Poll: Strimmer question

Which strimmer do I need?

  • A nice light cordless one

    Votes: 13 21.0%

  • A small electric Flymo one

    Votes: 8 12.9%

  • A great big petrol one capable of felling lampposts

    Votes: 41 66.1%
  • Total voters
    62

Rotty

Rotty

Rotty

Don
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
42,302
Location
Chon Buri, Thailand
Having a debate with the wife

I need a strimmer for cutting a few blades of grass around the base of a couple of trees from time to time

As a bloke do I need

A. A nice light cordless one

B. A small electric Flymo one

C. A great big petrol one capable of felling lampposts

?
 
I voted C.

But you need to accept your wife is right and go with A or B depending on how far said trees are away from a power point.
 
Only by choosing C will the strimming ever be carried out. Nothing beats the smell of fresh cut grass mixed with petrol fumes in the morning, or any other time of the day.
 
FWIW, I have a Bosch battery powered lawn mower with a 24V Li-ion battery. It cost a fair bit more that the equivalent corded mover but it is very quick and easy to use without the need to run an extension lead to plug it in and the hassle (and risk) of dragging a cable behind you. The only problem I had is that the charger died after 18 months and it cost £70 to replace.....
 
I've thrown away two crud strimmers and reverted to manual edging shears. By the time I've found the extension lead and plugged it in then faffed around with the nylon I've done it with the manual shears.

If I had anymore to do it would be a petrol stihl electric is pony.
 
Similar situation, will be going petrol power. I made the mistake with an electric leaf blower and is just a pain carrying the cable around and it is barely powerful enough.The battery powered onces are heavier and even less powerful.
 
Big fat one. You'll not regret it's power!! And the smaller electric and plastic ones seem to be a bit flimsy.
 
We don't have grass any more so don't need one thankfully.
The nylon spools used to drive me mad.
I did have a Bosch cordless one that used plastic blades rather than spooled nylon and that was probably the best.
 
If it is for light work then a cordless one so that she can do her bit.

A plastic blade would be my preference.
 
I bought a stihl on the bay for £90 around 8 years ago. It has never seen a service and starts and runs every season without fail. Its probably a bit heavy duty for your average garden, but its paid for itself 10 times over and doesn't seem to want to give up.
 
C

I had the same predicament, albeit with slightly more than "a couple of trees", but stumbled across the end of season sale at the local DIY store.

Definitely an "eyes too big for your belly" moment as I ended up with a 52cc Petrol Ryobi brushcutter which is total overkill. One of those "suspended from a chest harness" jobbies.

rbc52sb.jpg


It comes with a nylon spool too but is ridiculously over powered. The kickback from it makes hitting what you want a challenge. It destroys everything but despite the collateral damage to the garden - I love it.
 
Depends how heavy duty this "few blades of grass" cutting is. If its a suburban lawn then a small lightweight one will be adequate. Or a small Stihl petrol jobbie, the ones with the curved shafts are designed to be used flat/horizontal or flipped over to use vertically (edging lawns, way faster than edging shears). I've used these professionally in the past its lightweight and easy to start, lighter than most of of the electric ones and better balanced (electric trimmers are nose heavy due to the motor being at the bottom, petrol ones have the strimmer head at one end and the engine at the other making the fulcrum in the middle, much more comfortable). If you do go electric avoid Flymo they're rubbish honestly.

http://www.stihl.co.uk/STIHL-Produc...immers-and-brushcutters/212393-210/FS-38.aspx

A straight shaft brushcutter is total overkill unless you have half an acre of scrub to tame.
 
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