[Shop-talk] trimmer recommendations?

[Arvid Jedlicka]

I have no intention of starting an debate with Tim that neither of us can win, but I do have a different view.

I have a Stihl with the replaceable attachments, including a trimmer with the easy loading end. I have been very happy with the 
arrangement. Given that I can not use all the tools at the same time, and SHMBO is not a "hey, that looks like fun, can I try it" 
kind of tool person, the need for more than one motor at any given point in time is not an issue.

I like having to maintain only one motor. And maintenance is "run it dry before winter, a little fogging oil down the intake, add 
fuel and start next spring". At the end of the year I pour any fuel left in the can into the truck and in the spring refill the can 
and mix with Universal Oil. The fuel is shared with the chainsaws. I may have an extra sparkplug for it somewhere in the garage but 
I've never needed it so I could be wrong.

All other maintenance - the lubrication of the shafts, the little gear box at the end of the shaft, etc., is identical to the 
individual tools scenario.

I prefer the easy loading version because, at least on the model that I have, the string is much bigger than what was available for 
the autofeed version. Given the way I use it - i.e. often too lazy to go back to the garage and get the "looks like a saw blade" 
brush cutter attachment - the more robust string was a good choice. Admittedly a little more work to change the string than the 
bump-n-run version I had before this one, but it makes up for it by cutting more stuff down by the stream than the other one did.

I bought a big spool of the string when I bought the trimmer and spend an hour cutting it into a bazillion pieces of the correct 
length. Note that this activity can be performed while watching TV - small quantities of beer optional. Put all the pieces into a 
big Ziploc bag and I was good-to-go. Based on my low annual consumption of cut pieces, a bazillion means there will have plenty left 
to trim around my grave when the time comes.

Arvid