Impotrtant question

[artme]

Electric or petrol trimmer/edger/brushcutter? Which and why?

Electric or petrol bower / vac.? Which and why?

Currently have Ryobi electric of each. Both stuphphed.

[cellist]

Electric or petrol trimmer/edger/brushcutter? Which and why?

Electric or petrol bower / vac.? Which and why?

Currently have Ryobi electric of each. Both stuphphed.

Easy one here. Electrics are always going to be cheaper, and there isn't going to be the maintenance costs that come with internal combustion engines. Fuel costs will be less than petrol burning machines too.

The downside is obvious: You need power for an electric machine. Suggest that you compare costs as well. My Stihl petrol powered brush cutter would now cost some number of hundreds of dollars (perhaps 4 or 5 hundred?). Electric machines might cost 1/4 or 1/3 as much, so you will need to go through 3 or 4 of them before you have even recovered the cost of the petrol model.

I'll end this by saying that I'm delighted to own an electric hedge clipper. Not a worry in the world with it, and I'm glad that it's not one more two-stroke item in my arsenal. It works well. I plug it in and I use it. Then I unplug it and put it away. No fear of dried gaskets, bad fuel, fuel storage, etc.

I vote that you go electric unless you have to go petrol. Just my two cents.

Michael

[artme]

Thanks Michael.

Had those thoughts myself but I find the quality of the electric units available leaves a bit to be desired.
Switches on both required attention and they still do not engage easily.

Also don't like dragging leads everywhere, especially out on the nature strip. Electric doesn't have the grunt of petrol and ocassionally I have some tough work to do.

Was looking at weedeater/brushcutter stuff today. I like the heads that have the heavy duty single strip of line. They seem to work better in tougher conditions and are easy to re place.

Still the more info and opinions based on experience that I have the better.

[Barry_White]

I am not fond of petrol motors but I think certain tools are certainly better as you say more grunt and dragging electric leads all over the place is a real pain.

I have a Tanarka brushcutter/whipper snipper that would be nearly 20 years old that has done a heap of work and still going strong. I have had three different heads on it. The first one which it came with which was a real pain to use. I then got a solid alloy one that you had to cut the cord up into about 1foot lengths which was also a pain because every time the cord broke you had to stop and feed another length into it.

I then bought a high quality self feeding aftermarket one which I have been using for about 10 years and believe it is the way to go. I use Diamond Edge cord in it and hardly ever have a breakage and I have to trim around rabbit netting fences which is hard on the cord.

I have an electric leaf blower which I hate using dragging the cord around. My house is 26 metres x 12 metres with a verandah all the way round that I have to blow down after cutting the grass and I have an external power point on each side of the house.

I will be buying a petrol powered one soon.

I believe it is best to use chainsaws, leaf blowers, lawn mowers, lawn edgers and brush cutters that have petrol motors. Electric chainsaws, lawn mowers and lawn edgers have one extra dangerous item to be concerned about and that is electricity. Remember one flash and you are ash.

[Ed Reiss]

Electric or petrol trimmer/edger/brushcutter? Which and why?

Electric or petrol bower / vac.? Which and why?

Currently have Ryobi electric of each. Both stuphphed.

Forget all that....goats!!!

[snapman007]

Electric ones are toys. I use to have a Ryobi petrol whipper snipper. It was always hard to start. If it was hot it wouldn't restart. It vibrated so violently that after 1/2 hour use i was unable to lift a glass of water off a bench without throwing the contents all over the place. It was serviced regularly (2-3 times a year) by a mate who is a small plant mechanic. He now refuses to service Ryobi's for friends as he can't afford the time to get them running semi reasonable. Every time I took it to him for servicing he would tell me "this is the last time, go buy a decent one". 5 years ago I bought a Honda 4-stroke straight shaft, spent twice as much as I planed on, change the oil & spark plug myself, starts 1st go hot or cold every time, runs smooth as, heaps of grunt and the only time it's been to my mechanic mate is when he borrowed it. It was alot of money at the time but now i don't miss the $$$ and glad I spent the extra and as a result I now swear a minimum 40% less on weekends.
Buy from a proper mower shop, they only sell good stuff.
The quality will still remain long after the price is forgotten.
Cheers,
Paul

[Ironwood]

I have had various cheap(read Ryobi) machines, 1 hour of maintenance to do a half hour of work. I bought the biggest straight shaft Honda about 4 years ago and havent looked back.

Had an electric blower, but found the lead was a pain. So I bought a Honda blower as well. It is fantastic. Both machines go 1st or 2nd pull each time, and are very low maintenance.

I go through about 1 line head a year on my whippersnipper, but it cops a hard time, as I have 9 acres to keep clean

[echnidna]

Electric whipper snippers are crap, petrol ones have more power and much longer life even in an elcheapo brand like talon.

I used a GMC electric blower vac at the scout camp each week for over 6 years. It was still going well when I left the scout camp. I donated it to the scouts as I don't need one at home.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Depends on how often you use 'em.

If they're going to be used on a daily/weekly basis, then petrol would definitely be my choice. More durable, more power and no cord to trip over. Plus they go VROOOM, not a pathetic little whine. (Where's the chest-thumping smiley? )

If, on the other hand, their only going to be "trophy tools" (ie. given a floggin' for the first month or so, then stowed in the shed and only broken out intermittently thereafter, if ever) then electric is definitely the way to go.

Petrol motors don't take kindly to long periods of inactivity and you'd spend more time cleaning out the carbs, etc. than you would doing the job!

(I'm sure we all know people who have mowers or chain-saws that suffer like this... )

[snapman007]

Look at it this way. 2 years after you part with the $$$ will you be happy with the machine you are using? If mine cost double of what I paid I'd still be happy with the machine and wouldn't miss the $$$ now.
You'll be quietly smiling to yourself every time you use it and be thinking 'why did i punish myself with a Ryobi".
When your neighbour with his Ryobi is going hell for leather on the pull cord, you pick up your Honda, 2 fingers on the cord and gently lift (while the motor is hot) and it fires up, he looks over, shows 2 fingers & gently lifts.

[artme]

Nothing like a strong opinion or 3!

Sad to say that when the Bunnies salesman is critical of products then they must be bloody crook!

Used a mates small Solo today. Lovely! Still have to convince LOML that a good petrol unit is the way to go.