String trimmer shopping (Echo straight shafts)

Been using my 225 for a month now and the string loading head thing is a piece of poo. The old weedeater style heads have a slightly different thread pitch so can’t go onto the echo. Great engine, nice trimmer otherwise, the fancy head is crap.

 

Since you guys jinxed my old trimmer, I got a new on today...SRM 266. Hope it lasts as long as my 230!

 

That's what I picked up about 3 years ago. Love it, other than a little heavy plus can't change it for pole saw, but hated to spend the money for a modular unit. First weed wacker I've had that the string feeds after I load it. Looked at Echo 10+ years ago, but ended up with a Troybuilt. Hated that thing from day 2.

 

Used it for about 3 hours yesterday, in tall grass (30"??) It seemed to wrap grass around the shaft at the top of the head and shut it down till I clearef it.

 

Hello
I dug out all the grass under, in front and in back of the fence, put down weed block and threw in 3/4” stone and boardered it with 6 x 6s Also threw in some weed killer on the stones, so I never have to weed wack. :-( or
Takes a little more work but since I have a white vinyl fence it may last a little longer this way.
See pics.
Vinyl Fence protection using landscape stones?

 

Nice to see I wasn't the only one who was jinxed by this thread lol.

I'm digging the 266 so far. Only dislike about it is it's tough to tell how much gas is in the tank w the guard thing on it. I do like that it has a bigger gas tank than the srm-225 it replaced.

 

Any tips on the silly echo string head? Are you guys loading it by pulling a single 20' string through the head and then cranking it into the head? I had trouble with one of the strings snapping off at the entrance to the string head body and then you have to take the whole thing apart to fish that broken end out.

The thread pitch is different or I'd be using my old weedeater heads!

 

Same here, there was still some string left inside and I couldn't put the line thru the hole. Not hard to take apart, but still a PITA! I figure that head won't last long with the abuse I put my trimmers through. Wish it had the one like my 230 where I would just wrap the string around the head.

 

I am surprised that you are having problems at all. The head on my Echo is such that I cut about a 10ft piece of the string. The string goes in one side of the head and out the other. Pull until the head is in the center of the string and then start cranking the head until only about 8 in of string protrudes each side and then start cutting. When I tap the head on the ground at speed, the string extends by centripetal force till the string limiter cuts it off. I assume you have the same? I have never had a problem with mine.

 

That's how it's supposed to work except the manual says you can load like 20 feet of string. I was having problems with the OEM string breaking off at the head and getting stuck inside so it wouldn't feed. Not much fun since you have to take it apart and it takes three hands to get it all stuffed together properly. I may have been abusing it a little bit by edging vs. just plain trimming.

The typical weedeater has a bump to feed mechanism that is harder to load but much more forgiving.

 

Don't quote me on this Brian but you may be able to remove the old head from your 230 and use it on the new trimmer.

 

I use a very slightly larger ribbed string than called for but the standard string seems to work OK also, just wears out faster. I just guess at the lengths when loading. I do massive amounts of edging for a non-professional with very few problems. If I found that I was continually having to field strip the head, for whatever reason, it would indeed be a pain!

 

I use mine commercially and I had problems with the line breaking (on the SRM225 also had the same head) and not feeding when I needed more line out. I started putting in about 12-15 feet of line instead of 20' and it's working a lot better. But yeah, its aggravating when it doesn't feed correctly and you have to pop the cap off to restring. Try less line and see how it does.

 

Ahh, 20' max. I couldn't remember. My last load I must have had 25+' and it jambed. Only load it once or twice a year and had to pull it apart maybe twice.

 

I have the same head on my 230. I just "measure" out the line by holding the spool in my right hand and the line in my left and spreading my arms out wide. My wingspan is about 6 feet. I do that 3 times and end up with around 18 feet of line. Haven't had it jam up yet in 3 years of use.

 

Thanks Brad, but I put the 230 out on the street yesterday, so it is gone...I picked it up on Friday and loaded it twice since the line that came on it spooled out. I will try to load it with 18' or less next time. Love the power and smooth operation, just have to get used to the line loading!

 

So far, liking this line.