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Garden strimmers - talk to me

Tigerjones

Bagpuss
I’m looking for a cheapish garden strimmer. I need to tidy up the wife’s front garden.

Any recommendations? It won’t be doing anything too heavy as she’s kept it fairly well.

Thanks
Tiger
 
Hand tools are more appropriate and far easier and generally more pleasant to use, and seldom demolish what they shouldn't, unless the front garden is over an acre.

Either as post #1 or #2
 
If it is particularly overgrown, there may be fauna in there. You should be careful. It might have your hand off.
 
The line feed on the one (Black and Decker) I had did not work properly, so it was a ball ache to use so I gave up and went back to edging shears.
I gave it away on Freecycle
 
We bought a quite expensive one to deal with bits of lawn we can’t get the mower to and find it close to useless. Could be my faulty technique but I’m normally OK with this sort of stuff. It either does nothing (except make a racket) or scalps the turf. Try one by all means, there seem to be plenty of used ones around, but I would suggest finding a cheap second hand one on the basis of my experience.
 
With strimmers it's all about the auto-feed / reload mechanism. I have a black and decker at home that's a total pain - always getting jammed, have to dismantle the head to fix it - bloody useless. Edging shears are preferable.

On the other hand I used a Husqvana (petrol model) at our community farm and it was fantastic - never jammed - always fed correctly, and a piece of cake to reload without having to buy disposable cartridges.


Unfortunately I think the husqvana might be rather pricey - but if you have the cash it's worth it for the lack of aggro.
 
A good strimmer is petrol-powered and uses a strong square-section filament. In any modestly-sized garden, a total over-kill in every respect. I have one and almost never use it - where I could use it, I far and away prefer an Austrian scythe.

Get some decent long-handled shears (and watch for wildlife), or even a very short blade for an Austrian scythe - some people (NOT me) supposedly use them for weeding a vegetable plot - for me, a sharp hoe is much simpler/safer.

I have no idea why auto-feed is bitched about unless people habitually strim against unstrimmable objects or use p-poor cord. My Stihl dosn't have auot-feed and works fine whenever I occasionally use it. To get more cord, the head is sprung-loaded and you just pull, twist and release - job done.
 
FWIW Stihl strimmers are the dog's danglies. They do both electric and petrol. Contractors rate them and a safe bet secondhand.
 
I have a four stroke Honda brushcutter, a Stihl two stroke petrol strimmer and for minor/small/fiddly work a Makita Battery Strimmer DUR181Z. The latter would do you very nicely, it's light, easy to handle and surprisingly capable. Had it for three years and it's used at least one day every week over late spring/summer/early autumn... seems very robust. You can wind your own strimmer line on to the cartridge and the auto feed mech works well (as long as you wind the line on properly). Approx. £150 with a decent battery. It sounds like a lot, but corded ones are just a nuisance and this works even if repeatedly taking a beating doing stuff it probably shouldn't (saves firing up the Stihl).
 
FWIW Stihl strimmers are the dog's danglies. They do both electric and petrol. Contractors rate them and a safe bet secondhand.

Mine is nearing 40 years old, it has modest stints of very hard work (clearing scrub with a brushcutter blade in the main), but it still runs fine (or did do when last used).
 
FWIW Stihl strimmers are the dog's danglies. They do both electric and petrol. Contractors rate them and a safe bet secondhand.
Yep, bought a new petrol one last Sunday. Easy start etc, just brilliant. Scared off two lions too that were hiding in the long grass.
 
I’ve had a Stihl FS90 for about 12 years. It gets absolutely hammered. A new head every few years, plug and air filter, that’s it. I use 3mm square cut line, it’s awesome. Now, it sounds like you don’t need anything that heavy duty, but if you buy Stihl (or Husq), it will work and it will last. Dad has a battery Stihl, loves it.
 
Ex uses a cordless Bosch trimmer. Very light and easy to handle; uses a single easily replaceable rigid plastic blade, so no dicking about with a line.
 
My experience of cheap electric motor line trimmers was a total disaster because the cord kept tying itself in knots. I found that a hover mower could get through high weedy turf much much better and more reliably. I can see a post above mentions a strimmer with a blade . . . I haven't tried one but I can imagine it's a very good idea. Avoid a cheap line trimmer.
 


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