Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Weed Eaters

LOL! Most of my "trimming" is done with "Eraser" (effective 10 to 12 weeks) or "Eraser Plus" (effective one full year).
I don't use weedkiller around my bee yard. I'll risk a few stings to mow and weed eat.

I have an Echo that is a great machine.
But, 2 years ago I bought the 80v Kobalt at Lowes, this thing is great.

I bought an echo srm 265 in 2009. It gets used alot. Runs as good as new. I only run non ethanol fuel in it.

Echo 2622T is a hoss. Best I have.
Shindiawa ?? T is next (because dealer didn’t have any Echo’s in stock)
Stihl 94r (have 2 ) good but they’re not made like they used to be.
Stihl 131 Super strong and heavy but can handle any job.
Husqvarna 242 (handle bars) and 20 yrs old it’s a beast and you need the double shoulder harness to operate it.


These are professional models that I run with my lawn crews. These machines run 8-10 hrs per day every day. They have a 3 year warranty but after 3 yrs they’re shot running that hard.
My suggestion is purchase the most power (torque) at the lightest weight you’re comfortable with. A $150 machine is junk and will not last. Spend $300+ and you’ll never replace it. Only use pure gas. Never use ethanol gas, it will kill a small engine.
JMO

I have both at the moment - a small husky with string and a larger stihl with a three blade brush cutter (also a heavier string head and a saw blade). The husky is left over from when I lived in a suburb on a quarter acre lot. The Stihl came along now that I'm on 15 acres outside of town. Still use the little string trimmer around the house, but the Stihl comes out for anything more than grass or yard weeds.

If I was starting over I'd just go ahead and buy Stihl, but that could be because there is a good servicing dealer half a mile from my house now.

So, today's message is: Whatever brand you buy get one large/powerful/versatile enough for the heaviest stuff you'll be cutting. And, you don't want plastic strings if you get into anything with thick fibrous or woody stems.

Stihl, Stihl, Stihl, Stihl

Ever since I bought the Milwaukee battery version, no one on the farm has even looked at the gas powered one.

Everybody HATES the gas version. The electric starts every single time. No two hour runs to town to get gas and oil. No spilled fuel all over. No stale fuel turning black in a can somewhere. No pulling plugs because it flooded, again.

If I was buying one, I would go battery also. I have too many gas powered units though that people have given me. A piece of fuel line, maybe a primer bulb and refill the string spool; good to go. Sell em or give them away when there are too many around. Currently have a couple of Homelites and a couple of Ryobis I use occasionally. Have to keep two cycle fuel around for the chain saws anyway so it isn't a problem.


Jerry

The bastards that come up with a lot of the respooling procedures should be hung by their testicles with a bowling ball in each hand.

[video:youtube]https://m.youtube.com/shorts/zYvMpx2GHso[/video]

I have Stihl and Echo, they both seem to be equivalent good machines IMO. Don't know that brand is all that important...they all make "pro" versions and "homeowner" versions. The Echo Speed Feed head is mighty handy for re-stringing if used to trim a civilized lawn but can tangle if you get it in much more in my experience.

Consider getting a light brushcutter version with bike handlebars if you have any kind of back issues. The position you have to be in to run one with a "hoop handle" really makes my back gripe whereas with the handle bar version I can cut for as long as I need to comfortably.

The little carburetors on all of them are real dinky contraptions with plastic primer bulbs and probably little plastic diaphragms inside that ethanol will destroy. Non ethanol gas is non negotiable to avoid headaches.

Shindawa for me.

My neighbor is a landscaper and that's what he has.
I have a Husqevarna,,works not overly impressed with it.

I have an old..old Stihl FS75 . A new Stihl FS 131R 4 cycle. The 131 will flood if you prime it or choke it....just pull the rope and start it.

I also have a Bearcat high wheel trimmer ....don't use it much.

Ryobi 40V weed eater. .095 string works well. The 4 AH battery will do all the weedeating I need.

Let's try that again...

I bought a FS 131 a couple years ago and discovered the flooding issue when priming. Not a problem on a cold start. Big problem after a refuel or break. The flooding is mostly a fuel soaked air filter. Keep a spare on hand and swap them out if it gets wet with fuel.

I bought a used Stihl FS76 several years ago for weed whacking around the house and it worked fine for a couple years. Had trouble starting it and couldn't blow out the carb like most of my small machines so I bought one of those $12 carbs for it off Amazon and it hasn't ever run or started this good since I've owned it. Now, if I can just figure out how to string it instead of fighting it every time I break the string I would be a happy camper.

For around my 2.5 acre property at the fences and hard to get to places I bought one of those walk behind push string trimmers that works kind of like a lawn mower. That thing is amazing what it will take down and makes short work of the tall grass on the property , especially at the fence lines when I need to clean them up and can't get close to the fence with my brush hog...

I’ll be the contrarian… I have a Honda, actually 2 of these and I love them- 4 stroke Honda awesomeness:

https://powerequipment.honda.com/trimmers/models/hht35sukat

You dont want an echo, I got drawn to them due to how light their products are compared to others, their carbs are the most finicky carbs I've run across. Always ran truefuel through them and they still give me fits, no issues my my husqvarna stuff.