my 20+ year old black & decker electric weed whacker is on its last leg and i am looking for a recommendation for a new one. i have my eye on a worx gt cordless trimmer shown in the link below.
i am not interested in any gas powered weed whackers, so please do not recommend one. electric or cordless models are preferred.
http://www.worxyardtools.com/lithium-cordless/weed-trimmer-edger.html
thanks,
norm
Not gas powered … cordless … economic
Norm,
I switched to the Worx GT last year. It is a good machine. It took a little getting used to… You don’t “bounce” it to extend more line. You let it stop spinning and then rev it up again. I didn’t have a local source to get more line/spools, so I ordered them on the web. I’d recommend having an extra on hand. It does a nice job of regular trimming as well as edging along walks and the driveway. I would put the battery on the charger before I went out to mow and by the time I was ready to trim, I had plenty of battery life to trim the entire yard. Good luck and Best Regards…
An old Horrocks Ibbotson 9 foot bamboo rod…or most Montagues of the same length.
I do not have a “favorite” brand, I have had a number of different electric corded weed whacker the biggest difference in all of them was the line feed system. I currently have a Weedeater brand, apparently the line feed to supposed to work from centrifugal force, it doesn’t; I had a Sear that you bump the motor electrically by letting it stop temporarily and then starting up, it fed line okay but burned up the trigger switch; my all time favorite was given to me by a former client. It was a refurb with a dual line feed and worked by bumping the spool on the ground. The Black and Decker cordless and the Weedeater electric have the same spool on them and I suspect are built at the same place, do not know for sure however. If I were going cordless I would look at B&D because you can buy batteries a little more reasonably than other brands and the batteries fit their other tools.
I just bough the Ryobi string trimmer a couple of days ago because the unit works with my other 18V One+ batteries as well. It’s going back to the store because it must have used 5 feet of line jst trimming my yard & flower beds. At that rate I’ll be buying replacement spools every month. I still like the “bounce to advance” models that let YOU control how often to extend a new length of line. Also, the Ryobi uses .065 diameter line, which there was none available at the Home Depot where I bought it, so I would have to buy a new cartridge when teh line ran out. I have a large spool of .080 line, so that’s what I will be getting when this one goes back.
only 2 people on the forum use weed whackers??
any other recommendations??
Normand, I was gonna suggest geese. Just Kidding. I recently had to replace my B&D trimmer too. I bought a Toro. That was not a good experience. I took it back after 1 use and got another B&D. It’s the Grasshog 5.2 AMP electric double string 14". My problem with the B&D is the automatic feed compared to the bump feed. I also don’t like dragging the 100 foot electric cord everywhere. I think I paid about $50.00 for the B&D at Home Depot. The cordless should be the way to go.
My kids got me a gas trimmer. Now I dont use the electric one at all.
Everyone else has gone fishing.
Hi Norm,
The new Black & Decker’s are nothing like they used to be. I had a basic B&D circular saw that I used from 1985 until the fall of 2008, when it finally died while cutting the roof joists for my shed. I just about re-built my entire house useing it, including cutting the concrete floor on my garage, cutting fire bricks on my fireplace firebox etc. It was made in America back then.
My old electric Toro trimmer died after many years of heavy use. My wife went and bought a B&D electric trimmer with a two year warrenty. One year later, the belt that drives the rotor slipped off inside the handle. I took it apart, and put it back on. 10 - 15 minutes later, it slipped off again and I threw it out, since there wasn’t anything that appeared loose inside to be causing it to slip off. I bought a Stihl FSE 60 and am going on three years without any problems. It’s a bump feed and isn’t battery operated, but it’s got alot of a$$ and is very well made. I never liked gas driven weed whackers since they’re noisy and a pain to mix the gas and oil. I don’t mind dragging around a cord as it’s just not that much of a hassle for me.
Regards,
Mark
Betty,
That’s a great idea! It would keep my yard trimmed and my dogs could get herding practice.
Sorry, Norm. I have no experience with cordless weed whackers. Mine runs on gas.
Steve
In my part of the country an electric trimmer won’t cut it… not enough power.
I was pleased with the power of my 4 stroke, and after have a bunch of two cycles, Ill always buy 4 strokes from now on…
I’ve owned several two stroke makes and models, and am currently replacing the carb. on my Troy Built 4cycle, purchased at Lowes. Its a great machine with a crappy carb. - but no one will work on locally! It may have just been the gasoline with ethanol. I’ve copied the following fro a nother web site about ethanol and outboards, but it also relates to these engines…
[LEFT]“Acting as a solvent, ethanol can damage the sealants used on older fiberglass fuel tanks. The dissolved sealants can be ingested by the engine which can cause damage and fuel leaking from a tank into the bilge is a fire hazard. Fuel tanks built of other materials are not immune to having a problem. Ethanol has a cleaning effect on tanks that releases fine metallic particles which will pass through most fuel filters. The dissolved metals will clog fuel injector nozzles and carburetors. Ethanol added to a fuel tank contaminated with water will cause expensive repairs. The water in the tank will combine with the ethyl alcohol to produce a noncombustible layer of liquid in the tanks that will stop most engines cold.” Read more at Suite101: Ethanol Fuel Problems for Boaters: Issues Plague Boats in the Switch to Ethanol Fuel Mixtures http://boatingsailing.suite101.com/article.cfm/ethanol_fuel_problems_for_boaters#ixzz0rPuYngJk
[/LEFT]
My next string trimmer will be a Stihl or an Echo. They are in the same price range as my Pony, as they have much better reputations and there are local shops who will repair them…
My 2 cents…
Bowfin47
thanks for all of the help but i turned down the silly goat idea and went with non pooping black & decker 18 volt cordless weed whacker
Bowfin, you may have found out what I did after I bought a Troy Bilt lawnmower at Lowes a few years back, Troy Bilt was bought out by MTD, which a local repair shop said stood for “Made To Disappoint.” I was given a Husqvarna 2 stroke that has not been run in forever, I need to go talk to the shop and find out how the fuel pump works.
Normand, I will interested in how the B&D cordless, non-pooping machine works on grass.
Normand:
Do any of the other ‘Brands’ also fertilize as they trim?
aged sage
uncle jesse… fuel pump is a diaphram that runs off the piston stroke. a carb kit should fix the problem
no but i dont want to walk in “fertilizer”! if that your thing, so be it!