Strimmers

cormie

Hi,
Looking for get one of these. Any suggestions as to what's a good one to get for value and for a good job etc? How much are they? Would the cheaper ones be that much worse than the more expensive ones?
Thanks:)

peasant

Depends on the amount of use it will get.
I bought a 550 Watt electrical one from Lidl some time ago when they had them. Was cheap (29.90, if I remeber correctly), looks cheap, sounds cheap but works a treat for me.
I don't really have a "hedge" in the classical sense, but twice a year I have to keep a large amount of brambles, hawthorns and whitethorns in check. Compared to doing this by hand, the 29.90 was well spent. So far I' ve got about 100 hours use out of it and it still works like new. And even if it broke tomorrow, I wouldn't complain.

cormie

Hi,
thanks for the input. As you can see, the title has been changed to Strimmers. Woops, I meant to ask about Strimmers and not hedge trimmers:) I got one in Woodies for €55 anyway just now.

peasant

And once again, it depends on what you want to use it for.

Electrical or wheezy petrol ones are just about good enough to cut the 5 blades of grass that your lawnmower didn't get ..as long as it's no more than 5 at a go

If you, like me, need to cut weeds, old tough grass and the odd bramble you need a machine with a bit of ooomph and they don't come cheap. Always have a look at the cutting thread that they recommend with the machine. The thinner the thread, the less it cuts and lasts. Machines that use more substantial threads get very expensive very quickly.

Personally I got a fairly good deal on a second hand machine (a honda four stroke). I don't use it extensively, so I'm not that worried about it not being new, but when I use it, it has to do hard work, so I'm happy with my more upmarket model. It hasn't got one of these auto-feed systems, just an aluminium plate through which you fit one lenght of thread at a time. I use 5mm square cut thread ...that really does the business, you can even dig holes with it

Attachments like cutting blades or even saws or hedge clippers also only work with the more expensive units. Personally I prefer a good heavy cutting thread over blades ...they just get clogged to easily.

One thing about strimmers though ...they make an awful mess, of the cutting area as well as you ... and ALWAYS wear eye protection !! And they are noisy as well, esp high power two-stroke ones.