Electric/battery start gas weed eater

[txdon]

My elderly parents are looking for an assist starting, bent shaft, light, (small/25cc) gas weed eater. They don't want a electric. The regular gas ones require more quick arm pull strength that they have lost. My EZ start large Stihl is too heavy. I offered to weed eat their lawn but they really want to do it themselves.

Has anyone come across a weed eater an 85 year old can handle? Thanks

 

[newbury]

You should really have them try out the new crop of lithium battery powered wackers. That seems to be where the industry is going. No cord to hassle with, easy to swap batteries and relatively light. Gas will continue to have problems with ethanol.

 

[txdon]

You should really have them try out the new crop of lithium battery powered wackers. That seems to be where the industry is going. No cord to hassle with, easy to swap batteries and relatively light. Gas will continue to have problems with ethanol.

Good idea, I'll check the weight.

 

[Bird]

They're awfully expensive, but the only string trimmer my wife ever used was when we had an electric start DR trimmer/mower; easy to start, easy to roll around.

 

[Bird]

Gas will continue to have problems with ethanol.

My FS 55 Stihl isn't much more than 10 years old, and I keep waiting for it to have one of those ethanol problems to give me an excuse to buy a battery powered string trimmer. But so far, the ethanol just hasn't bothered it a bit. Of course I do run the mid-grade gas and an ounce of the old original Stabil per gallon.

 

[txdon]

I think I got my FS 55 soon after you got yours Bird. Mine is also still running good after I replaced the priming bubble and the on/off switch. I love the easy start. Sadamo suggested a Maruyama, I'll also check those out. It might have the same wind-up start as the Stihl but lighter.

 

[CobyRupert]

Too bad someone doesn't make a power drill started one. Sort of like Formula I race cars. Seems like it would be easy. All rights reserved.

 

[txdon]

Too bad someone doesn't make a power drill started one. Sort of like Formula I race cars. Seems like it would be easy. All rights reserved.

Troy-built does make an adaptor for your drill to their weed eater. See the second down for $9.97. Too bad it doesn't fit all weed eaters.
Shop troybuilt jumpstart at Lowes.com: Search Results!

 

[DT86]

Troy-built does make an adaptor for your drill to their weed eater. See the second down for $9.97. Too bad it doesn't fit all weed eaters. Shop troybuilt jumpstart at Lowes.com: Search Results!

Link doesn't work...

Googled it,
I've often thought that would be a great idea but didn't know anybody actually made such a thing.

 

[mjcountrybumpkin]

The Troy built weed eaters are junk. My mom bought one with the rechargeable starter last year. The starter works awesome but the weed eater vibrates worse than any I've ever used. Had it replaced because we thought something was wrong with it. The second one vibrates even more. I am a fairly healthy capable guy of 32 and it makes my hands numb in about 5 minutes.
Good concept , shame somebody that actually makes a decent weed eater doesn't have it.

 

[txdon]

The Troy built weed eaters are junk. My mom bought one with the rechargeable starter last year. The starter works awesome but the weed eater vibrates worse than any I've ever used. Had it replaced because we thought something was wrong with it. The second one vibrates even more. I am a fairly healthy capable guy of 32 and it makes my hands numb in about 5 minutes.
Good concept , shame somebody that actually makes a decent weed eater doesn't have it.

That's is also what I am getting from reading the reviews, thanks for the warning.

 

[Gary Fowler]

For almost the same price as a Troybuilt, my neighbor just bought a Stihl curved shaft at Atwoods ($129+ tax). I didn't think you could get a Stihl for anywhere near that price.
He first picked up the Troybuilt but we couldn't get it to start and run more than about 3 seconds due to fuel starvation. His wife took it back to Atwoods and picked up the Stihl.

 

[txdon]

I just looked at an Echo GT225i the "i" is very important because of the 75% less effort to start in the "i" models. It has a curved shaft like Mom wants and it is light, at under 11 pounds. It's looking like the top contender at this point.

 

[3930dave]

You should really have them try out the new crop of lithium battery powered wackers. That seems to be where the industry is going. No cord to hassle with, easy to swap batteries and relatively light. Gas will continue to have problems with ethanol.

