[Lardman]

Im in need of a big boys strimmer, the weeds are now laughing at my little B&D electric one.

Im way out of my league on this and have no idea what to buy, I need to control an sloped area (2 in 10 ish) mainly nettles / couch grass and docks with the odd bramble. Its around 200ft from the house hense the need for petrol around 20ft wide and 60ft long.

Much as Id love to spend 400 notes it seems a little steep to cut grass. Screwfix currently have a ryobi 30cc expand it strimmer and hedge trimmer on offer for 99gbp (Item 95652 ).  Has anyone used these ? Seems a bargain but if its pants Id rather send a little more and gets something better.

Thoughts?

TIA

[Gwiz]

Hi, I've just bought a "spear and jackson" bent shaft strimmer from argos for, wait for it..... under £50. they are also doing a mowerAND a strimmer, the whole bundle for about £140-ish.
at that sort of money, if it packs up in a couple of years you could recycle them and get another!
the s&j strimmers is very good by the way. I'm not normally an advocate of the lower priced machines, but sometimes they so cheap it's hard to say no!

[commerlad]

Ryobi are good as well, get a split shaft machine and you can then get different attachments later start off with a brush cutter ( you will get a free strimmer head for when you have got rid of the heavy stuff) and then if you want the rotovator head will help take the work out of breaking up all that packed hard earth. they also do hedge trimmer, pruner (small chain saw) leaf blower, lawn edger and hover mower.

[commerlad]

I only pressed submit once (HONESTLY)

[Lardman]

Well I've ordered it - should be here tomorrow.

Its both split shaft and expandit compatible, the tiller attachment caught my eye too.

I'll post back my thoughts when I've taken it for a test drive, I've got ground to clear and a hedge to trim. ... must remember to get some 2-stroke oil tomorrow.

[Lardman]

Well I've had time to play with my new toy...

The bad points.

It struggles with hidden brambles.
Long grass can get caught around the head and bring it to a stand still.
It feels very heavy in use.
Gloves and full face mask are a must. I hate to think what ive been splattered with today.  

The good points.

Its considerable quicker than the electric B&D.
Cuts far thicker material.
No risk of cutting cables
Much longer reach and more comfortable to use.

The jury is still out on whether its worth £100 but its certainly the right tool for the job.

[muntjac]

your trying to hard to cut down the bramble etc with the cutter head ,just take it easy on these and it will get through them ,i have cut down thickish elder trees using a petrol strimmer with the cutter head attached ,put a good steel file over the blades every now and then as they do get chunks bent on the edges ., for long grass dont try and cut it to low on the first pass cut it down by half rake up and then go over it at ground level . all trimmers get choked by long grass stems ,, comes with the job mate sorry

[owein]

I've just orderd one of these too.

Did you buy the tiller atachment? If so have you tried it yet? any good?

thanks

[Lardman]

Did you buy the tiller atachment?

Unfortunately my budget didn't run to one.  The area is mainly sand and its relatively light to work so it not easy to justify.  I may however look again in the Autumn when its time mix in the manure.

[SnooziSuzi]

Hi, I've just bought a "spear and jackson" bent shaft strimmer from argos for, wait for it..... under £50. they are also doing a mowerAND a strimmer, the whole bundle for about £140-ish.
at that sort of money, if it packs up in a couple of years you could recycle them and get another!
the s&j strimmers is very good by the way. I'm not normally an advocate of the lower priced machines, but sometimes they so cheap it's hard to say no!

I bought one of these exact one's this weekend - it's a fantastic strimmer, but I'm only a teeny weeny 5'3" and you need to be a minimum of 5'5" to use it, based on the angle I had to keep my shoulder at in order to get it to sweep the weeds that some thoughtless bustard had planted in my lottie whilst I was away in Majorca!  :roll:

I then had the bright idea of cutting the shaft down in legnth so that it would fit me better but OH said there was a solid thing running down the inside that was the same legnth so there goes that idea  :|

[Gwiz]

are you using the strap that comes with it? and don't forget you can move the shaft's handle further down so that will bring the "buisness end" further up for more "vertically challenged" people to use.
OH quite right about the drive shaft in the centre.

[SnooziSuzi]

yes, it was on it's shortest setting - pretty much only my arm could get in it.

I'll struggle on with it... OH (who is 5'8" and could manage with it fine) said I should just wear some high heels with it  :roll:

[Fluff]

Hi lard man bought one of these as needed a decent hedge trimmer and strimmer.

Bit  lost as to why they have a pro cut  2 head and a reel easy head. Dont they do the same thing with just a different feed system?

Did you go for the brush cutter as well and if you did what do you think?

Cheers Alan

[SnooziSuzi]

Graham,  have you still got the manuel / mixing bottle for your S&J?

I can't find either of mine and need to refuel  :oops:   Can you please check what ratio I need to mix my petrol and oil in and I'll have to do it manually.

Thanks in advance  :oops:

[Gwiz]

hello Snoozi,
the book says to use a 40:1 mix, which would be 125ml of oil in 5 litres of petrol, or 25 ml oil in 1 litre.
I always use 25:1 mix though, because it's easier to have one mix for everything, than it is to have several different fuel mixes laying around.
If you want to do the same, that would be 200ml of oil in 5 litres petrol.