OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Trimmers and Brushcutters Two Stroke Trimmers & Brushcutters I Need A New Snipper - Which One Though???

Now that I have a lawnmower (and will have lawn by tomorrow), I am going to be needing a Whipper Schnipper soon. I have no idea what to look for though. My lawn will be half surrounded by pavers and half by a limestone retaining wall and It's only about 50m2 all up. The shape of it is like a rectangle with two opposite corners cut of. I was hoping to be able to use the trimmer to create a "mowing edge" between the lawn and pavers/wall. Don't know if this is possible?? Thought it would save me buying an edger as well.

I guess my main need is something that is going to last a long time. In otherwords = Reliable. Other than that, I don't really know what to look for. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I guess seems my mower was fairly cheap, I could push my budget up to about $500. Obviously the cheaper I can get one the better though. Cheers.

PS - My lawn is Zoysia Empire!

Anyone?

Hi wazzbat,
I would suggest Japanese, namely echo. Although Japanese equipment is based on the same general design it was 40 years ago its of good quality. I would not recommend anything from Bunning�s. I would not recommend low end still or husky stuff either, as much as the sales man try�s to talk you into it, it is not what it use to be (my favorite mower show has stopped dealing stihl altogether).
I have an industrial echo brush cutter, and can�t fault it. It starts easy, uses no fuel and best of all is so much lighter than Honda or stihl stuff.
as to a mown edge anything is possible with a little practice!
Regards Jay

I agree with mowernut except with the echo because I used to be a dealer and they are moving the same way as stihl and husky. If you don't turn over a minimum of $10,000 in stock (cost to dealer ex gst) they look at closing the account and that is why they will push product before quality onto the customer.

Bunnings is just a sales tool for product and they just look at turnover and as to quality products forget it. The mighty Dollar wins the day because everyone is chasing market share.

I would recommend Tanaka or Oleo-Mac over Stihl and husky, one because they are made in Japan and Italy. The weight of the units is less than the Echo which also makes it better for the customers back.

One other thing to look at is how much advertising companies are doing in order to sell their products and Stihl does a lot also husky. What I have found with the Tanaka brand is the company does not do a lot of advertising and they let the product sell itself.

I have found in the past usually when a customer buys a Tanaka one of their neighbours usually buy one after borrow it and talking to them.

Anyway I will get off the soap box as this is just my thoughts and the final say is you as to what you want to get as you have to live with your decision, so do your research well.

Thanks guys. I don't really know the first thing about them. I probably would have gone to Bunnings thinking the most expensive one was my best bet. I will do a bit more research before I go and find a good one. Thanks again.

wazzbat, if you are actually going to restrict your line trimmer work to trimming edges of a five metre by ten metre patch of fine grass, you don't need a bevel-gear ('straight shaft') trimmer, or a full-crank engine - so you should be in the lower 50% of the price range. On the other hand, at least in my experience line trimmers are a pain in the backside to start, especially cheap versions and trimmers that are seldom used. Furthermore there are issues with the cutting head: it needs to be easy to feed out more line, but you don't really want to end up with some super-simplified line feed system that doesn't work for long, or leaves pieces of line strewn all over your back yard. I suggest you research three issues: how easy trimmers are to cold-start after laying around all winter; how easy it is to get parts and good-quality service for them; and just how the line feed system works (or doesn't work). As a sort of what not to do exercise, my el cheapo trimmer is pretty much a pain to start, mainly because it has a full-sized chainsaw carburetor on a 16 cc engine, and it has no priming system. It has to be started and stopped frequently because the line feed head has to be dismantled to feed out the line - and by then I have to cold-start the engine (choke it, pull the cord until it burps, open the choke, pull cord three times to clear the over-fueling). Then it runs fairly poorly because the huge carburetor is effectively on full throttle when I pull the throttle lever less than one-quarter of the way. And I don't think I could get parts for it either.

Hi grumpy and wazzbat, I think that is good advice grumpy; I also have a small lawn, the only difference is that I have a cement driveway and garden edging, so I use an edger as well.

I use a Homelite bent shaft line trimmer fitted with a Ryobi bump-head, and am using 2.0mm Bynorm 6 bladed copolymer nylon line which lasts and feeds very well. The Homelite is very similiar to the 25cc Ryobi with a primer on the carby and is a bit hard to start after winter, owing to the fact that it does not have a fuel tap so stale fuel/oil is in the system.I try to use all the fuel up on it's last run before the winter lay-up to prevent that happening

Hi guys,
I bought my echo about 2 years ago, but it was one of the 'professional' ones.
I would believe it Bruce; I think everything (using the term loosely) is going that way especially with the financial downturn as a bit of a push along. Well take Tecumseh for an example!
Anyway I almost bought a tanka unit! But it was about 7ccs smaller for the same price.
Regards jay

I would echo Bruce's remarks on Tanaka I have a 34cc straight shaft job and it is a ripper. You can pick the quality.

