Petrol strimmers

the_frugal_frog

Good morning everyone,
I am going to buy a petrol strimmer, I have a large garden, and an electric one wouldnt be any use.

I am totally clueless, so.... can you buy the "2 stroke oil" in garages/supermarkets?? Its probably a silly question, but this is all new to me. Do I need to mix anything or does it pour straight in. Of course I will read instructions when I buy but just was looking for any info frm you gardeners before I go buy a petrol strimmer. Thanks

tired_dad

I would recommend buying a well made unit that will last.

Straight strimmer as opposed to curved.

Recommend Stihl kombi system.

skivenov

You can get two stroke oil from most garages, car parts places, and the motoring section in a lot of supermarkets. My personal opinion is it's worth spending a bit more for a brand name.

Some machines will have separate tanks for 2 stroke oil and fuel. Others will need pre-mixed fuel. You can get a mixer bottle for a few quid from car shops, DIY places, etc. Make sure it's got the right markings for your machine (some need 50:1 fuel:oil, others might need 20:1). I generally don't trust automixers on machines, and just run on pre-mix fuel.

Get something with a Honda engine on. Briggs and Stratton apparently make a lot of their engines in South America now and I'm told they're not as good as the older stuff.

Davesnave

skivenov wrote: »

Get something with a Honda engine on. Briggs and Stratton apparently make a lot of their engines in South America now and I'm told they're not as good as the older stuff.

Well, if you follow that advice, you won't need 2 stroke oil. Hondas are 4 strokes!

While two strokes are supposed to have more grunt cc for cc, my 35cc Honda copes with everything I throw at it, and I'm talking acres of nasty stuff, now tame.

A Honda will come with a 5 year guarantee too, though I think you must purchase from a recognised supplier and have it serviced annually to keep it valid.

If the thought of a Honda or a Stihl at around £300- £400 makes you :eek: :eek:Lidl may soon be selling a 2 stroke unit by Einheil and badged 'Florabest' at around £120, which should come with their usual 3 year guarantee. They have done this in previous years.

pedrothefish

Just a warning, find out the weights of them as some of them will get very heavy after a period of time!!

lardlikesdogs

Echo are well built and are a bit cheaper than Stil, What ever you do don't get anything from the DIY store it will be rubbish, You get what you pay for and should be looking at £200-£400

Shop around but something like this

http://www.abbeygardensales.co.uk/brushcutters/echo-brushcutters/showitem-C1-SRM220ES.aspx

Cylon82

I bought a refurbished one off ebay and it works just fine. It's a McCulloch with a blade as my previous one had that plastic string type stuff that you feed into the head but wasn't man enough for our brambles.

Two stroke you can get from a garage or farm supply store. It will say on the bottle what % mixture to add to normal unleaded fuel.

HTH

Davesnave

pedrothefish wrote: »

Just a warning, find out the weights of them as some of them will get very heavy after a period of time!!

If you buy one with a proper full harness, that will take the weight. The whole thing should balance around the attachment point too.

I use a rubbishy Ryobi when cutting the local churchyard. It's lighter than my machine, but the single loop harness is so bad, I'm crocked after half an hour.