[NA]Experienced opinions on weedeaters/string trimmers

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

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Dave Taylor
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This thread is limited to those who either "weed-eat" professionally or do acres every summer.*
I need advice on units that are very, very hardy. If you do an ordinary 100x100 yard every weekend this is not for you.

I live attached to mine all summer, as I stupidly developed all this ornamental yard area and >100 trees when I was young and didn't mind.
It's time to replace mine.

My history is that I've always gotten a Stihl.
I love the engine for reliability and power. Mine started with a few pulls this spring after a winter of non-use.
I have never needed to tune this one up beyond the occasional spark plug, I keep the air filter clean, I run it 50:1 as recommended by the dealer.
(It's an FS90R)

However I HATE the string feeder / bump head. I am always taking it apart to pull string. In addition, the heads don't last very long - they wear internally and stop feeding. They do hold 2x 10feet of string which is a lot better than some but the feeding is poor.
This is with dealer-recommended or dealer-supplied string.
I have also tried the 'trick' of oiling the string as it goes on with WD40, or soaking the head with string in a bucket of water.
Not old string, either.

Has any well-experienced person here found a weedeater that has the good qualities above, with a large capacity bump-head which feeds reliably?

Thanks

* I know I can't dissuade anyone from piping in with their weedeater story from when they were 14 and did the neighbor's 10x10 flower garden, but I can only respond to those with some history with the devices.
 
I switched to electric a couple years ago, dewalt because that's where my battery investment already was, and am very happy with my string trimmer. I have no idea how to convert our small one acre yard into a quantity of trees, but I can say that I never use more than a quarter of a battery.

Anyway, main reason I'm talking about an electric even though you have a huge project, is that the bump head is that best I've ever owned. Rarely jams, is easy to reload. Just works.
 
I had a gas Ryobi that finally started falling apart. Last year I switched to a 48v battery powered Ryobi (Home Depot).

The bump feed seems to work OK. I did have to restring it last week. That took longer than I expected, but I had never done it before and had to find a how-to video.

It holds about 16’-20’ of line (half of that length for each trimming end), so about 2x10’.

It’s probably just a little light duty for your application, but that battery does last a long time.
 
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Hate to ask such a simple question, but are you winding the string properly?

Also, some cheaper trimmers have an automatic string function, no more bumping required. I have Stihl chainsaw and leaf blower, but unfamiliar with their weed eater product line and the heads/string-feeding.
 
I have an older Husqvarna that my father law gave me. is a nice trimmer but needs a tune up. I love that it is a 4 stroke so no gas mixing, Still easily starts but if I lug it down whacking thick weeds it acts like it is staving for fuel, i.e. tries to die. If I slow down and don't let it lug down it does great. I don't recall it doing this when I 1st got it.
Unfortunately it has the same issue with the bump head you described as generally worn out. I rebuilt some of the head parts last year and it currently seems to be working pretty well, but I feel like it needs a new head. I don't know how much usage it got before I got it, but I don't expect it was an exceptional amount. I have about an triangle shaped acre, I mostly just trim the fence lines when they start to get over a foot tall or so.
So sorry probably a whole of rambling with little content other than my current experience with the head doesn't seem to indicate it is any better than the Stil.
I generally try to avoid gas engines if I don't really need one, Currently mostly just the Lawn Mower and the Wood Chipper are gas. Gas engines just require more maintenance than I like especially when I start get a lot of them. I spend enough time keeping motorcycles, ATV's, and cars running. Trying to decided if I should have someone tune the Husqvarna for me or spring for a 40V Ryobi trimmer. Biggest problem with the Ryobi is I haven't yet transitioned to any 40 V batteries.
I do have an 18V Ryobi with the auto feed head. I don't really care for the auto feed, basically it feed every time you stop the trimmer so if you cycle it a lot it wastes a lot of string so I tend to throttle it down and run half speed when not actively trimming. It works well but is a bit light duty for the kind of trimming I do.

Brian
 
rwellner98 said:
I switched to electric a couple years ago, dewalt because that's where my battery investment already was, and am very happy with my string trimmer. I have no idea how to convert our small one acre yard into a quantity of trees, but I can say that I never use more than a quarter of a battery.

Anyway, main reason I'm talking about an electric even though you have a huge project, is that the bump head is that best I've ever owned. Rarely jams, is easy to reload. Just works.
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I'm guessing you have an EGO brand. That's what I have and I love it. It is 4 years old and the bump head still works perfectly. And it has an auto-load that takes a few seconds to wind in a new length of string. The battery seems to last forever on the weed eater, but the same battery gives out after about 20 minutes in the edger.