GregR,

I remember many years ago when I used to travel around NSW to all the small farm field days when the old farmers would come up to me and ask if I had the TAS brand of equipment and I would ask them why. They would say it was the best equipment they had because they would leave them in the paddock (out in the weather) and go back to them 6 months later and they would start first or second pull.

I would then advise them that the TAS name was changed to Tanaka and they would buy straight away with no hesitation.

I have also been to Japan to see the Tanaka factory with my wife and we were really impressed on how they build the equipment. That is one of the reasons why I recommend the brand and have been dealing with them now for over 25years and have only had at the most one warranty claim every two to three years.

Anyway enjoy your Tanaka as I do with mine.

Well, you have sold me. Tanaka it is. Now I gotta go find someone in Perth that's gonna do me a good deal?
Cheers guys.

wazzbat,

Click HERE to find your local dealer.

Thanks Bruce

I went and had a chat to someone at a dealer off that list you gave me and now I'm torn between two different trimmers. (I've decided I don't think I need a top of the range type model. A simple bent shaft jobbie should be more than adequate for my needs.) They didn't have the bent shaft Tanaka on the shelf but he said he could get it in no worries for $300. But he did have the full range of Honda 4 stroke trimmers and they looked well built. I have since done a little bit of googling and can't find any reviews on the Tanaka but all the Honda reviews are nothing but praise. Starts first pull everytime, well balanced etc etc. The base model "UMS425" can be had for $400.

I also went to another dealer who was trying to sell me a Husky. Not pushy by any means but definately wanted to sell me a husky. I asked him about the Honda and he basically wrote them off saying they're too expensive bla bla bla but then told me that the 4 stroke Husky model actually used a Honda engine. But I didn't really like the look of the Husky anyway. It looked a bit cheap/plastic like.

So... If anyone has had any experience with either the Honda 4 strokes or the Tanaka TBC-225c, I would love to hear your input.

Cheers again!

wazzbat,

It depends on the person buying the trimmer but I always lean towards the tanaka because of the reliability and especially the weight.

The honda's seem to be a bit on the heavy side but they are good machines. My back tells me the weight is more important.

In the end it is personal choice.

hi all,
I agree with Bruce that Hondas are [Censored] HEAVY. I have one, that I fitted a KAZZ shaft to and literally have a piece of 4x2 at the other end of the shaft to balance it.
The other problem I can see with Honda�s is that it seems to produce less hp and lower r.p.m, and there are many more moving parts to go wrong. So if you can live with your self emitting extra green house gasses then I'd go two strokes all the way.
Also eventually when it does fail it will be easier and cheaper for you to fix yourself!
regards jay

After chating with a few people, I'm still torn between getting a base type model but a good brand or spend another $200 and just get a half decent one from the start. I can get the Tanaka TBC-225C for $300 but I'm starting to lean towards the Tanaka TBC-230S which I can get for $470. Then I think, I may as well spend an extra $50 and get the TBC-270S for $520. Mmmmmmm... Where do I stop though?

I think the Tanaka is the brand to go for because of the reputation/reliability and also the weight factor.

The reason I want to go for the straight shaft now is because it puts the head futher from my feet and therefore less crap gets flung onto my legs/feet. Plus I really value my toes. They help me to walk!

I'll probably end up with the 270S cause I'm the sort of bloke who just can't settle for bottom of the range. I can see myself regretting not paying that little bit extra for a bigger/better machine even if the cheaper one would have done the job just fine.

Anyway, thanks for your help everyone!

wazzbat good to see that you are doing your research. From reading your post it seems that you are putting common sense to your choice and as I have said before it is upto the person buying the machine as to what they need.

I am sure that you will be happy with your choice in many years to come.

Hey wazzbat, good choice mate, you definately won't regret it, especially the reliability of these machines

You have done the homework and are prepared to spend the money, so the chances are you should get a good outcome. I went to the other extreme: started with a second-hand (ex contractor) Italian straight-shaft brushcutter for $70, got annoyed with it being too hard to start and didn't want to pay for a line-trimming head for it so I gave it away, then bought a bent shaft line trimmer for $20 and haven't yet reconciled myself to fairly hard starting and (compared with the Italian brushcutter)crummy running. Both were in pretty good condition, but because of design features were best suited to somebody poor but tolerant. I gather you aren't either of those things, and are choosing accordingly.

Thanks guys. I guess I was looking for a bit of back up if I was going to spend that much. I came to the right place .
It makes it a bit easier to justify, not only to myself but the missus as well. The good thing too is that the guy I am buying it off was really helpful and not at all pushy and his prices I thought were very reasonable. I don't mind spending that little bit more to get a decent service!

If you don't mind my venturing a totally amateur perspective, and from very limited experience...

I bought my first whipper snipper a few years ago for our then very rural setting and thought I'd need extra power, so I chose a Shindaiwa T260X (straight shaft) for a bit under $500.

