What should I look for in a trimmer/edger?

[pjfootballer]

I got tired of mixing the gas and oil and got a Black & Decker cordless battery. It does my whole yard twice on one charge and I have about 1/4 acre and some woods in the back that I try to keep trimmed. My only problem with it is, they say the line is self feed, but that's BS. One thing I do like about it is, when my line goes down, I pop off the top, pull the line out a bit, and pop it back on. Easy to hand feed and easy to change a new line. I love having the battery power. No more yanking for 10 minutes on a machine that won't start.

I have the 24V NiCad battery. I need to buy a second one so I can charge one, while using the other. I've had this for 2 years.

[Koolblue13]

Stihl and Echo straight tube gas, with nylon cord are the best options. Maybe over kill for home owner use, but still top of the food chain.

Some of them you can easily change the heads and make it into a chain saw trimmer for branch work, which is an awesome tool.

[GoSkins0721]

I got tired of mixing the gas and oil and got a Black & Decker cordless battery. It does my whole yard twice on one charge and I have about 1/4 acre and some woods in the back that I try to keep trimmed. My only problem with it is, they say the line is self feed, but that's BS. One thing I do like about it is, when my line goes down, I pop off the top, pull the line out a bit, and pop it back on. Easy to hand feed and easy to change a new line. I love having the battery power. No more yanking for 10 minutes on a machine that won't start.

I have the 24V NiCad battery. I need to buy a second one so I can charge one, while using the other. I've had this for 2 years.

Exactly what happened to me. Mixing gas, making sure I had oil, separate gas can, etc. for a nice Stihl gas trimmer was overkill for what I needed. I used it for 15 years (still have it). But the cordless B&D easily does my 1/4 acre yard.

And my wife will use it too

[pjfootballer]

Exactly what happened to me. Mixing gas, making sure I had oil, separate gas can, etc. for a nice Stihl gas trimmer was overkill for what I needed. I used it for 15 years (still have it). But the cordless B&D easily does my 1/4 acre yard.

And my wife will use it too

Been trying to get my wife to help with the cutting and trimming, but the only thing she helps with is the flower beds.

[China]

You might also want to check this thread from a couple of years back.

[MintHillSkinsFan]

Craftsman makes a 4 stroke trimmer that is badass! I've had mine for about 5 years. It's a good old Briggs and Stratton 4 stroke so the gas and oil go in separately. Starts on the first or second pull every time and it's got twice the power of any 2 stroke out there. It's also convertible so you can get the trimmer, edger, tiller, and even hedge trimmer attachments.

The one down side is that it's a tad heavier than your standard 2 stroke or electric trimmer so if you're puttting the wife to work, she may wear down quicker than normal.

[mcsluggo]

My one piece of advice: Avoid the Homelite brand for trimmers. I made the mistake of buying one because it was the cheapest available at the store and I figured they're all the same anyway. Big mistake.

For the first couple of months, no problems. Then, right around the time my neighbor (landscaper) saw it and said "Heh, good luck with that thing," it basically started to fall apart. I was in the guts of the thing, disassembling pieces of the engine and cleaning/repairing/adjusting weekly just to get it to start with great difficulty. My speed at field-stripping a small two-stroke engine greatly increasing but it was a huge waste of time overall. More and more went wrong with it.

Finally, I was using the Homelite one day and it started leaking gas from somewhere other than the bottom-mounted gas tank (which also leaked in spite of all efforts to stop it). Gas ran over a hot part of the engine -- exhaust manifold presumably -- and the damned thing caught on fire as I was holding it. I'm still surprised that it didn't light up my shirt sleeve too. I dropped the piece of junk instinctively, it turned itself off while scorching my grass with fire, and an hour later I threw it out with the trash after kicking the $&%# out of it for a while. My neighbor salvaged it from the curb, fixed it up to the point where it "worked" and probably sold it for $20 to the next sucker.

Having replaced that thing with a better brand, I have had no problems. It seems to me that with trimmers you (don't) get what you (don't) pay for. Avoid the temptation to go ultra-cheap.

I have one of those (gas) .... i used it once, got half done with the sidewalk... and the nylon cord got crapped up... while i finally got the cutting cord back out to a usable length, I have never been able to start the damned thing again.

i am NOT mechanically inclined... so there is NO telling what is wrong. But the thing is useless to me after one/half of one use.

[GoSkins0721]

I have one of those (gas) .... i used it once, got half done with the sidewalk... and the nylon cord got crapped up... while i finally got the cutting cord back out to a usable length, I have never been able to start the damned thing again.

i am NOT mechanically inclined... so there is NO telling what is wrong. But the thing is useless to me after one/half of one use.

I bought a Homelite blower this past November. Used it once in November and then used it a second time in February. When I plugged it in, it started sparking. So I unplugged it and put it back in the garage. I finally took it back to Lowe's in ealry March. They looked up when I bought it using my debit card, saw that it was more than 90 days and still gave me my money back. No questions asked.

I'll never buy another Homelite product. They suck.