I'll second that. I used to work at a clearance centre, and sold many Black and Decker string trimmers. Even with a NiCd pack, they were well balanced and easy to use for elderly folk.

Had many younger people come in, totally fed up with gas trimmers. For folks that wanted to do a lot of trimming, I'd sell them a drill kit (2 NiCd batteries and a fast charger, cheaper than buying separately) along with the string trimmer. My reasoning was most people would get tired of trimming before they could get ahead of 3 batteries and a fast NiCd charger - nobody proved me wrong, and everybody liked those B&D trimmers - decent value vs. $.

On lithium now, the B&D trimmers should be even lighter, and faster to charge. Multiple options available, I believe Stihl has lithium trimmers too.

May not matter where your folks are, but a nice thing with the battery ones is if someone wants to run a string trimmer at 5:45am, neighbours won't notice.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

I was curious about the current weight of the Li ones. This mid/lo range one is 5.2 lbs.

20V MAX 12 in. Battery Powered Trimmer Edger | BLACK+DECKER

Rgds, D.

edit - the one thing that comes up in these product reviews is charge time. Looks like it is an 8 hour charger in the kit.

Nobody wants to wait that long today, the fast charger is the way to go:

20V MAX Lithium Ion Fast Charger

D.

 

[txdon]

My parents got the echo GT225i easy start. It was light enough and my Mom was able to pull the rope slowly and it fired up on the second pull the - the first pull was on choke the second off choke. Then my Dad tried tried to start and he pulled sooo sloooow and it fired up on the first pull - SOLD!

ECHO GT-225i Curved Shaft String Trimmer

They also like 2 line rapid loader to load the string - it's a lot easier for them than double winding into a spool.

 

[3930dave]

My parents got the echo GT225i easy start. It was light enough and my Mom was able to pull the rope slowly and it fired up on the second pull the - the first pull was on choke the second off choke. Then my Dad tried tried to start and he pulled sooo sloooow and it fired up on the first pull - SOLD!

ECHO GT-225i Curved Shaft String Trimmer

They also like 2 line rapid loader to load the string - it's a lot easier for them than double winding into a spool.

Good to hear they are set up nicely now. This thread should be a help to anybody else with similar needs.

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

Thanks Don for posting this...

My hands were always my strong suit... now, not so much for my right which isn't nearly as strong anymore... had one too many pull starts kickback and now the damage is showing...

Easy start is the way to go... I have two Stihl gas chainsaws and they are also easy start.

My 81 year old Mom still mows her own lawns... for her 70th birthday, I bought her a commercial cast aluminum deck Honda mower which she absolutely loves.... it was pricey to buy... but not to own.

 

[My Hoe]

Last year, my neighbor, bought a new, Sears, gas string trimmer--and it came with a drive chuck to fit a drill driver, and allow you to start it, just as was mentioned, like a race car. It also came with different cutting heads, and ground-traveling wheels, for about $125.-150., IIRC.


However, the performance of the cutting head was pretty abysmal. By that I mean, LONG GRASS WOUND UP AROUND THE HEAD, within 2 minutes, and took us FIVE MINUTES, to clear, with tools (screw driver and needle nose pliers).

And it happened again, and again, and AGAIN.

I've used weedeaters for 30 years, and I've NEVER seen one get SO tangled, so fast, with long grass wrapped around the shaft.

While I believe he could find a better brand cutting head, and it might even fit right out of the box, that's a maybe, and would probably cost another $35., with no guarantee that it would solve the problem (which I feel is due to there being too much exposed [rotating] shaft, between the tube housing, and the cutting head, itself).

My point is: the drill driver starter option worked like a charm, and is inexpensive.

But I would look for it elsewhere--you couldn't GIVE me his weedeater, given the above "wrapping" problems.

Thanks for the info on the battery-powered stuff--I was not aware it existed.

My Hoe

 

[3930dave]

Some of the battery ones are Trimmer/Edgers.

On those, you can rotate the head, so that it is spinning vertically. Folks that want to edge trim sidewalks and flowerbeds like that feature.

Rgds, D.