Need a new weed whacker

jwstewar

jwstewar

Senior Member
Staff member
I've got an 11 year old Ryobi. It is a 4-cycle. It has been a pretty good weedeater. I have given it quite a bit of abuse over the years and it has stood up well. Looks like the motor is starting to go a little bit though. It is starting to smoke now when I get on the trigger - it is blueish in color so I believe it is oil.

So I'm in the mode of looking for a new one, but not necessarily in a hurry either. I know the first thing everying is going to recommend is an Echo or Stihl, but I'll put out some of my requirements and see if those still fit the bill. I really like the 4-cycle. I enjoy not mixing fuel and oil. Though a 2-cycle that doesn't require mixing would be OK. That is my first preference, but not necessarily required, but HIGHLY desired. Second, I have to have something that will take a blade for brush cutting. The current one takes a 4 toothed blade and it will cut anything up to probably 2" in diameter. Third, I have several attachments for the Ryobi that I would like continue to be able to use with the new one as I no I couldn't sell these for enough money to pay for the new ones. BTW, I have a pole saw, snow blower, cultivator, blower and vacuum. Fourth, I prefer a straight shaft. I've just a couple of curved shafts and get annoyed with them when trying to get under something.

I'm not sure on the type of handle. Currently I have a "D" type handle with a strap. Works OK, but it does get to the back after awhile. I like the concept of the bicycle handle bars, but I'm not sure if I can cut my ditch with it. Anyone know if I can go down in the ditch and mow up both sides of the bank?
 
Jwstewar,

I'm a definate fan of Stihl, I just pulled my FS85 out of the shed not having been run for nearly a year, and it fired up with a few pulls.

The FS80 will do all that you said you want it to be able to, trim and brushcut.

I personally prefer the 2 cycle, they are generally lighter, and should be more powerful.
If you get a mixing bottle with the marks on it, then mixing fuel isnt really too much hassle.
Some 4-cycles require you mix fuel anyway, if you had a oil sump and just added straight fuel then you wouldnt be able to turn it upside down.

I have no idea if they will take the ryobi attachments, for I have no idea what kind of shaft a ryobi uses. I would suspect that you would need to get another ryobi to do that.

If you are just using the cutter on ground level then handlebars is the way to go. If you want to use it for anything like the pole saw, hedgecutter or any other attachments then you have no choise but to get the D handle really.
 
jwstewar said:
I have several attachments for the Ryobi that I would like continue to be able to use with the new one as I no I couldn't sell these for enough money to pay for the new ones.
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Can you get a new Ryobi that's compatable with your existing attachments? If so, that sounds like the way to go.
If not, the bicycle handlebar type is nice (with the harness on the body). You can do ditches and stuff with it easily. It is a bit harder doing things higher as you need to pretty much lift the whole thing (making the harness useless at the time) but reaching downward is easy.
 
Mith said:
If you get a mixing bottle with the marks on it, then mixing fuel isnt really too much hassle.
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Agreed. I mix a gallon at a time and store in a 1 gallon can. I have one can at a 50-1 mix, another at 32-1.
 
bczoom said:
Can you get a new Ryobi that's compatable with your existing attachments? If so, that sounds like the way to go.
If not, the bicycle handlebar type is nice (with the harness on the body). You can do ditches and stuff with it easily. It is a bit harder doing things higher as you need to pretty much lift the whole thing (making the harness useless at the time) but reaching downward is easy.
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My only concern with a new Ryobi is I've heard of quite a few problems since MTD has cheapened them up. I've heard of a lot of shafts breaking. Though maybe if I got one and it broke, I could figure out a way to use my existing shaft which has never given a moments trouble. I was looking at a Troy-Bilt at Lowes (I know still MTD), they had the 4 cycle one for either $199 I think. I also have a couple of 10% off coupons so that would get it down to $180.

FWIW, the current 4-cycle must have some type of sump as I have to change the oil in it, but it can be used at any angle (at least I have). And with some of the attachments the way they are made, there is no way you couldn't not hold it in weird angles. So I've always assumed it is OK. I've got way too many hours on it to assume I've hurt it.
 