I maintain about an acre that has about a dozen native-plant Islands.

That said, I have always suspected that a Stihl would be better, but I also have the EGO chain saw, edger, blower, hedge trimmer and I just bought a new EGO self propelled mower and they all use the same batteries. I'm very happy with my collection. The chain saw still uses chain lube, but other than that, I don't have to keep a bunch of liquid fuels and lubricants around.

Also, I don't do "Acres every summer", but I'm in Florida and I do ONE acre every damn week of the year.
 
I’ve owned 15 or so…. NEVER found one worth a crap.

That being said, I have finally settled on CHEAP. They ALL work well when new…

Or, just figure out how to manually advance the thing. I can set it down and advance manually over the life of a machine then screwing with perfect winding and 50 percent success (unfouling all the rest of the time).

Straight shaft, no frills, simple handles. Change the plug until it frustrates you then pitch it. I do like the biggest spool I can find.

ZERO gas with ethanol. Period.

If you ever take a fairing off to work on it, just throw the fairing away…
 
Htaylor said:
This. Once I learned to wind the string correctly at the correct tension or tightness, the feed mechanism worked flawlessly until the entire thing was worn out.
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Not this.
I was trained by the dealer, since then the dealer has confirmed I’m doing it right.
But, thanks.
 
I’ve used a Stihl commercial line trimmer to do the fence line around an 8-ish acre horse pasture before. It’s ok as long as stuff doesn’t get too heavy. For that I have a Remington walk-behind string trimmer. If you’ve never seen one imagine a push mower with a huge string trimmer head instead of the normal grass blade. The “string” isn’t auto fed, you have to cut them to length and replace each side as they break. However the “line” is much heavier stuff than your typical string trimmer line so it doesn’t break so easily.

Right now I’ve got one of the big saw-blade type heads on my stihl trimmer for taking down heavier brush in a forlorn attempt to reclaim some of my property from the woods.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Not this.
I was trained by the dealer, since then the dealer has confirmed I’m doing it right.
But, thanks.
Click to expand...

Does the dealer know what they're doing? Cause... well... you never know these days. I'd trust a YouTube expert over some kid at Ace Hardware.

I treated myself to a new stihl recently. Really like it, hope it gives me the same reliability and performance of my stihl chainsaw I bought over 20 years ago. Though I haven't used it enough to even have to load the spool.

I also really liked my previous Echo, which I got used from my step-dad. It didn't see light duty. It came from a 25 acre property with a yard the size of a couple football fields with tons of trimming work. I haven't so much as changed a spark plug in the thing since 2019. It started first pull, every time, for who knows how many years. Not even my new stihl is as easy to start as that old echo. Until this year, it ran horribly and broke the spool. I may still fix it and sell it, or keep for a backup. I just needed to weedeat that day, and I had a new stihl ready to go in under an hour, rather than wait on parts for the Echo, which I could not find locally. And, Echo doesn't make that particular model anymore, I looked.
 
Assuming you're using a straight shaft trimmer, not a curved one? The hubs and bearings, if any, on the curved ones are usually kinda garbagey. I use a straight shaft Echo, cheap line from Tractor Supply, I beat it up and it's always run fine. I don't constantly feed it, and never feed while cutting. I wait until the RPMs climb up while cutting, then give it a gentle tap on the grass at medium speed to feed. Carry pre-cut pieces of string in my pocket and just wind it up as I go. I'm going to get another so I can convert one to a blade trimmer for brush. If you're doing that much work you might want to get a metal weed blade anyway.

FWIW the landscaping trailers around here will have either Echo or Stihl on their racks from what I've seen, and more the former than the latter. I don't think I've ever seen a professional crew use either a curved shaft trimmer or an electric trimmer.
 
Second, the Echo. We've gone through a few (tiny 2 stroke motors aren't the most reliable things). The bumphead works well and my wife has the blade of death (metal thing) that you can use as well.
 
Still is for chainsaws.

Echo is for trimmers.

Although the dewault is pretty good
 
Moved to an Ego 56 volt with the auto feed head. It will run circles around any of the others I've had with the exception of the big Echo I've put in storage. Two speed motor and will take down anything most people have in the way of weeds and overgrowth. I take care of almost an acre and a half with nearly 1000 feet of fence and 30 or so trees.
 
I use a Stihl and I think it is a FS90 for many years now. I do 2 acres at work and 4 acres at home every week. My suggestion is to keep the cutter sharp with a file or grinder that cuts the string and only tap the head to advance the line at full throttle. Also those holes that the line feeds through on the head, is to keep these clean and smooth so the line advances smoothly. I use non ethanol 90 oct gas in my lawn equipment and stihl 2 stroke oil. I bet my weed eater is 10+ years old and still works fine.

