Petrol strimmer any ideas on good ones

[andy armitage]

Hi all we just want a petrol strimmer to keep the weeds down, don't want to spend a lot but don't want a useless one any ideas, or is it down to B&Q
thanks
Andy

[Paulottie]

As with most things you get what you pay for. I use a £ 600 Stihl one for the allotments and cricket pitch edge but luckily it belongs to the village and I'm one of the very few who ever use it! They do smaller models but it will incrase the capacity if you can fit a brush cutter blade to it. Piddly ones won't tackle brambles etc. You could try suggesting to the allotments that they get one to hire out.

[andy armitage]

thanks for that, i just spoke to the guy who we bought our hayter petrol mower from and he mentioned the stihl. It's just for the perimeter of our plot which is quite high with weeds, once we cut a path into it then it won't need much strimming so we didn't want to pay a lot but also didn't want a bad one, he mentioned that screwfix have a ryobi one with a free hedgecutter head for £100 he said that they are quite a good make so i am leaning towards that one, he quoted me £270 for a stihl but we don't want to spend that.

[Mr Griff]

Hi,
I was just about to post a question on petrol strimmers, so i may as well join in on this discussion.
Petrol Strimmers are too much for me at the moment, so I am just about to borrow a petrol strimmer from the local church (i know the church warden!) so I'll let you know how i get on with it, the type etc.
My question was, do all petrol strimmers take normal unleaded petrol or do you have to use two stroke?
Cheers
Steve G

[andy armitage]

The ryobi one that i am looking at is a two stroke i think most will be with the exception of honda possibly, well that's what the mower man said.

[kirsty b]

I've got a ryobi. Part of the Expand-it range. I have the strimmer and cultivator heads. I use unleaded and two stroke. On the petrol cap, it tells you what the ratio of petrolil is, 50:1 I think.
Its a nice bit of kit and easy for me, a mere girlie to handle, so a bloke should have no bother with it.
To be able to have the cultivator ead, they recommend you get the 30cc one.

[Paulottie]

Yep, they are 2 stroke.

Ryobi one should be okay for occasional use. Sounds a good deal to me. May I suggest you purchase some decent goggles while your at it.

I have to say I'm pretty fast with a sickle or scythe. Dangerous to the unpractised though.

[andy armitage]

Kirsty it is a 30cc one and what the heck is a culivator head! Paulottie I don't really want to spend the money but Linda really wants one so we keep back the weeds from the edge of our plot as she likes things to be neat, that's just the way she is but I know it will make it better and I suppose it's only money :]

[dinky_doo]

i got a 30cc spear and jackson for 70 quid at argos last week
it does the job and is easy to use reccomend it

[andy armitage]

sounds good dinky do i will have a look which model was it as i have just looked online and they have a spear and jackson 30cc for £47.99 was £59.99 is that the one?

[dinky_doo]

typical when ever i buy something it always go's down in price, lol
yes that is the one m8

the cultivator head for the ryobi strimmer is an rotavator attachment,you use it like you would a rotavator you can also buy a hedge trimmer,lawn edger,and a loper attachment too.
if you have only a few small beds its cheaper (£70ish) than buying a proper rotavator in the long run .

all the best

[kirsty b]

Thats why I got it!! I bought the strimmer and the family all clubbed together to get me the cultivator bit for my birthday. Its great.

Ryobi link: http://www.ryobi-direct.com/acatalog..._it_Range.html

[andy armitage]

Are spear & jackson a good make? i know they do good gardening tools [are they good] but do they do good strimmers or is it a false economy? i would rather pay £48 for one instead of a £100 for the ryobi as it's just to remove large weeds once then it will be used to keep things in check. i really appreciate all the advice you are a good bunch on here

[dinky_doo]

i went in to homebase get some gear on monday
and they had a strimmer on show i think it was around the £60 range i didnt recognise the make but it was exactly like the spear and jackson model i got
(i borrowed a nut off the display model i will take it back when ive finished with it ) alot of brands now use the same specs and indeed same items as others brands just a name change and colour change here
the look on [URL="http://www.machinemart.co.uk"] the ryobi machine is around £120 ish
so for around £200 ish ou will get a strimmer and rotovator
compared to buying one for £250-300

or hiring one for £50 for 2 days

[kirsty b]

I got the ryobi because I knew I wanted the rotovator bit as well having had a play on my sisters one before I purchased!! I also like the flexibility of getting the other bits so I can use it for different jobs if I want to.

If all I wanted was a strimmer, its not likely I would have paid as much as I did for this one. The fact that I can take it to bits to put in the boot of the car is another plus for me.