Best weed eater

Have a Stihl FS56 RC shaft drive. Love that damn thing!

 

Redmax makes the best trimmer

 

I got my FS56 RC from my local Big R on sale during Stihl days, it was $149.99 normally $199.99 and I got a free spool of Stihl trimmer string and a 6 pack of Stihl 2 cycle oil with it free. Can't go wrong there!

 

No matter what brand you get, get a Pivotrim style trimmer head similar to the one above. They are sold under several brand names (Rino-tuff, Weed Warrior, others) but all should say Pivotrim somewhere on the packaging. The swiveling string attachment points will make your string last at least twice as long, especially when trimming around stone, chain link fence, etcetera. Very easy to change the string also. I’ve had mine for 5 years and love it.

 

I have had a shindaiwa for 22 yrs now

 

Anybody that says anything other than Stihl is a liar! And we can meet in the parking lot after school to settle this like teenage boys.

But really though, I've had several brands over the years and I finally got a Stihl and never looked back. Haven't had any problems from it and I've had it for maybe 9 or 10 years. And I use it a lot.

I have heard good things about the echo too. But never owned one.

 

I'm definitely in the Stihl camp.

 

I got a stihl 2 years ago to replace a craftsman I had for 12 years. I love it. The stihl dealer included a 12 pack of synthetic oil and string. I got the replacement head that has a spring clip on each side where you push in a length of string. It allows you to use thicker string. I hate the bump style heads that always get tangled. I also found that the price from reputable dealer rather than a Lowe's, home depot,or tractor supply is not much more money and much better service.

 

I'll put my Echo up against that Stihl any day. My arm's won't feel like ive been lugging a log around all day.

 

i have a shindaiwa that is a multi tool it is awesome, i have had it over 10 years and work it a lot on the farms and at home. i have the trimmer, hedge cutter, pole saw, and brush cutter attachments for it, it is a sweet set up.

 

I just got a Ryobi mower and weed eater that are both lithium ion battery powered. I love them, and I'll never have to get gas for them. I haven't tested the battery life on them to dead, but they've never died mowing my 0.2 acres. The mower claims 30-40 minute run time I believe and the weed eater is an hour. They're interchangeable batteries, so I can go longer than that if needed too.

 

Lol I used to use it back in the day, with stinky trees

 

I've only had mine a few weeks. They have warranties on the batteries. The 5a 40v battery for the mower is 5 years and the 2.6a 40v for the weed eater is 3 years. Even if they only last that long, a second battery would be $100 for the weed eater and $140 for the mower. Still probably worth not having to buy gas.

 

Lol.

 

I don't have much experience with weed eater brands as I used Echos when I owned a lawn service. For the house I bought an Echo SRM-2100 back in 1997 for ~$250. I have 2 acres with 3 out buildings, 54 trees, and a shit-ton of flower beads. It's Louisiana so I use it almost every week. I think I changed the spark plug once and the air filter at the same time but I am vigilant about fuel mixture. It still fires up and runs great. If I had to buy one today, I would look at Shindaiwa, Echo, and Stihl in that order. Straight shaft and commercial grade.

 

This is exactly what I have and love it. I run boat gas in mine because it has no ethanol.

 

This works good also no batteries or gas.

 

Canada represent!

 

When I did landscaping I used Tanaka or Echo. Both are great, make sure you get the straight shaft. Honda also makes a really nice 4 stroke commercial weed whacker that works great and is much quieter than the 2 strokes and no need to mix gas.

 

Choice came down between an Echo and a Stihl. I went with the Stihl, thanks for all the recommendations!!

 

Shindaiwa and Husqvarna camp here.

Both are great trimmers, but the Husky will be a little lighter and cheaper typically and the Shindaiwa will last a bit longer. Shindaiwa may be hard to find a dealer, they're marketed for professionals and not many dealers carry them in my experiences. My mom has a landscape maintenance business, ran Shindaiwa's for 25+ years and they LAST forever it seems, Even when ran for hours daily.

For my yard I have a Husqvarna 326L and it is good power/weight for light commercial and heavy homeowner use. I think I spent just shy of $300 on it.

The 324 4stroke trimmer is rather nice as well, it's torquey, not high RPM, but smooth and quiet and can just run the same non-mixed gas as the lawn mower which is convenient. The motor on the 4 stroke is made by Honda for them and seems very reliable.

I've ran Stihl trimmers and can't stand them. They're heavy and lack high-end power of other 2 stroke trimmers IMO, and the mufflers rot out in them. Plus they arent cheap compared to the other great trimmers out there.

 

I forgot about Shindaiwa. They do make some great trimmers.

 

+1 more for the Echo 225.

 

Echo or red max

 

Had a Greenworks battery powered one all summer. Works great.

 

I would only use a battery powered trimmer for small areas or sparse vegetation. I did some volunteer work at an animal shelter on Guam (tropical, lots of rain, everything grows really thick and fast) and could drain a Ryobi 4Ah, 18V battery in about ten minutes. For the really thick and dense stuff a gas-powered trimmer just makes a lot more sense. Batteries can be at the end of life after 400 deep discharge cycles (depending on the technology) and take a while to charge up and can't be charged if they got too hot during use. The Echo SRM-410 worked great on the heavy stuff though.

 

Somebody needs to buy this Echo one off me. I hate that damned thing. Next year I’m going back to Stihl. That thing was perfect.