I bought a Shindaiwa professional model 8 years ago and it's still going strong. It's the kind you can add a 7 1/2" blade to. It works great. Plenty of power. And light by comparision. Lowes won't carry it, I found mine at a Kubota dealer. I still have to mix oil and gas, but I have to do that for my chainsaw anyway. At least the mix is the same.
 
What model do you currently have?

There's a CS 30 on e-bay right now ($5.99)
Item number: 150112634115
 
Thought I should post a quick follow-up to this. I posted in the walk-behind edger thread that I purchased a new Troy-Bilt 4 cycle unit from Lowes. Wasn't planning on using it right away. Bought it on Saturday (a couple weeks ago). Started to use the old Ryobi on Sunday. Pulled the string and it started as normal, but it promptly died. Yanked the string again. Didn't start this time, I broke the string. Ended up having to use the new Troy-Bilt. Now fast forward a couple of weeks I finally needed to trim (OK, it need done before now, I just hadn't:mrgreen: ). I did some normal weed whacking, and then I did some extreme cutting on a couple of areas that hadn't been done this year. Ended up cutting some tall (4 or 5' yes feet) stringy/tough grass. It had plenty of power until the grass would wrap around the head. It would then usually spin the grass out, but not always. Stalled it a few times while doing this. I then put the tiller on it and weeded the garden. I ended up putting gas in it 4 times on Saturday. It seems to be a little easier on gas than the old Ryobi it replaced even though it is a bigger engine (29 vs. 26 CC). I guess so far after one use for about 6 hours, I'm pretty happy so far. Hope it lasts as long as the Ryobi did (about 10 years).
 
You can't beat a 10 year ROI on the Ryobi. I've got a 9 year old Ryobi that is still going strong (a little noisy)and I have beat the puss out of it and a Homelite (same thing) just for string trimming (and a B&D Cordless Electric for quick trims - very quick batteries don't last very long).

The Ryobi has the quick attach set up and I use the tiller attachment on it to do some pretty rough tilling and I bought this viscous chainsaw type attachment called a Beaver Blade for hacking through stuff that is thick 3"-5" easy.

For the price of a Stihl or Echo I have two trimmers set up the way I want them.

I suspect my Ryobi will last longer than 10 years since I am spreading the load across two trimmers.

The CFO says that a disposable Ryobi gives good ROI (if you don't mind noise and vibration).

PB
 
I just went through the search for a new trimmer myself. The old Craftsman, which is a Ryobi, is 9 years old. It's getting rough to start and the guard broke off. So..........
Craftsman, Echo, Stihl, Shindaiwa, Ryobi were all looked at.

Craftsman, either Ryobi or Poulan, have mostly gone to easy change line. But you have to stop the trimmer and replace line instead of advancing more with a bump and feed head. Yes they still have the bump and feed but only in the smaller cheaper units. There was one on sale that came with a brush cutter attachment that I liked.
Echo seemed decent but for some reason just didn't fit right in my hands. Didn't seem balanced for some reason.
Almost bought a Stihl FS80. The local guy had some on order but none in stock. The FS90 will replace the 80 but it's listed as a 4-mix. A 4-cycle that you still feed 2-cycle mix to it.
Didn't look too long at the Ryobi after I tried out a Shindaiwa. Most of the landscape guys I know use Shindaiwa. I went with a Shindaiwa T242X which is one of the "professional" models, brush cutter blade compatible. It already has the larger deflector which is supposedly needed with a brush blade. Shidaiwa also sells a Tornado blade that has chainsaw teeth mounted on it for saplings/trees, which will work on this trimmer. It has a Speed-Feed® head. You can reload 20-25' of line in 30 seconds, or so they say. It seems well balanced and little vibration at all. It's really quiet and no smoking at all, even for a 2-cycle. The shop (or Shindaiwa) had a promotion going in the spring and this was the last one they had bought at the promotional price. They wouldn't dicker much on price, but it was priced right for me.
Hopefully, this will be my last one. I've heard everyone say Buy Local and give the neighborhood guy a chance, but maybe I'll never need him for service :wink:
 
