String Trimmer Pros Use?

[chilipeppermaniac]

OK, I read the thread and wanted to add not only a few experiences but also my original trimmer vs. the latest trimmers I have acquired in the past 3 years or so.
I am not a pro, but do enough heavy clearing I might as well be.
Originally, my first trimmer is a 1994 Echo SRM 2110 with the U handle. This trimmer lasted me 22-24 years with the only thing I did to it being a carb rebuild kit and fuel lines and a 3 hole fuel tank grommet around the 20 year mark. At present, it sits semi retired, waiting on my to do a top end on it and see how it runs again . As it sits, I feel like the compression has gotten low enough to where the machine won't start. I know it is not the carb either, because I swapped carbs off it and onto my SRM 3100 which runs great with it or the original one off the 3100.

Since acquiring the 2100, I got the 3100 at auction, a Stihl FS90 AVE with U handle, and a SRM 210. Currently the 2 Echo's run.

As I had given the stepdaughter and her husband, her mom's Homelite Curved Shaft trimmer that lasted a year or 2 before the husband told me it got broken, I now went on the hunt for a cheap enough decent trimmer for them. In the end, I got like 4 Free Homelite, Toro type homeowner specials, and for $50 a nice running John Deere Straight shaft trimmer that the seller threw in an echo backpack blower in for me as a bonus.

Finally today I met a guy to check out his Echo SRM 230 he was letting go for $50 because he said it doesn't run. He also knew I was hunting more up and running units, so he brought along an SRM 2100. The 2100 totally reminds me of my 2110 but with a loop handle setup. Anyway, I really only wanted to spend the $50 but asked for a price for both and decided it was fair enough. SO glad to actually have grown from 1 dependable Echo, to now having at least 3 running Echos and the Stihl FS90AVE and Echo 2110 I hope to get running again.

 

[chilipeppermaniac]

PS, I had a line on a few FS Stihls and a 2620 Pro T Echo, but knowing that the Echo came from history of landscape crew usage, I passed on it for the price and overall condition I saw in pics.

 

[mexicanyella]

I had a 1990s Tanaka with a splined driveshaft in the tube for a long time and mostly used it with a newer Tanaka pole saw attachment because I didn’t like the auto-feed trimmer head. I amassed a bunch of consumer trimmers over the years by dumpster diving, basically, and would fix those for grass trimming.

Tanaka parts are kind of expensive and I had to drive an 80-mile round trip to get them, but since we had the nearly new pole saw I decided last year to get a new Tanaka. Walked into the dealer and all they had was one big bike-handled brush cutter and a light-duty homeowner-type trimmer, and they told me that since the Tanaka/Hitachi brand hoohah they were dropping that line of equipment.

Bummer! That pole saw attachment cost about $200. And Stihl and Husky use square driveshaft ends. Then one of the mechanics asked if I could bring the pole saw attachment in because it might fit the spline pattern used on Redmax trimmers.

It worked. I now have a Redmax BCZ260TS, with a strato two-stroke engine, and it’s a screamer compared to the old Tanaka. There’s a little torx bolt on the trimmer gearbox that locates the gearbox insertion depth on the end of the drive tube, and I have stripped its hole from frequent changing back and forth from trimmer head to pole saw. I’ll have to helicoil that or drill and tap it one size bigger. But that’s my fault. It is a nice, powerful pro-grade trimmer and it cost me about $350 with an extra brush clearing blade thrown in last year. I would recommend it.