Need a weed eater

What you said

 

This one kicks butt, but it's more than what the average person probably needs. I ordered it from the UK.

I ran a few tanks through it over the past week clearing some area.

Husqvarna 555RXT Brushcutter

 

I have 2 - 131 ‘s; bigger motors; mostly for power broom, really over kill for weed wacking. 15 years old and 5 years old IDR bringing either to dealer

love that roto tiller head for tire tracks in grass

bought wife a lil echo (Stihl were too heavy) she likes it for around her raised beds gas model as it was lighter than battery

 

I'm a 223 Husky user. I have a 525 that I bought and put back but have not needed yet. I do more cutting with one than I'd like to admit. Behind right now as matter of fact. 25ccs is the perfect amount of power for what I need and the Huskies are very light. I have some limited experience with an Echo 225 which seems to be their main seller for regular folks. Prefer Husky grip and trigger and they don't have the umph of a 25cc. I'd like to run a 262o Echo sometime. I know without looking it up that it's heavier than the 223 though.

Weedeating kinda stinks. Moreso if the tool is 'heavy'. I don't care what brand it is... get the lightest with the most power that suits your needs and preferences (and budget).

 

They are only 36cc....??? I wouldn't consider my 53cc 555 RXT overkill for what I was using it for this past weekend. Definitely overkill though for the average homeowner looking to clean up his small residential lot after mowing.

Exactly, that's why I have a 53cc one. It's better to have more than what you need vs needing more than what you have. That's something I learned a long time ago. Buy once, cry once vs settling based solely on price to only have buyers remorse and wishing you had bought the one you really wanted in the first place and didn't because you didn't want to spend that much.

 

I switched over to electric weed eater years ago; no regrets. I don't have to worry about if the weed eater will start or not.....don't have to worry about mixing fuel....don't end up with exhaust smell on your clothing.....

I use it for yard only. I don't think it would do well with anything larger than a golden rod type weed.

I will admit that there is a couple times each year that a gas powered with some type of blade on it would be nice to cut down small brush/trees though. FWIW

 

I don't hate the batteries but I'm not married to em. My biggest complaint is the cost; I have 3 12ah batteries.

So M18 trimmer + 3 12ah batteries = $1000, most of which has to be re-spent every 3 years. It's pretty brutal.

Looks like Echo is the winner. I'd be interested in redmax but they appear to play games (no pricing listed on their site for example).

 

My last 223 was bought in 2015 for $349. Prolly used 40 gallons of fuel or so since? I'll go with total cost of ~$500 over ten years. The trimmer shows no signs of giving up the ghost any time soon (if so, I have redundancy) I have that same Milwaukee trimmer but don't use it (was gifted to me). I just could not find any benefit to it. I already keep mixed fuel, still need string and it weighs more than my gasser with a decent battery.

 

While I have everyone on the topic of string trimmers. I have an invention floating around in my head. I do a lot of trail maintenance and I've been thinking about something like this:

- / - / - / - / - / - / - / -

It's a machine with a spinning shaft that you tow horizontally behind a mower or ATV, with a bunch of string trimmer heads canted at a 45 degree angle. It would have its own power source. You would take this down trails that are already cut to groom them. It would simultaneously cut any growth up while also smoothing out the trail surface.

Any thoughts? I'm debating prototyping this. I can see a bunch of challenges like feeding the string (could use the fixed-style), the HP requirements, but it seems like something that would have a lot of appeal for property owners or park maintenance type folks.

 

Red max no longer exists. Thats probably why there is no pricing on their website. Husqvarna shut redmax down several years after buying them for the strato engine technology. They are still made / sold in Japan under the original name of Zenoah. Zenoah was called Redmax in North America.

 

Just like the end of jonsred was redmax, husky took all the j-red saws relabeled as redmax to sell to all the lawn maintenance crews with blowers and trimmers. What yard crew needs a 95cc chainsaw is beyond me but probably why they died completely after awhile. Jonsred guys thought they were gone and yard guys didn’t need 70-90cc chainsaws.

 

JRHAWK9 to me it’s all about what it can do, I guess CC have increased over 15 years. My requirements were be able to attach 10 inch cross cut saw blade and cut down 4 inch sugar maple on edge of field. So I did not have to go get chainsaw. That requires more blade speed than power; cuts at ground level faster easier safer.
I have combi system so chain saw, power broom tiller and weedwacker

my over kill statement was just for weedwaking around a “normal” lot. Trimming grass by fences trees flower beds etc.
My house lot and use of tools are not normal, before age and injuries caught up with me. Normal was start a tool and only shut it off for fuel and run it hard for 8-10 hours. Many a non pro tools died.

 

I did not know this, I bought mine about 12 years ago and never had a reason to buy another. Same as Para Ordanance Guns they were doing so well another company bought them and shut them down.

 

It's a shame as they make excellent products. You can still find some dealers selling left over stock online. It's how I recently bought 2, new in box redmax GZ4350 chainsaws. A dealer on ebay trying to move old stock. Both saws were made in 2018. Most former red max dealers near us sell echo now.

 

Even the smaller 4-mix engines make very good torque with a brush blade. They also run a long time on a tank of fuel.

 

yeah, the saw blades come in handy. I have the string trimmer, grass blade and saw blade heads for mine. I use the saw blade to keep the pines at bay. I am surprised at what the grass blade can take down. I was using it to "chip away" at ~1" "trees".

Blade speed, sure, but still need the power to keep blade speed high when in the cut. Same as a chainsaw. Does no good if you don't have the power to keep blade/chain speed up while in the cut.

I've never been a fan of those 4 mix motors. Brush blades carry lots of momentum, compared to running a string trimmer head. It's fun to use a brush blade while cutting down some dense stuff where you can hold the throttle open and let 'er eat.