Anyone Own a Multi Component String Trimmer / Pole Saw / etc.

May 14, 2018, 12:45 PM

I have the Stihl Kombi and it works well. I already had a string trimmer, so use mine for edging and pruning. No complaints at all.

May 14, 2018, 01:47 PM

Jelly

Echo Shindaiwa and Stihl are usually good. Echo has owned Shindaiwa for around 8 to 10 years. I own OPE from all three. Over the years I've become a bigger fan of Echo OPE over Stihl.

May 14, 2018, 02:01 PM

nshumway

I have the kombi system as well and I am pleased with it- going on 4 years or so with no issues. Have the trimmer, edger, blower, pole saw, and hedge trimmer.

May 14, 2018, 07:04 PM

tha1000

quote:
Originally posted by ubelongoutside:
I see a few 4 strokes out there.

Anyone who's had both, how do they compare? I know for these small engines the 2 stroke is usually preferred.

I’ve owned both. My current Stihl is 4 strike, but gas/oil mix is like a two stroke. It’s quieter, a little slower to respond to throttle, but easier to start and seems to be more powerful. I don’t think I’d have a strong preference of 2 over 4 or vice versa.

May 14, 2018, 07:17 PM

hrcjon

I have echo and stihl. With most of the attachments. Not much to pick between them. But in general I find the stihl 4 strokes much fussier to start and especially restart.
But its not a super big deal.
Price would drive me to pick from these two.

May 15, 2018, 08:33 AM

ubelongoutside

I didn't add in the beginning, but should have is that this is to replace a few battery, and corded tools I have.

I've just gotten tired of the batteries and chargers taking up space. I already have a 2 stroke chainsaw, snow blower, and boat motor so I need the mixed gas around for them, so 1 more 2 stroke isn't going to change my supply needs much.

I've found that whatever stabilizers are present in 2 stroke gas (I use marine grade in all) is way better than the treatments for regular gas as I have mixed gas that's over a year old that still runs my saw and snowblower fine. My boat motor is an e-tec tuned to the XD100 so it has it's own special needs anyway.

I settled on a Troy-Bilt powerhead as they have a good deal on it at Lowe's right now. You get the string trimmer, plus an edger for $169. I'm adding the brush cutter head, and pole saw to it, and plan to sell the edger that comes with it. I have a corded edger I like, or I 'll just use the string trimmer to edge as it rotates 90 degrees.

This is the one I'm getting Link

I noticed my neighbor out trimming yesterday and he has the same one and has for 2 years and had no bad things to say about it. Online reviews sound good, though there's a lot of badmouthing Troy-Bilt since MTD bought them. For the price I figure I'll give it a shot.

May 15, 2018, 04:30 PM

mrvmax

quote:
Originally posted by ubelongoutside:
I didn't add in the beginning, but should have is that this is to replace a few battery, and corded tools I have.

I've just gotten tired of the batteries and chargers taking up space. I already have a 2 stroke chainsaw, snow blower, and boat motor so I need the mixed gas around for them, so 1 more 2 stroke isn't going to change my supply needs much.

I've found that whatever stabilizers are present in 2 stroke gas (I use marine grade in all) is way better than the treatments for regular gas as I have mixed gas that's over a year old that still runs my saw and snowblower fine. My boat motor is an e-tec tuned to the XD100 so it has it's own special needs anyway.

I settled on a Troy-Bilt powerhead as they have a good deal on it at Lowe's right now. You get the string trimmer, plus an edger for $169. I'm adding the brush cutter head, and pole saw to it, and plan to sell the edger that comes with it. I have a corded edger I like, or I 'll just use the string trimmer to edge as it rotates 90 degrees.

This is the one I'm getting Link

I noticed my neighbor out trimming yesterday and he has the same one and has for 2 years and had no bad things to say about it. Online reviews sound good, though there's a lot of badmouthing Troy-Bilt since MTD bought them. For the price I figure I'll give it a shot.

I bought the box store brands for about the first 17 years of home ownership. I realized if I would have sprung for a better brand I would have spent less overall. Craftsman, Toro, John Deere - I’ve had many different ones from the box stores and they all failed.