Weed Eaters/Line Trimmers

[spleen1015]

I will be purchasing a new weed eater this weekend. This will be my first ever purchase of one of these things since my father in law gave me the only one I have ever owned.

While browsing around the interweb, I see a variety of different types, meaning gas oil mix, regular gas, electric and battery powered. Electric is definitely out since I won't deal with dragging a cord around the yard.

Has anyone ever used a battery powered one? I never really have. I was thinking of going with a regular gas one. The one that just broke down was mixed fuel and that got on my nerves.

So, I was going gas, then saw the battery powered ones. Anyone have any opinions?

[FrogMan]

I've owned two battery powered ones, both Black & Deckers. The first one lasted 7 Summers until something mechanical went wrong inside and I didn't bother getting it fixed. It was a good one and I still have it, with the hope that I'll find some time and maybe might be able to fix it. It held its charge well, allowing me to trim our relatively small yard (60' accross by 100' deep, 6000 sq ft superficy).

I almost went with a gas one last Summer when I needed to get a new one but found a real cheap battery powered one. Don't remember the exact numbers but I figured at the time that while it was cheap, it looked like it would be good enough to do the trimming of my yard in one shot. Turns out it's barely holding its charge long enough for me to finish in one shot so you get what you pay for...

As a comparison, I paid the first one maybe $130 while the second one only cost me $60.

I think it pretty much boils down to how big a yard you have. You can't have much of a big yard for it to be too big for you to be able to do in one shot and not need a recharge. Otherwise, unless you have some really big bad weeds, the battery powered one can do the same job the gas one can...

FM

[flere-imsaho]

Like Mr. FrogMan, I have a B&D 18v Cordless trimmer. The fact that it comes with two rechargeable batteries is a bonus. It works fine for lawn trimming & edging and the occasional mowing down of overgrown brush. Actually, it works better than fine for these - it's got great balance and ease-of-use.

I think one only needs gas if you have a really big yard or are routinely clearing tough, overgrown brush, to be honest. Alternatively, if you prefer dealing with gas & oil over recharging batteries, that's a rationale to go that way.

[flere-imsaho]

dola - forgot to mention two other "features" my trimmer has which I think are great:

Automatic Feed: Somehow it automatically senses when the string has been chopped off and feeds more, so you don't need to bump it on the ground (or notice that it's not chopping so much). Awesome!

String cartridges: When you're out, the replacement consists of simply snapping another cartridge into place, as opposed to having to string the line through holes. Also Awesome!

:D

Both are ease-of-use (or laziness) features, but I appreciate them a lot.

Oh, and the head also swivels so you can go from trimming to edging quickly and simply.

[FrogMan]

dola - forgot to mention two other "features" my trimmer has which I think are great:

Automatic Feed: Somehow it automatically senses when the string has been chopped off and feeds more, so you don't need to bump it on the ground (or notice that it's not chopping so much). Awesome!

String cartridges: When you're out, the replacement consists of simply snapping another cartridge into place, as opposed to having to string the line through holes. Also Awesome!

:D

Both are ease-of-use (or laziness) features, but I appreciate them a lot.

Oh, and the head also swivels so you can go from trimming to edging quickly and simply.

yeah, both of mine had those two features too. I remember that the fact that the second one had them, combined with the price, made it that much more tempting...

FM

[flere-imsaho]

Alternatively, of course, one could get a goat. Or a llama.

[spleen1015]

I don't think my home owner's association would like a goat in my yard.

[flere-imsaho]

Sell the idea of a goat to the neighborhood kids first, and your HOA won't have a leg to stand on. Pretty much the whole neighborhood will have goats in less than a year.

At that point, you and your neighbors can start collecting the goats' milk together, and use it to make fabulous artisan goat cheese. Once word of your ambrosia-like artisan goat cheese makes it onto the Food Network (in a special segment with Tony Bourdain and Mario Batali) you'll be selling it to gourmet outlets for astonishing prices.

Fast forward a couple of years and everyone in your neighborhood is able to retire and send their kids to Harvard due to the income from the cheese (and the fact that Harvard requests that you pay with the cheese, since they value it so much).

Your neighborhood is now internationally recognized as a perfect sustainable utopia and the concept is copied successfully throughout the world, resulting in world peace and an end to hunger and poverty and war by the year 2030.


So yeah. Basically get a goat and save the world, or buy a trimmer and be selfish, you jerk. No pressure.

[Cringer]

I have a gas/oil trimmer and like it just fine. And it does the auto feed and replaceable line cartridge (though I just bought the big wheel of replacement line and fill the thing back up myself, it's done maybe only twice a year). I don't understand any problem with the gas/oil mix. I have a 5 gallon gas can for my mower and bought a 2 gallon can for the trimmer. Dumped the oil in the can, shake well, and take a big swig. That is the only time I worry about the mixture, and it lasts a while.