Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Best gas powered line trimmer (weed eater)?

Curved shafts are ok for short folks, but I feel like I'm always leaning over if I use one (and I'm only 5'11"). They also seem to be harder to store/take up more space. They also don't work that well for light edging. Others may feel differently.

There's plenty of decent $200ish string trimmers out there, but for one that actually runs a BLADE well, the prices start close to $500, have a straight shaft, and handlebars.

The point of the 046 is its extra long shaft.

Having worn out a Stihl saw and an echo saw I'll just say I wore out the Echo quicker than the Stihl. But the price difference was there too.

And eventually I'll put a new cylinder on both of them and be good to go again.

Echo is just a bit on the lightweight side to me, BUT that matters only vs what your requirements are.

I am a Stihl guy. The other stuff is probably good too, I just never used it. The service I have gotten from my local Stihl dealer has been great over the years and their dealer network is probably the best reason to go with them. Without knowing your exact situation, I suggest you look at whatever the equivalent of an FS-80 is that they sell now. Basically look at the smallest rig with handlebars that accepts brush blades....or maybe the next one up. IMO you hit the law of diminishing returns if you go bigger and more expensive. If you get into brush an 80 can't handle on a regular basis, get a tractor and bush hog. Talk to your Stihl guy and get his recommendation, then compare it to other brands if you want.

Whatever you get, alcohol free gas and fuel stabilizer is critical.

I have an FS 90 with the 4 mix engine.

Good machine.

My friend in Denmark gets hundreds of hours on his a year.....still running well.

Honda

I do this stuff for a living and the stihl and echo stuff is great for professional work but they come in second to Honda unless you need the power of one of the $500+ 2 handle models.

I have the bigger of the 2 Honda models without he 2 handed handle and it kicks the [bleep] out of a similar stihl.

Echo. Mine has been flawless with heavy use for over 10 ten years, chainsaw as well.

RoundUp by Monsanto.

Part of it depends on how big your yard is and what kind cutting you will be doing.

If your yard is .25 acre or less a little electric or battery powered weedeater will do. I have found with bigger yards a battery doesn't last and a long cord is a pita.

Brush cutting attachments generally require a more robust gas powered unit then string only.

I've always found you get what you pay for and in my experience that narrows the field a lot - Stihl or Husky. This time around I bought a Stihl 240 with the bike handles, nice machine, put the sling on and go. This is a more "robust" one but I've got an acre lot right now that I am bring back from years of neglect and it comes in handy.

I did the same research a few years ago. I bought an Echo. It is certainly good, but not great. It doesn't impress me or wow me the way the Toro mower does. It always starts, but never as easy as I think it should. Next time I am going to try a Stihl.

The real question the op needs to answer for himself is does he want a gas powered weed wacker, or a brush cutter? While they look the same, and some weedeaters take brush cutting attachments, a 25cc weed wacker is not up to swinging a brush cutting blade.

If might just have to go this route. I bought a straight shaft Homelite from HD 3-4 years ago and I've replace the carburetor 3 times now. I use stabil, drain the fuel and or run the fuel out in the fall. I'm about done messing with it.

I have a Stihl 45 and 46 string trimmer and for heavy weeds and light brush I use the PolyCut 6-3 head with three poly-blades. If it entails cutting dense mutiflora rose and saplings, out comes the chainsaw.

I bought one of the commercial grade Stihl trimmers and have been very disappointed. It is about the worst piece of power equipment that I have ever owned. Darn thing is very sensitive to flooding when priming it up. I never count on using it and consider it a bonus if it starts right up. I have a cheap ol Ryobi and an old Weed Eater brand that both work much better.

Before giving up on it (out of warranty??), try one of the $15 carbs on eBay. Sometiimes that's all it takes to "magically" cure a bunch of starting/idling/running issues.

I've got a beater/backup Echo 225 a buddy gave me (he couldn't get it to start, anymore). Could tell it had good spark/compression, but wouldn't start. About $10-$15 later, and a 3 day wait, the eBay carb showed up. Sent my buddy a phone video of my 8 year old starting it!!

Don't drain the fuel or run it dry.

Don't know if this will help but I agree that they, or at least some of them, are very easy to flood...you kind of have to get used to that quirk. Unless the machine has been sitting up for a while experiment with not priming with the bulb, especially if you see gas in it, or maybe just hit it once. Put the choke on, pull the string until it sputters, if it does, even the least little bit, DO NOT pull the string again until you take the choke off or you will probably flood it. Mine sputters after 3 pulls like clockwork. After I take the choke off another pull or two fires it up and its good to go.

When I first got my latest one, I flooded it so bad a couple of times that the air filter was soaking with gas because I was expecting it to start running with the choke on like my older one that got stolen. After I learned its "personality", I have not had any more trouble cranking it. Hope this helps.

We trim ~ 3500 linear ft of chain link fence - approximately 1700 ft - both sides, about 1 3/4 miles of building perimeter, the same amount of sidewalk edge, and (guessing) 1/2 mile around stored vehicles - not to mention around 40 electrical pedestals, 33 each water hydrants and sewer drops, and around 150 guard posts.
Having a bit of experience - I recommend Stihl. Mine is an FS 285 IIRC. The last one lasted quite a few years, but finally wore plumb out. It was the FS 85 IIRC.
They DO get a bit of use around here, though - so I feel my input is valid. The straight-shaft Stihl trimmers are hard to beat!