Well, you guys called it. I was out using the cultivator on the new TroyBilt. All of a sudden BLAM, a loud clicking noise. I'm assuming the drive shaft broke just as you guys said it would. I boxed it up and I'll take it back later. I then went to work on the Ryobi. Managed to get the string out and tied back on. Took a little bit to get it started since I had it completely apart and the string was now about 8 inches shorter, but it finally started and I was able to go back to work - at least for awhile until I got too hot and came in the house for some Gatorade and to tell you guys. Now I'm going swimming for awhile. The dirt can wait for a little while.:D
 
Thought I would post a follow-up to this. I had been doing the research last year and had pretty much made my decision. Then once the house fire happened, the weed wacker was no longer a priority.

Well, now that we are back in the house and starting to "fix" the yard, the weeds were getting pretty tall.

I didn't look any more, just went with my decision that I had made back in the fall for a new .......... Echo PAS-265.

I got one with interchangable head like the old Ryobi, unfortunately the old Ryobi attachments won't fit. So far I only have the regular string head, though I will probably go back and get the brush cutter and maybe the cultivator. The cultivator is a bit pricey though at $189.

I used it for probably 5 or 6 hours on Sunday. Went through 5 tanks of fuel.

I was cutting pretty heavy weeds and completely went through the string that came with it. Restrung it, it was a bit of a pain to get wound correctly though. Almost used most of that too. It doesn't hold near as much string as the old Ryobi. Need to get a couple of additional heads so I don't have to stop in the middle of trimming and rewind. Other than that, I was pretty happy with it. It isn't super heavy, but not light either. Echo doesn't give a strap or anything to use with it, but really wasn't bad either.

Stayed tuned for further updates.
 
jwstewar said:
Well, now that we are back in the house and starting to "fix" the yard, the weeds were getting pretty tall.

The cultivator is a bit pricey though at $189.

I used it for probably 5 or 6 hours on Sunday. Went through 5 tanks of fuel.
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Glad to hear you're finally back in the house. I'm sure everyone is ecstatic about that.

I don't know if I'd look at the Echo cultivator or not at that price. I think there are Mantis "look alikes" at that price or cheaper. Heck I bought a returned Toro at Lowe's for $40. It had a defective switch, $2.

I can usually get 2-3 hours out of a tank of fuel with the Shindaiwa, but I'm only cutting high grass/weeds but not necessarily thick stuff.
 
Probably not what you want to hear but I will only buy a Stihl. I have an FS85 that is ten years old. Changed the plug I think once, maybe. lol.

I just keep winding string on it and keep cutting.

Good luck with whatever you buy.
 
cj, I'm with you, stihl is my favorite, I have an FS85 too, great machine. I bought a hedgecutter head off one of the long reach cutters and that bolts on the end.

I know of an Echo 20+ years old still on its original spark plug that sees alot of work, its still going just fine.
There are a couple makes that seem to have the ability to just keep on going.
 
Yep

I should have added that I had one at home growing up I think a FS74. Still going. Thats been at least 25 yrs.
 
2 things that "made my decision" close proximity of the dealer and the warranty. Stihl is a 2 year warranty w/ an engine rated for 50 hours and Echo has a 5 year warranty and an engine rated for 300 hours. I guess engine rating is according to the EPA "EDP ( Engine Duribility Period) or Useful life By EPA’s own words EDP means “When Engine performance deteriorates to the point where usefulness and / or reliability are impacted to a degree sufficient to necessitate overhaul or replacement”. I actually looked around at several Stihl products and saw that they were rated at the 50 hour home owner use - even some of their higher end products. Now that doesn't mean it won't go longer, it just means that it wasn't "designed" to go longer. Heck even on a rental unit Echo goes 3 times longer than Stihl - 90 days vs. 30 days.

I'm not saying that Stihl is bad, but this is the information I based my decision on. If it lasts as long as my Ryobi I will have done good. BTW, we wanted to till some ground up next to the new house for planting. I pulled the old Ryobi and continued to use the tiller on it. It actually was running pretty good, maybe it just needed a break.
 
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