Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Walk behind string trimmer

Any of you use one, anything to look for. I'm leaning towards a self propelled one so far i found DR and echo make them

We have a Gravely, my wife says it pushes too hard.

Had a DR at the cabin. Worked well but If your on steep incline, IMHO, I’d rather use a good straight shaft trimmer. Echo is the only choice for me. I’d expect the echo walk behind is equally bullet proof.

I have a friend that has had a DR for more years than i can remember.

It has not had a problem and is easy to use.

It is a tough bastid.

Find one with a head that can be offset either direction. If not, you can cut only on the RH side close to a wall or fence, for example.

Bruce

They are a lot of work better off with a straight shaft weed eater!

Got a Poulan Pro that’s a few years old. Works well for cleaning fence lines (barbed wire or split rail), and high grass up under trees. I’ve also got a Billy Goat walk behind brushcutter.

They both have their place. The walk behind string trimmers are good for the uses I described above, or for cleaning high grass out of drainage culverts that are too steep/difficult to mow with a lawn mower, but don’t expect them to take down large sunflowers/saplings/etc. If you’re doing saplings/vines, get one of the brushcutters.

Mine will let the motor run WITHOUT spinning the head, if I want (separate control to engage string head). I really like that feature.

I have one, can't tell you the brand as it's in the back of the garage. Bought it to clear a neglected yard. Can't say I like it. Broke string off like crazy. Was awkward holding it at proper angle. Using it on a hill was exhausting. Bought a heavy duty straight shaft trimmer and never looked back.

Rented a friend's place in OR for a couple of years. He had one, can't remember the brand. About 3/4 acre of crap between the trees in his backyard, on a bit of a slope. The self propelled bit was a big help getting it back to the top.

Yeah, a straight shaft worked, and I used it for the other parts of the property, but that big SOB was nice for doing the hard work once a year or so. I'm talking blackberry canes an inch in diameter, sometimes a bit bigger.

Beaver10 knows of what I speak.

If I just wanted to use the straight shaft, and not use the big SOB, I had to use a brush blade instead of the string head. And I'm no fan of them.

Go with the self propelled. Thank me later if you have any slope to the property.

Or buy a goat.

I've had two DR's over a period of probably 25 years. As mentioned above, get one with the head that offsets so you can trim right up to fences, buildings or whatever. A few thoughts based on a lot of use:

If you have, like I did for years, a yard that much of which can not be considered "lawn" but that you wish to keep trimmed up and looking nice, they're great. Even if you have a grass area that you like to keep mowed, but has enough lumps, rocks etc to beat up a bladed mower they're useful for that. They won't mow a flat lawn with the kind of golf course precision a bladed mower will, but they'll do it well enough. Quickest, easiest way ever to clean the weeds and grass out under the electric fence frequently. Every year I used one to knock down the burdock along the driveway before it got big enough to be a problem. Stuff like goldenrod, just mow it right down. I also had a blade, circular, with saw chain around the circumference, that was great for going in and knocking down small saplings, anything up to about 3 inches...much easier and probably safer, than going in all bent over with a chainsaw. After having the first one for a couple of years, I got rid of my straight-shaft trimmer.

Echo

My only experience with DR is a tow behind tiller. If the trimmer is the same quality, RUN. I've put more money into repairs in 8 years than I paid for it.

Just sold mine this week, bought it last year. Found it inferior in every way to q good handheld trimmer.

I would like to try one , I used my big Stihl for a couple of hours today and it wore me out .

I have one out in the weeds save your money and get a trimmer

I have two and a half acres with field fence all the way around and pretty flat for the most part. My walk behind is a model I bought off Amazon pretty cheap and I've been using it for about 3 years now. It works perfectly for clearing the grass, blackberries, and even small tree shoots up to about 1/2" where I can't get close to the fence with the tractor mower... I have to change strings often, but I just carry a bunch of pre cut strings in my back pocket and change them when I need to - about every 15-30 minutes, depending on how often I hit a solid object like the fence. changing the two strings on the head takes about a minute each time... It's pretty good on gas and is pretty easy to push around but as said, it only cuts close on one side, so you have to cut one direction, which isn't a big problem on my property but might be on other places...

Not sure at this point if I would want a self driven one or not. Seems like it would be too easy for it to get away from you when you get into tight spaces or areas you don't want to cut some things down... but I wouldn't replace mine with a string trimmer for anything. I've tried doing my property with a string trimmer and it was a PIA....

Bob

I am to the point to just burn it

One of the main weeds here is kochia, large and very tough stems. A hand held string trimmer won't cut it so I have a Stihl trimmer with a steel blade.

I'm listening in to answers to the OP's question.

I've been thinking about one for running along irrigation lines to clear them (hay field ... grass gets tall enough to tangle up the sprinkler heads) and mark them so they don't get busted up by the cutter / baler. I've been doing it with a straight shaft trimmer .. big Stihl .. and it's at least a 12, sometimes 16 hour job to do the whole property. That's without mowing, just prep. When I'm done my back is [bleep] for about a week.

I'm not sure what to get though. I'd like to stay with Stihl because that's what all our other equipment is and having a single fuel/oil mix simplifies things, but the Stihl option is an add-on for the yard boss rather than a complete, purpose-built unit and this might be more job than it is meant to handle.

Almost all of the 2 strokes use a 50:1 fuel mix so that's not a good reason to avoid other brands of tools.