Wishing all of you a Belated Happy Holiday season and a Happy New Year,

I am near Hempstead Texas (NW of Houston), and we have a small farm that we took over from relatives.

We are in the market for a new, heavy duty commercial or near commercial grade string trimmer, which is:

1) Good quality, well built

2) Good warranty

3) No gimmicks, I dont need super automatic feed etc. Just a machine that can take thick diameter string, and is durable to be used a few times a week for maintenance.

4) This machine will not be used daily, but rather 2-3x a week for a few hours for maintenance around our farm property.

If our budget is around $300-400, which brand/model (Gasoline) do you recommend?

Shindaiwa? Echo? Stihl? Honda?

Thank you so much

Boba

Stihl.

agree STIHL

Agree with Stihl. Similar requirements and use .090" string. Get a cheap push mower to be a brush hog around trees, fence line, etc.

I read that Echo and Shindawa are also good, both are owned by the same Japanese parent company, I believe.

Do you recommend Stihl over these brands?

I want something that is reliable and will work and is straight forward to repair, not something that has electronic this and that and is over complicated.

Thank you

Option 1 Stihl
Option 2 Echo

And that's where the options end

2 stroke only...4 stroke sucks

Stihl or Echo both are good get a straight shaft. I use a round up/eraser a lot in a pump up sprayer. This cuts down on using the weed eater. I use this on fence lines, around the trees and on the driveway.

The Honda is a good choice. They make the best 4 strokes on the market.

Thank you all who have replied so far, thank you

It seems that a straight shaft and 2 stroke are the way to go.

How about cc, 25? 30?

What else do I need to look for?

I love my echo 235 PAS

FS 111 R is a solid machine. If you're going to do any brush cutting, or if you have a ton of weedeating the FS 111 is a bicycle handle unit that has a harness. I think it's like $369 for the 111 R and $399 for the 111. When I was selling Stihl a lot of guys would poo poo the idea of getting a bike handle machine, but more than a few came back and said they wish they would have gone with that over the traditional roof handle simply because of the weight of the machines. Go somewhere and try them out.

Also, echo and shindiawa are the exact same machine.

Honda's, like their mowers, are great machines. We just never had a ton of traffic on them, and most went with a comparable Stihl machine.

Shindaiwa

What are the benefits of the bicycle handle over the standard handle? Is it more ergonomic and easier on the body?

Remember some of us at the farm who will use the machine and not so pretty soccer moms, we are not as strong as the men on here, so if we do not need the yank the string 20 times to turn on the machine and its not going to shake our whole body while using it....great!!

Another reason to get a Stihl - because they usually start on the first or second pull.

I would also suggest the Stilh. They are easy to find parts for locally as well since it is one of the most used brands out there by farm/ranch/professional lawn guys.

The wider handles can make it easier to handle - especially when you are wearing a strap or harness that also helps. But safety is another huge benefit for the those handles as it can prevent the machine from kicking back into you if you use a blade.

Get the brush knife head. If you are working fence lines or yaupon or anything other than a lawn, it makes it so much quicker and faster. First off, no messing with line. And second, it will cut through anything up to about a 3/4 inch thick - vines, oak and pine saplings, etc.


Made the switch last year and kicking myself that I didn't sooner.

Still with Echo SpeedFeed head (yes they make a universal one)

Umm, Roundup?

Owner of landscape company for past 14+ yrs and we only run Stihl weedeaters fs90, backpack blowers br600, stick edgers, hedge trimmers, and chain saws. Their warranty coverage is excellent

OP - another thing to consider is to covert a string trimmer into a saw blade trimmer. I did this for my straight shaft echo when I started doing more brush clearing. With a sharp blade it can handle small trees/saplings and all brush up to 1/2 and maybe 3/4 inches diameter. I run a saw blade exclusively on mine now, but you can switch the heads back and forth. There is a conversion kit.

dr_boogs said:

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OP - another thing to consider is to covert a string trimmer into a saw blade trimmer. I did this for my straight shaft echo when I started doing more brush clearing. With a sharp blade it can handle small trees/saplings and all brush up to 1/2 and maybe 3/4 inches diameter. I run a saw blade exclusively on mine now, but you can switch the heads back and forth. There is a conversion kit.

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If you have the PAS, it's easy to swap out. I have the trimmer, brush cutter and chainsaw for mine

Thanks hot rod. This is true. But mine doesn't have the attachment system.

I have an Echo straight shaft I use on my 10 acres. It does well.

I use a stihl kombi-motor

- brush cutter
- string trimmer
- pole saw

I love it. it's a beast

Being just a lowly homeowner with a 1/2 acre lot, a long driveway and lots of crap to trim around, and a deer lease that I have to cut some light brush on around feeders, cams, etc. I went with the Echo (based on what almost every local landscape crew uses) multiple (pas?) change head system. This thing, with the multiple attachments for speed in changing. Straight shaft trimmer, edger, and brush cutter. It gets USED, but not abused. Has never failed. Also, the Echo square line cuts 12" tall grass around camp like a hot knife through butter.

I bought a new Echo weedeater and blower 2.5 years ago.

The weedeater is going strong, the blower died after 2 years.