I do have to admit that I bought my wife a light weight battery trimmer a couple years ago and she does some of the trimming now. I also bought a new zero turn mower with a steering wheel a couple years ago and now she cuts some grass. It helps me a bunch. Gives me more time to fly.
 
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40V Ryobi with regular string trimmer heads and a brush-cutting head, for 2 acres, about half of which is heavily wooded and brush-covered. Works flawlessly after five years. Not sure that I've ever had to change a battery before I wore out myself, but I have a raft of Ryobi batteries (including for their 18" chainsaw, which is surprisingly excellent and has let me fell about 20 trees recently with no issues at all). The brush-cutting head is an absolute metal monster and I can clear huge areas quickly. The string-trimmer head required replacement once due to wearing down (but internally worked perfectly) but otherwise I've had no issues at all.
 
I use a KM111 combi tool with the straight shaft trimmer. I swapped out the spool with the Stihl autoreel. You just cut a long length of string and twist the knob to spoil it into the reel. Has worked pretty good for me so far.
 
My electric trimmer has an inertial feed that advances every time you start it up. No smashing the head into the ground.... just let off the trigger, let it stop, press the trigger and it lets out a little more.
 
Straight shaft Echo line trimmer (SRM-225 or SRM-230) with Echo's Speed Feed bump head. Line comes out easily, and can be reloaded really quickly as well. We used to use the Echo Speed-Feed (was a different model back then) heads on our Stihl trimmers when I did landscaping in college. I have had my Echo line trimmer (as well as backpack blower and chainsaw) for a decade and do nothing but the typical air filter and spark plug every other season. They all fire up within 2 pulls of the cord. If I were doing larger areas, I'd go with the SRM-3020 just because of the 20" cutting diameter. Plenty of power, well balanced. Longer trimmer sessions would be well-served to wear the shoulder harness to take the weight off your arms. My ONLY complaint on my Echo trimmer is the smaller deflector/guard on the SRM-225/230 models. The newer 3020 model has a wider guard to keep from getting hit with as much debris when trimming off to the side.

I DO have an EGO 4.0ah battery-powered edger that works well, but it is heavier than the gas-powered counterparts (close to 17lbs w/battery). I have very little to edge, so it serves its purpose. I wouldn't want to lug it around doing trimming for 20-30 minutes. I'd just assume have the power and longer run time of the ICE-powered Echo at 12+lbs.
 
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I asked a guy I know that has had a fifteen man full time crew he contracts for trimming services on large industrial sites for years now what he uses. No auto feed heads, they use heads that are discs with holes and quick replacement whips that are thicker and have a bulge on the end to hold them in place. When they break or wear short, push the old one out and slide in a new one. For ruff/woody weed clearing they use thin strand steel cable and make their own to use in the same head with swadged on “beads”.
 
Flatiowa said:
I asked a guy I know that has had a fifteen man full time crew he contracts for trimming services on large industrial sites for years now what he uses. No auto feed heads, they use heads that are discs with holes and quick replacement whips that are thicker and have a bulge on the end to hold them in place. When they break or wear short, push the old one out and slide in a new one. For ruff/woody weed clearing they use thin strand steel cable and make their own to use in the same head with swadged on “beads”.
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We have a DR Trimmer walk-behind trimmer that we use for the cattle pens/chutes areas and such which uses a similar head where we keep pre-cut trimmer line to swap out. It works fine, but I can't see it being any more efficient than a bump-style trimmer head from a time-spent standpoint. Especially having to walk around with pre-cut lines with you in your pocket or walk back to the truck each time.
 
FORANE said:
I'm experienced enough to know this is a job best hired done.
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Depends...primary house is quoted berween 125$ and 180$ a session to mow and weed eat. At times, it has to be done twice a week. Other house is 350$ a time, as it has 30+ trees and over 600 feet of fence to weed eat under.
 
Craig said:
Depends...primary house is quoted berween 125$ and 180$ a session to mow and weed eat. At times, it has to be done twice a week. Other house is 350$ a time, as it has 30+ trees and over 600 feet of fence to weed eat under.
Click to expand...
Get a commercial ride on mower. Spray weed killer on the fence line. Ignore the few blades of grass around the trees that your mower can't get.
 
