Strimmers? Any recommendations?

[Gaijin]

If battery, make sure it's a Li-ion variant - I have a Bosch Ni-Mh or Ni-Cad and it takes ages to charge and doesnt last long.

Similarly, if going petrol, go big or go home (cost/quality wise). I bought a Ryobi petrol brushcutter as I got a good deal, and i've had problems where I can't use it for longer than 20 mins otherwise it will start to surge or over-rev. My lawnmower guy won't touch it as it uses a cheap Chinese carb and says they are just junk. It only has a single adjustment screw which isn't designed to be user-adjusted, so I had to dremel a slot in it to adjust it (to not much effect I might add). 20 mins is on the cusp of how much I generally need to use it so it's not too much trouble, but now with hindsight, I wouldn't buy anything that isn't Stihl, Tanaka, Efco or similar grade. It really is a case of buy cheap - buy twice. I now have a Tanaka hedge trimmer and the difference (engine wise) is night and day, particularly with starting it.

 

[HugsHeal]

We have a cheapo corded qualcast one. Always hated strimmers before but this thing is brilliant. The auto feed works as it should and the line that came with it lasted a full summer. I've replaced it this year with Wilko's own 1.6mm line and it's been similarly brilliant so far. I have found its best not to try wind too much line onto the spool.

 

[iMacMart]

We have a cheapo corded qualcast one. Always hated strimmers before but this thing is brilliant. The auto feed works as it should and the line that came with it lasted a full summer. I've replaced it this year with Wilko's own 1.6mm line and it's been similarly brilliant so far. I have found its best not to try wind too much line onto the spool.

Which model?

 

[Pho]

Similarly, if going petrol, go big or go home (cost/quality wise). I bought a Ryobi petrol brushcutter as I got a good deal, and i've had problems where I can't use it for longer than 20 mins otherwise it will start to surge or over-rev.

...

but now with hindsight, I wouldn't buy anything that isn't Stihl, Tanaka, Efco or similar grade. It really is a case of buy cheap - buy twice. I now have a Tanaka hedge trimmer and the difference (engine wise) is night and day, particularly with starting it.

I used to have a Ryobi expand-it strimmer. It generally worked fine but the clutch was awful. It used a centrifugal design and they kept getting super hot during use and shattering so I had to replace it a few times - they're only about £5 but it was annoying.

One time whilst trying to figure out why the clutch was slipping I decided to remove the bell housing off the clutch and turn the strimmer on to see what was happening. For some unknown reason the engine decided to rev up and remain at max RPM. The centrifugal clutch did its job and expanded out so I had two spinning daggers at 10k RPM. In starting it I'd also managed to rip the wire off the kill switch so I couldn't stop it. I had to go hide around the corner whilst it destroyed itsself. It shook me up somewhat to say the least.

I got sick of my other strimmer bogging down in grass no matter how many times I rebuilt the carb and tweaked the fuel mixtures so I took delivery of a second hand Husqvana 545RX last night. 46CC of raw Swedish power . I had a quick five minute go earlier, it's rather powerful

Whats better petrol or battery, petrol being noisy and hard to get the right fuel/oil mix and battery as it heavier (i'd imagine) and wouldn't last as long

I'm in the market for a strimmer not looking to spend more then £150 I'd say

Petrol if you want power. Oil/fuel mix is dead easy just buy a mixer bottle. From the photo on Amazon fill the right section up to one of the notches with 2-stroke oil, then fill the left section up the same number of notches with petrol. Give it a shake/mix and you're done. If you look at the photo the top of the right section has "25:1" which will give you a 25:1 fuel ratio. On the other side of the bottle will be stamped 50:1 and the side probably has 40:1 on it, if you fill the oil up to the corresponding notchs on those sides you'll get those fuel mixtures instead.

Would you buy Second hand? You can gets lots of old Stihl's off eBay for that price.

 

[iMacMart]

Thanks, not really looking to spend much over £160 really

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Spec me a strimmer. You know you are getting old when you need to post/read one of these threads

 

[platypus]

If anyone wants a Stihl petrol strimmer that needs repairing for free, you're welcome to mine. My father in law gave me one in a sort of broken state, it takes about 10 pulls to catch and then doesn't always rev properly, but I'm sure it can be repaired. I simply don't want it taking up the space it does, and as stupid as it sounds I can't see me having the time to get it repaired in the near future.

 

[BigBoy]

@platypus if your ever around Bath I would take it off your hands!

 

[platypus]

It's unlikely I'll be there in the near future .

 

[BigBoy]

 

[morfmedia]

Another Titan multi tool user here.

I did have to replace the fuel line after a couple of years as it had perished but it works great as a strummer, hedge trimmer and pruner.

Checking the big auction site there are some good deals on 2nd hand ones

 

[Shimmyhill]

Anyone got a Ryobi one+ strimmer? I’m going battery and it’s that or black and decker from my research, I like the idea of a battery system for multiple tools but want a strimmer and hedge cutter first!

I have a electric one and it’s too much faff in small front garden and back garden is longer than lead so add in extension and pain to use, petrol is overkill so I think battery is the way to go!

 

[jellybeard999]

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/ma...81z-bare-tool-only-9999-terrier-tools-2940331

Saw this and looks a good deal.

Add a Makita drill for the battery and charger if you don't already have any Makita kit. Probably better value than buying a battery and charger individually!

 

[Minstadave]

Anyone got a Ryobi one+ strimmer? I’m going battery and it’s that or black and decker from my research, I like the idea of a battery system for multiple tools but want a strimmer and hedge cutter first!

I have a electric one and it’s too much faff in small front garden and back garden is longer than lead so add in extension and pain to use, petrol is overkill so I think battery is the way to go!

I use the battery black and decker for the allotment and it’s great, up to even tough weeds and long grass but battery only lasts 20 mins of heavy use.

 

[Regy53]

I have a Qualcast petrol, it’s the biggest pile of junk. It’s I assume two years old now gets used for 10 mins every two weeks in the summer

The auto feed line is rubbish. As is the parts support from Homebase, the engine is painful get start properly, my choke doesn’t work correctly and hasn’t since about a month after I got it.

It’s got power and when it works it’s ok but i think if I had my time again I would get battery

 

[iMacMart]

If anyone wants a Stihl petrol strimmer that needs repairing for free, you're welcome to mine. My father in law gave me one in a sort of broken state, it takes about 10 pulls to catch and then doesn't always rev properly, but I'm sure it can be repaired. I simply don't want it taking up the space it does, and as stupid as it sounds I can't see me having the time to get it repaired in the near future.

Hey platypus I'm in Letchworth Hertfordshire where in Cambridge are you mate?

 

[platypus]

I've sent you a trust.

 

[iMacMart]

I've sent you a trust.

Hey @platypus I've not seen anything come through ...

I sent you a trust too, did you receive it?

Thanks

 

[fonzee]

Stihl sounds like it just needs the carb cleaning out or replacing half hour max!

btw those of you with the beastly Titan... when the carb eventually starts giving up you can replace it with one a Honda GX22, GX25, GX31 and GX35 which ultimately is the same build but it has the added bonus of fuel adjustment. Titan themselves didn't want to know RE me enquiring about a replacement carb.

Takes 10 mins to swap, easy as pie and runs even sweeter now. The carb costs a tener.

 

[£15]

I got an email from GTECH offering their cordless strimmer and a spare battery for £83.99 with code RK53. No idea if they're any good, though.

https://www.gtech.co.uk/gtech-st20-cordless-grass-trimmer.html