All About Weed Trimmers

How do you whack those weeds?

Why do you need a good trimmer?

The crowning glory of a lawn depends on the job you do with the trimmer. Not to sound dramatic, but if you consider the time and money you have invested in your lawn, you don't want leave a bunch of weeds in the corners. You probably spent at least four hundred bucks on the mower, another couple hundred on seed, sod, sprinklers, hoses and water, so why stop there? You can't just nickel and dime it on a cheap weed whacker. When it comes to making a decision, you need to know all about weed trimmers.

Types of trimmers

When I was a kid, people used manual scissors like trimmers. It often took someone as long to trim the lawn as it did to cut it. The first popular power trimmer was a multi-blade scissor-type device that still required the user to get down on hands and knees to cut the weeds, and as often as not, the device would bind on an accumulation of grass. Then they added a long handle to this flawed design.

The next season, or what seemed to be, brought the introduction of the Poulan Weed Eater that used thick fishing line instead of blades that would get bound up with extended use. While there are circular blade trimmers for tough applications, since the eighties, line trimmers have been the rule for efficient trimming.

Toro offers a line of electric Toro weed trimmers that offer a great deal of power for fewer than forty bucks.

You can purchase a gas powered Poulan Featherlite Weed trimmer for less than you could twenty years ago; prices start below seventy dollars. Featherlite Weed trimmer parts are also easy to come by.

If you have a really big job, you can even get a 6 hp mower trimmer made by Swisher. It has big wheels, a handle in back like a mower, and a multi-line cutter in the front. It allows you to mow large areas clean of tall grass and brush while also allowing more precision corner work.

2 Vs 4 cycle engine weed trimmers

How to choose?

This is an ongoing debate. Two cycles are light and they pack a bigger punch into a much smaller engine. They are ideal for applications such as trimmers, chainsaws and off-road motorcycles. Unfortunately, because of the need to mix the oil with gasoline, there are emissions concerns. Two-cycle engines are now limited to smaller applications and are banned from use on motorcycles.

Four cycles are larger and require more moving parts than two cycle engines. They require more maintenance as well, although they usually last much longer between rebuilds than two cycle engines. Four cycles also run a bit quieter, which means you won't get as many dirty looks from neighbors if you choose to do yard work early in the morning.

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