We subsequently moved into a large semi-suburban allotment and I suspect that I now have 'too much' machine for the job. Too much as in too heavy, too noisy, too much vibration and, if anything, too much power. I never need anywhere near maximum power and bits of grass & weeds are flying everywhere!

Very many years ago a mate bought a small Riobi bent-shaft; this was well before the Riobi brand-name was onsold and cheapened downmarket. Anyway you could lift this little unit with two fingers and the motor was very quiet and smooth with a pleasing little purr to it. It required no repair and lasted him for 14 years of typical suburban useage, until a breakdown when he opted to scrap it. In short, a perfect machine for the job at hand.

As my ears resonate and my cranium vibrates as I wrestle with the weight and torque of my big Shindaiwa, I sometimes think of his old snipper and wonder how much better off I'd be with a 'lesser' machine.

As an aside for something else to consider, the 'two piece' snippers with the detachable power-head cost more, but have the advantage of fitting easily inside a car boot, whereas the conventional machines may barely fit (and be grotty if not sheathed) inside the cabin of a large sedan.

That's one of the reasons I'm going for a Tanaka. They are quite light. The one I am looking at weighs just under 5kgs. And as for the power... I reckon the more the better. I can see what you're saying though nota. Like I said before, I probably could easily get away with a smaller machine. I love my toys though! Thanks for your thoughts nota!

From a novice beginning (and please can the experts correct me if wrong) one of the things I've been told is that you can't 'slip the clutch' aka use partial throttle - its either full-throttle or idle-revs, and nothing in between so it's 'all or nothing' otherwise you risk burning out the clutch.

By this I mean it can be difficult to be subtle with a high-powered machine, when it comes to lawn & garden 'trimming'

Another mate was very impressed with my big powerful snipper and requested I come around to trim up her flower bed of errant grass & weeds. So I jammed it into the car, went around to her place, and proceeded to virtually destroy her prized floral display at maximum revolutions! Like I said, bits of petals and sundry were flying everywhere despite my best efforts at control, it was genuine horticultural mayhem. However I did manage to brutalise a small tree.

And that banshee wail of the engine at peak revs reminds me of the worst sounding 125cc 2-stroke sports-type motorcycles, with el-cheapo Power-Pipe etc. The engine doesn't purr, it just hammers. The Mitsubishi-powered engine of a colleague's KAZZ snipper sounds far quieter, smoother & less gauche.

As a car enthusiast I can well relate to what you mean about 'more power = better' and used to believe it a maxim of all things involving internal combustion. However I have found this is not always the case in practice.

Btw my hefty Shindaiwa weighs 'only' 5.4 kg .. choose carefully.

Cheers

Maybe I should settle for the the smaller TBC-230? After all, I only have a pretty small area to snip. I only plan on using to trim around the perimeter of my lawns (where the mower can't get at) and if successful, to run an edge around the lawn ie vertical cut. What do the experts think?

Not being an expert, I'll chip in separately. In your situation I'd be using a couple of bucks' worth of electric whipper snipper. Starting and maintenance are then rather easy. Your small area (and small perimeter) mean that you don't have much of an issue with the electric cord. Incidentally I am not suggesting a battery-powered device - that just recreates the maintenance problems we are trying to avoid. A simple, brand-name electric snipper should trim up your fine grass around the perimeter in a couple of minutes, for hardly any money and even less trouble.

Why do I have a miniature petrol-powered trimmer myself? My trimming is partly along the back fence, and some pretty powerful vegetation based in my neighbour's yard comes under the fence. 3 mm nylon trimming line cannot make an impression - I'm about to try a blade on it. I did try an electric trimmer on it for a while, but after burning it out twice I decided to get real. I don't see you having this kind of problem.

Well, I bit the bullet and bought myself a brushcutter today. I ended up getting the Tanaka 270. I probably would have got the 230 but he didn't have one on the shelf so I thought "what the heck". I will give it a go this weekend when I give my lawn it's first trim. I'm gonna see how the cutter head goes. I might end up getting the "Brain Head". I will have to see.

Good to hear you made a purchase, be sure to let us know how she goes!

Good choice!

fwiw i have had a TBC300 bullhorned straight shaft unit for almost 13 years, 5 of which it did absolutely nothing however the past 6 it has been given a real workout on our acreage.

Starts second pull and has never let me down, still feels as powerful as the first time i used it. Its the best bit of yard machinery i have got. Will be buying a second one shortly, something a little smaller and lighter for 'her indoors'.

Hi all. Long time no post. Thought I'd just give you guys an update on my snipper.
So far, so good. I am very happy with my purchase. It cuts around the edges beautifully and best of all, it starts 1st or second pull everytime. Sounds awesome too. Just don't think I'd have been happy with a Bunnings jobby.
Only problem now is, I need to get a decent mower or upgrade the motor on the one I got, I'm finding it hard to adjust the throttle to get enough power without it really opening up and screaming it's box off! But that's for another post anyway.
Thanks again guys for your input. Really appreciate it!

Easy call on the mower front either a Honda HRU196d or a HRU197D