FORANE said:
Get a commercial ride on mower. Spray weed killer on the fence line. Ignore the few blades of grass around the trees that your mower can't get.
Click to expand...
I have a zero turn, and only weed eat where necessary. Commercial service won't quote without doing whole yard and all the weed eating. Using weed killer is a no go around the one place due to vegetable gardens being right next to three sides of the back of the property. At the primary house, we have outdoor animals, as do 3 of the 5 other houses we share fences with. The zt takes me about 20 minute to mow what I do at the one place and under 10 minutes on the weed eater, and about 8 minutes on the zt at the main house. Takes me about 30 minutes to weed eat the fence line, around the back side of the house and between the one house door and the garage door.
 
Used an old school Tanaka with an auto feed head called "the brain" - had a centrifugal clutch to advance line when it spun up. Worked surprisingly well and since you weren't bumping it in the sand and dirt it tended to stay working well. Sounds like Tanaka got bought out near 20 years ago and rebranded a bunch of stuff till they ceased production a few years ago. sigh.

Personally I like Husqvarna, only complaint is I do have to clean out the head pretty good every time I rewind line and sometimes halfway through as well. Bumping close tolerance plastic parts against sand and dirt is a pretty dumb solution for advancing line. I'd put Husqy on the same level as Stihl and Echo, or Toro pro level.

I do find the heavy duty stuff does work a bit better, think the two handed trimmers with a sling.
 
Decided to break my long standing policy to stick with Ryobi. I grabbed a Milwaukee M12 hex driver for a project. Man, that thing is nice!
 
Have you tried/considered the head with the swinging plastic blades? More of a pain when they do wear/break (have to unscrew the pivot and put a new blade in), but much more durable and no feed issues.

Sorry if this has already been covered and I missed it.
 
I'm not your target responder based on acreage, but I have woods on two sides of my house and I keep a wide fire break buffer cleared back... a mix of grass, young unbrush, plamettos, etc... and lots of pine trees. I bought an ego a few years ago. I agree with others it's teh best autofeed head I've had. It doesn't seem to overfeed so I'm not having to refill it often.
still, two weeks ago I had the pole hedge trimmer attachment mounted and decided to give that a go for the underbrush. Of course couldn't trim right up to the trees but overall I'd say it was faster, with the wide cut and not having to deal with breaking the string
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
This thread is limited to those who either "weed-eat" professionally or do acres every summer.*
I need advice on units that are very, very hardy. If you do an ordinary 100x100 yard every weekend this is not for you.

I live attached to mine all summer, as I stupidly developed all this ornamental yard area and >100 trees when I was young and didn't mind.
It's time to replace mine.

My history is that I've always gotten a Stihl.
I love the engine for reliability and power. Mine started with a few pulls this spring after a winter of non-use.
I have never needed to tune this one up beyond the occasional spark plug, I keep the air filter clean, I run it 50:1 as recommended by the dealer.
(It's an FS90R)

However I HATE the string feeder / bump head. I am always taking it apart to pull string. In addition, the heads don't last very long - they wear internally and stop feeding. They do hold 2x 10feet of string which is a lot better than some but the feeding is poor.
This is with dealer-recommended or dealer-supplied string.
I have also tried the 'trick' of oiling the string as it goes on with WD40, or soaking the head with string in a bucket of water.
Not old string, either.

Has any well-experienced person here found a weedeater that has the good qualities above, with a large capacity bump-head which feeds reliably?

Thanks

* I know I can't dissuade anyone from piping in with their weedeater story from when they were 14 and did the neighbor's 10x10 flower garden, but I can only respond to those with some history with the devices.
Click to expand...
My Stihl FS-131 has been trouble free, and the engine is a 1.9 HP bad mofo. It does torque rolls when the throttle is blipped. I've not had issues with the feed, it holds about 18' of .090 string. When fitted with a blade it'll easily fell a 2½ tree.

I have 2 acres to manage.
 
I have a Stihl FS-94, have had probably 15 years. The best thing I ever did was buy the special thin wall nutdriver to fit the high speed needle. Every couple of years when using for the first time in the spring it doesn't rev fully. Screw the needle into the seat lightly counting the turns, then remove and spray the seat with cleaner, then reinstall the needle to the original setting. Have done a half dozen times over the years, and the fix hasn't failed me yet.
 
I’ve never had the land you’ve got. I have had Echo string trimmers and they’re very good.
Local mower shop who sells and services a bunch of brands including Stihl and Echo told me (years ago) that Stihl commercial are great, but their consumer grade stuff uses different engines that are cheaper. Bushings instead of bearings, no cylinder sleeves, etc. while Echo uses the same excellent engines in both. Just another data point. I do know the Echo stuff starts every time.
 
I’ve had (have) several. The best of the lot by far is my 4-stroke Honda.
 
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