just better. The site talks about the "Legendary Shindaiwa T-270", and having one I do agree with the "legendary" status, a T-270 can do scary stuff. Well I bought my Echo Straight-shaft trimmer like 7 years ago for $219 and I don't know if it this was before or after that merger but the power and performance is on par with the commercial Stihls I used to work with. Probably mid merger. The price point on the Shindaiwa is/was around $500 and a large percentage of the professional landscape crews at least in the northeast use them, so I would suspect they didn't spend the extra money for no reason. I haven't used an extensive array of trimmers personally, but I have done scary things with my T-270 so I'm a believer. I also have a Shindaiwa chain saw and when helping clean up after a small tornado I was outcutting others working around me by a good margin. |
|
Quoted:
Interesting info on the Shindaiwas, thanks. I haven't seen that brand penetrate too heavily in the local market. I'll watch for it.  I agree I live in Pgh and worked in landscaping/groundskeeping for like 10+years and the big name here was Stihl. Later on you would see a few of the red Shidawas but every crew I ever worked with/hired used Stihl exculsively. |
|
I bought a straight shaft Husqvarna trimmer several years ago (2003, I think...). That little engine has been old realiable every season. The second favorite feature is the design of the trimmer head. The T35 head that they use is very easy to load the trimmer line, and minimizes issues like line welding.
The plastic on the head finally gave out this year, so I went to the local store and reluctantly bought a universal trimmer head. It was an ECHO brand, and my personal experience with everything they sell has been aweful. The design was difficult to load because I had to feed the line through the holes and keep it from coming off the spool. When I got it on the spool, it would work for a few seconds and then the line would weld and it would stop feeding out. I fussed with that head for about an hour and was so pissed I couldn't see straight. I almost destroyed my whole weed eater in my rage. I should have followed my gut and run as fast from ECHO as possible. I got online and found the nearest store that deals with Husqvarna and ordered a new T35 head. It is the same price as that crap I tried and should have been the first thing I did. 
Something else to consider is that with the straight shaft you can buy attachments like edgers and pole saws that will work on it. The only thing that I wish my trimmer had is the shoulder strap for helping with the weight on long jobs. I also have a Husqvarna push mower and 16" chain saw. Again, the engines have been great for years. I have used Stihl trimmers and chain saws that friends own. They are a bit lighter than Husqvarna, and have always started right up. If Husqvarna wan't available, I would definitely get Stihl. |
|
I did tons and tons of research on Echo vs. Stihl vs. Shidaiwa 2 years ago when I was looking for one and what I ultimately settled on was the fact that Shindaiwa was a bit more than I really needed. They are well worth the money if you are going to use them hard, but I don't use mine that hard so I decided against Shindaiwa. So it was down to Echo vs. Stihl for me. I hashed it out over and over and Echo & Stihl are both very good, you get what you pay for, and will last a VERY long time if they are well maintained. The deciding factor for me was local support. I already have Stihl chainsaws and I have a good relationship with the local dealer so that was my deciding factor. Unless you see a specific "feature" on one that you like more than the other, I would say get the one that has the best local support.
One down-fall of the new Stihls are that they are 4-mix engines, so even though they're 4-stroke you still have to mix gas. But that is a minor thing because it allows you to tilt the weed-eater any way you want, even run it upside down without oil getting in places it shouldn't. Plus, I already keep a jug of mixed gas for my chainsaws so I'm ok with 4-mix. BTW, I have the FS130R and it is an animal. 90% of the time I run it I have to feather the throttle to keep it off the rev limiter, but the extra power is awesome when I need it. I have a steep hill behind my house that grows up in nasty weeds, I keep them down to a reasonable height with the FS130R and it's an animal when I'm doing that. I just have problems keeping string on it. I did a lot of research on blade heads etc and found a lot of mixed reviews. So I opted for a higher quality square string (corners cut better). It does cut better and last a bit longer than the factory string did, but I have problems with the string melting and "fusing" to itself inside the head. I think it's just vibrations etc making it melt because the head isn't that hot. When the sting melts and fuses, it then doesn't feed out easily and it's a complete PITA to tear it apart and cut the string free and re-feed it. Guess I'll just put up with this roll for now and try another brand when it runs out... |
|
Quoted:
Thanks for all the info Guys. I usually just get what ever is on sale at HD but I need a good trimmer and blower and it sounds like min $200.00 for an only decent trimmer and maybe as much as $ 500.00 for a good one? How bout a blower? If you have a servicing dealer; try there. Pretty sure Echo has standardized pricing. Go with the Echo SRM 230 if you want best value. Shindawa for teir 1 win if you have the $$$. Stick with 2 strokes. I've settled on the Oregon .095 twisted line. Wears pretty good, cuts good, quiet, resistant to fusing, and the black color doesn't stand out when bits of line get left in a customer's lawn. If you find any Shakespeare ultra twist blue line; buy it all. |
I vote Stihl,I've had my FS74 for about 17 years. No problems still has the orginal Bosch plug in it, only thing I do is grease the gear box at the beginning of the season, drain the gas out at the end and add line as needed. My neighbor buys whatever the HD special is and never gets more than 1-2 years out of them. Told me he wont spend the money on one like mine because they just don't last .He goes through HD tractors at about the same rate.
|
|
Quoted:
I vote Stihl,I've had my FS74 for about 17 years. No problems still has the orginal Bosch plug in it, only thing I do is grease the gear box at the beginning of the season, drain the gas out at the end and add line as needed. My neighbor buys whatever the HD special is and never gets more than 1-2 years out of them. Told me he wont spend the money on one like mine because they just don't last .He goes through HD tractors at about the same rate.I've had my Shindaiwa trimmer and chainsaw for something around 14 years now and they're still going strong with normal maintenance. |
|
Quoted:
My 17 year old Echo 2100 is running like a champ. No idea what current Echos are like. I'd probably go Stihl if I was in the current market. I did replace the string head with a non-spool model this year; bump heads are teh suxor. I have one at least as old and I abuse the heck out of it and it just asks for more. In fact, it spent one winter outside (quite by accident) shielded only somewhat by an overhang and was no worse for wear - fresh gas and three or four pulls and it was humming along. This season I put an aftermarket metal blade brush head on it and it spent the summer clearing up old overgrown pasture fence lines. I am planning on getting a Stihl next year for brush/woods work for the extra oomph and handlebar controls, but will definitely keep the Echo for line work. |
I have had good luck with a straight shaft Ryobi. The motor will outlast the plastic gas tank though.  Go with the grass gator type heads that you cut the string to a specific length. You don't waste any more time replacing the string than you do effn with that spool. |
|
I've had a Ryobi trimmer for about 12 years now. The only thing I've replaced on it has been the fuel lines, which degraded over time and the bump-head. It's got the quick-attach head on it & I have a cultivator head for it. It's nothing fancy, but it keeps working.
|
