weed whackers..husqvarna or stihl?

[soarkrebel]

Well i went to the weed whacker store today and decided. i bought a stihl fs85. i had a hard time between the husky and stihl but in the end i liked the stihl better.
i got to play a little this afternoon and that sucker GOES! i was impressed ! it put my old weedeater to shame!
thanks for all the replies.

 

[JohnMiller3]

<font color="blue">...John Deere (looks to be made by Homelite...</font>

JD purchased Homelite... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I have 3 weed wackers in the past few years-a moderately priced Craftsmen (stunk returned) a more expensive Ryobi (stunk returned) and finally a dirt ($60)cheap Homelite by Deere.

2 years now and it is great. Starts easy has more power than the others and doesn't bog down easily!, If it dies tomorrow. Auto string feed thingy works and it runs great (burns fuel fast though) I'd happily buy another one as this one has been abused from day one and worked great.

Funny thing is my neighbor told me 3 years ago to buy the Homelite and I scoughed at the idea and spent double and then triple on machines that #$$@ed.

Sometimes the better machine aint' the most expensive.

Someone mentioned the Husky 141 chainsaw I love that little saw, enough power and runs smooth. Have only had it a year but have cleared quite a few trees of ALL sizes with it. It is small enough to fit in my truck bed box and has already opened one road after a storm so that my neighbors could get home, makling me the hero. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Who wouldn't like a tool like that?

 

[herbenus]

This is a timely thread as I just burned up my electric Riobi and am in the market for a good weedeater. I figured I'd do like always: go to Home Depot and get the cheapest thing I could find that has the horsepower I need, not electric this time. I Figured on Riobi, just because I have a head to fit it, but now I'm thinking something heavier duty. Spend a little more and spend less time working with it and working on it...

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I had the Ryobi and returned it. The folks at HD said they got so many of them returned and that they were having huge problem*In fact good thing I had kept the receipt for a almost a year as the computer indidcated theyhad dropped the price to something LOW like $75 just to onload the stock at some point. No receipt would have meant only $75 for me.

Not sure of the model it was about $150-160 dollars when I bought it.

Got a cheap $60 Homelite by Deere and it has worked for two seasons now and cuts better than the Ryobi did on it's best day.

Go figure??? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[dourobob]

You might want to check out Dolmar made by Makita . I have had one of these for 10 years and it works really well. A little less power and a lot lighter than my Stihl FS 110 (it was given to me by a friend who moved from country to city). Both are workhorses and the Stihl did need some carb service last summer. Nice to have two units so the neighbour's son can trim for me at the same time as I am using the bigger unit.

Bob

 

[BigDave]

I bought and trashed two Ryobi's before I learned my lesson. Average life span was 3-4 years. I assume other folks will say they fared better, maybe I'm just hard on equipment.

 

[soarkrebel]

I think it really comes down to how much you have to trim and how fast you want to do it.
i have found that the STIHL will put any other whacker i have used to shame. it has enough power to cut fast .
i have been very impressed with it so far.

yeah the price is more than the cheap ones but it's one great piece of equipment.

now i have a ryobi gas blower and it works ok. i don't have any complaints. but i don't have as much to blow as trim.

and it blew leaves ok for me but i would love to have a back pack blower. hummm how could i get the wife to see that way to?? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Now i saw some huskys for around $250 , i would rather pay that for a good machine than 100 bucks for a hunk of junk! just my opinion.

 

[herbenus]

Actually this was my second Riobi. It lasted 4 years and I really worked it. But I don't think the electric are up to long operating times of heavy duty. In the city the elctric was great. Now I'm in the country I've just been waiting to get a gas trimmer. I think I burned the first unit up by using a light weight extension cord. On my second I purchased a heavy cord and it seemed to work fine. As a matter of fact, I had two 100 foot extension cords together when it burned up. I'm thinking low voltage may be bad for the electrics. At any rate, based on what I've read here and other forums, I'm looking at an Echo, Husky, or Homelite. But once I start looking I may be swayed to another brand.

 

[Bird]

Bill, I don't know how many models Homelite makes, but I had a neighbor who bought a new Homelite gas powered string trimmer and he and I both tried it out and it was practically worthless for farm use where there was tall grass and weeds, might have been all right for trimming just grass on a manicured lawn. He took it back and got a Stihl like I had; cost a lot more, but worked a lot better, too.