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Default Cheapest, but good gas powered trimmer/edger brand for yard?

Anyone know of a good, but relatively inexpensive brand gas powered
edger/trimmer for my yard? I heard they make combo devices for trimmer
and edger, so that would be even nicer. Thanks

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Tom
 
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On 4 Jun 2005 11:53:38 -0700, wrote:

Anyone know of a good, but relatively inexpensive brand gas powered
edger/trimmer for my yard? I heard they make combo devices for trimmer
and edger, so that would be even nicer. Thanks


Check Harbor Freight
http://www.harborfreight.com/ and get on their
mailing list. They run Ryobi and MTD trimmers for $49.00 - 69.00
(fcty. recond.) I've bought several over the years and have been real
pleased with them. You can get the click model and add edgers,
cultivators, blowers etc. to them.
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This doesn't answer your question but if your yard is small, the
electric weed whacker with battery are great, and there's an edger
dealie.

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Ted B.
 
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wrote in message
ups.com...
Anyone know of a good, but relatively inexpensive brand gas powered
edger/trimmer for my yard? I heard they make combo devices for trimmer
and edger, so that would be even nicer. Thanks


Well, I just recently bought a Craftsman 32cc straight stick (not the
ergonomic curved handle type) 2-cycle gas powered trimmer. I paid a little
over $150 for it, but that was including ~10% tax and a big package of extra
trimline. Of course, it was on sale, so $150 would be the normal price I
think. They also have one about $20 cheaper. The difference is, the one I
bought is supposed to be easier to start. (it is fairly easy to start, but
don't know if it's actually easiER) Anyway, this Craftsman trimmer has a
pivot point on the stick that holds the business end. Basically, you loosen
it, twist it, tighten it again and now you have an edger.

I have no need for an edger, but suspect it would work really well as an
edger. This 32cc 2-cycle Craftsman is really powerful. A few times I
accidentally pointed the trimmer head too low, and it dug right into the
earth. No, that's not a good thing, but it does illustrate that it's pretty
powerful. Heck, I've even used it as a mower in an area that my lawn
tractor couldn't reach. Just swing it back and forth in about a 4' arc and
walk slowly. Works great!

Another nice thing is that it is NOT "bump feed". If you've never owned a
"bump feed" trimmer, you will HATE IT WITH A PASSION. Unfortunately, almost
all of the reasonably priced trimmers are bump feed, so it's a huge plus
that the Craftsman is NOT. On the Craftsman, a short piece of line is
looped through the business end. When it wears out, stop the trimmer, pull
the line out, insert a new one. No tools, 5-10 seconds to change line (if
you take your time about it). We have a fairly large yard with lots of
trimming work to do. I'm estimating it uses about 10 cents' worth of
trimmer line and about 50 cents worth of fuel/oil mixture every time we use
the trimmer for the whole yard. Not bad. -Dave


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Sylvan Butler
 
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On Mon, 6 Jun 2005 09:37:42 -0400, Ted B. wrote:
Another nice thing is that it is NOT "bump feed". If you've never owned a
"bump feed" trimmer, you will HATE IT WITH A PASSION. Unfortunately, almost


Hmm. I've been using a bump feed poulan (weed eater) for about 13 years
now, 1-2 gallons a fuel per year, never been a problem. Prior to that I
have hundreds of hours (and at least 150 gallons of fuel and 2000 ft of
string) thru other string trimmers without bump feed.

looped through the business end. When it wears out, stop the trimmer, pull
the line out, insert a new one. No tools, 5-10 seconds to change line (if


Compared to one second and keep on going with bump feed.

sdb
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Wanted: Omnibook 800 & accessories, cheap, working or not
sdbuse1 on mailhost bigfoot.com


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Ted B.
 
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Hmm. I've been using a bump feed poulan (weed eater) for about 13 years
now, 1-2 gallons a fuel per year, never been a problem. Prior to that I
have hundreds of hours (and at least 150 gallons of fuel and 2000 ft of
string) thru other string trimmers without bump feed.

looped through the business end. When it wears out, stop the trimmer,
pull
the line out, insert a new one. No tools, 5-10 seconds to change line
(if


Compared to one second and keep on going with bump feed.

sdb


I went through a few different bump feed trimmers (so I'm a slow learner).
Granted, they were all cheapie models. But my experience is that the line
tends to get tangled very easily with a bump feed trimmer. Plus, even if it
doesn't get tangled, it almost never feeds correctly. So it's not one
second and keep on going. It's more like bounce the thing for several
seconds, give up, shut the thing down, tear it apart to untangle the line,
then start it up half an hour later and keep going.

Compare that to the Craftsman I bought. The line is tough enough that it
will easily do our entire yard without needing to be replaced. (we use the
black color line, the thicker line) So before we even start it, we just pop
in a new length of line (a procedure which takes about 10 seconds). No
tangled lines! I haven't compared the cost of the line vs. a bump feed
trimmer. My guess is that the line on the trimmer we use is probably more
expensive. Still, we only use about 10 cents worth of line every other
week, so cost of line isn't really an issue. But even if it was, it would
be worth the extra money not to deal with a bump feed trimmer. IMHO -Dave


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Sylvan Butler
 
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On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 08:07:40 -0400, Ted B. wrote:
sdb wrote
Hmm. I've been using a bump feed poulan (weed eater) for about 13 years
now, 1-2 gallons a fuel per year, never been a problem. Prior to that I
have hundreds of hours (and at least 150 gallons of fuel and 2000 ft of
string) thru other string trimmers without bump feed.


Compared to one second and keep on going with bump feed.


Granted, they were all cheapie models. But my experience is that the line
tends to get tangled very easily with a bump feed trimmer. Plus, even if it
doesn't get tangled, it almost never feeds correctly. So it's not one
second and keep on going. It's more like bounce the thing for several
seconds, give up, shut the thing down, tear it apart to untangle the line,


Sounds like your spool was not would neat and tight. I'll routinely go
thru a spool or two in a day with never a tangle or a feed problem, but
if the spool is "scramble" wound it will bind up real soon. With a
proper wound spool, (eg, as from the factory or better) I'll use up a
full tank of gas without a single string problem or else spend a day
stopping only enough to refill the gas and a 10 minute break to refill
the spool. And this was a $60-$70 consumer grade trimmer from sears
(compared to the professional units I used to use which cost $800+ and
weighed 30 lbs).

trimmer. My guess is that the line on the trimmer we use is probably more
expensive. Still, we only use about 10 cents worth of line every other
week, so cost of line isn't really an issue. But even if it was, it would


I've been looking for a bigger trimmer, and I stopped at sears tonight
to see and maybe buy their $120 32cc trimmer. But it had a head that
could only use the precut heavy line. $16 for 85 feet of that heavy
line was the cheapest they had. And it was a LOT MORE if you bought it
in the little tube all precut to length (ISTR it being about $0.50 per
piece). For $10 I purchased 400feet of line for my 13 year old trimmer.

be worth the extra money not to deal with a bump feed trimmer. IMHO -Dave


Glad you're happy, that's why options are available.

Other than it being so small, I'm happy with my bump feed trimmer as
well. Compared to having to stop and set down the equipment every 5-15
minutes to do a manual feed (on those old pro units) or rethread the
line, the bump feed seems a big improvement.

sdb
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Wanted: Omnibook 800 & accessories, cheap, working or not
sdbuse1 on mailhost bigfoot.com
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