"Budget" brush cutter / strimmer options?

[Davie]

Afternoon,

It's that time of year again where things grow at an alarming rate and so thoughts have turned to buying another strimmer / brush cutter - I say another as about 5yrs ago I bought one of the Titan 25cc petrol strimmers with the brush cutter attachment as a package via Screwfix for about £130 and it was fine, did the job well but it finally died last year. I do have a small, Early Learning centre esque Flympo 240v strimmer for the garden at home and it's crap even in the grass never mind when you start attacking undergrowth, which is what I need to do.

Seems Screwfix no longer do the petrol Titan range, instead seems the shift is towards battery powered units which is fine I suppose for edging round the lawn but I have another property that would require a lot more edging... round fence posts, trees etc etc but also have a lot of unkept undergrowth to keep in check too and thus I suspect I'd be better with a petrol machine and a with the option to swap over to a bladed cutter.

I know the budget stuff from Screwfix / Toolstation etc can be a bit hit or miss but I'm not really looking to spent hundreds of pounds, I'd had about £150 in my head and was happy to get another Titan but as above, they no longer exist. So really now sure what's the better option between brands... Screwfix do have a Hyundai unit, strimmer / brush cutter interchangable and it's a 52cc which appeals to my inner Tim the Toolman Taylor but no experience with the brand?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/hyundai-hybc5200x-52cc-...

Quick search suggests this is £111.00 delivered via eBay... though appear to be refurbished units.

I'm a bit of a DeWalt tart and they have a battery strimmer option though how long it'd run for with a 5Ah or 9Ah battery is up for debate and I don't think they have a brush cutter option, so plus the cost may put that idea to bed.

Did also debate a used unit but that's even more hit or miss I suspect... more so stuff that's been lying in a shed over winter.

Any recommendations?

Cheers

Edited by Davie on Monday 31st March 14:59

Edited by Davie on Monday 31st March 15:00

[bangerhoarder]

I have a Ryobi 18v 'brush cutter'. It's a model up from their strimmer.

It's not a brush cutter. It merely suggest to the grass that it falls down, which is actually fine for my use for edging etc. It was relatively cheap, it's light, and the battery can be used in other tools. If the string is kept long it does alright.

For a brush cutter, I would be looking at the Stihl range. In typical Pistonheads fashion these obliterate your budget, but they're much more capable. I wouldn't get anything 18v for this job, whichever you go for.

[biggiles]

Plenty of old posts on this topic - I'd say go battery. We're on 10+ acres, and a Makita double battery "2x18v" strimmer/brush cutter is ample. If you already have dewalt batteries, go for theirs. The double battery ones (I assume dewalt do similar) are much better than the little single battery ones.

Edited to add: I ended up selling my Echo SRM-4000 (pro-level machine, not cheap) as the Makita cordless was very capable.

Edited by biggiles on Tuesday 1st April 11:38

[Davie]

Thanks

Swaying away from electric as not only is it the guts of £175 for a DeWalt strimmer plus another £80 on top for a brush cutter attachment, but I suspect the run time with a 5.0Ah battery won't be sufficient and I'm really not convinced it'd have the power to get through nettle, thorns, bits of bushes and the like. I think it'd be fine for the grass at home which its just edging but to take on the field as it were, I'd be amazed if battery power was sufficient.

On that note, I think the question should perhaps have been more along the lines of "What budget petrol strimmer brand / is Hyundai ok?"

Cheers

[CrgT16]

Not budget but in the long term will cost you the same. I have STHILL FS 130 with has done a lot of brushing over the last 10 years with no servicing. I might have greased the gearbox once and I use an oversized shredder disc on it that probably is not great on the wear of the thing.

The only thing I do is use good quality fuel and STHILL oil.

Starts first time every time even after 3-4 months winter storage, most times on old fuel. Can’t kill it and use it mostly at full throttle. Original spark plug as well. What a workhorse. Mind it’s not a pure brush cutter but I use it as one.

Probably has another 5-10 years of life left. All that for circa £400 10 years ago.

[Huntsman]

CrgT16 said:

Not budget but in the long term will cost you the same. I have STHILL FS 130 with has done a lot of brushing over the last 10 years with no servicing. I might have greased the gearbox once and I use an oversized shredder disc on it that probably is not great on the wear of the thing.

The only thing I do is use good quality fuel and STHILL oil.

Starts first time every time even after 3-4 months winter storage, most times on old fuel. Can’t kill it and use it mostly at full throttle. Original spark plug as well. What a workhorse. Mind it’s not a pure brush cutter but I use it as one.

Probably has another 5-10 years of life left. All that for circa £400 10 years ago.

I've got a,Stihl, petrol, mine had been in use with a pro gardener and taken in part ex by the local agent, it was 2yrs old, I recall I paid about half price, 5yrs on and its doing well.

[OutInTheShed]

Li Ion strimmers in the Aisle of Doom at Aldi today.
I resisted.

I think they were £30 + £20 for the 2Ah battery.


When stuff is too tough for my 'toy' 230V strimmer, I normally try a hedgetrimmer or resort to ultraviolent manual tools like a billhook or sickle.

[Nick_MSM]

I'd have a look at a used Stihl IF it's in good running order. Run it on Aspen fuel and they go on and on.

[Belle427]

I bought a Hyundai petrol mower and its been fine so far, id certainly take a put on a petrol strimmer if i needed one.

[CrgT16]

That’s it… when I bought mine I asked the guy in the shop when should I bring it for a service… he looked at me puzzled and just said… “just bring it in when it doesn’t start “. So far so good.

[craigthecoupe]

Nick_MSM said:

I'd have a look at a used Stihl IF it's in good running order. Run it on Aspen fuel and they go on and on.

This.
Start it from cold, check all is in order, and grab a better quality second hand machine. As fun as it sounds, a big 52cc budget machine will weigh a lot, and despite being large, will likely run quite sluggish. The cheap side of that means the gearbox will be cast from cheese, and the motor will lunch it after about 20 hours.

second hand Stihl all day long.

[Davie]

Appreciate the thoughts... though still haven't picked anything up as yet, more so as good, used Stihl / Husqvarna / Honda units seem to be in short supply locally plus I'm probably expecting too much by hoping for one with both strimmer line and blade attachments that has been lovingly cared for and for under £150. Have found myself floating back to Screwfix and £199 worth of DeWalt battery strimmer with battery, however there's the added extra on top for the blade and I suspect it won't be quite enough for the task in hand, ie cutting back a pretty large, unkept banking. The hunt continues.

[Nick_MSM]

Tried looking on Facebook marketplace? Seen a few bargain Stihls recently, the FS 55 isn't expensive and would do the job.

[skeeterm5]

I have a DeWalt 18v battery strimmer which deal with grass well, anything much thicker it struggles with.

And the strimmer wire fitting, a bump head thing of DeWalts own design is pretty rubbish. All of my battery tools are DeWalt and I love them, but I couldn’t recommend the strimmer.

[Davie]

Appreciate the thoughts on the DeWalt... more so as I've been debating one of that flavour for the garden at home to add to the worryingly growing collection but if it's as infuriating as the current 240v FlyMo strimmer I have, I'll maybe give it a miss more so as they're quite dear, relatively speaking.

On the petrol / unnecessarily powerful front, distinct lack of used options unless I'm travelling a good distance and to be honest, loathed to do that as much like cars on Marketplace, seems a complete lottery. However on that note, found a Titan unit with the full compliment of interchangeable tools for £70 in "as new" condition...

Had one previously and to be fair, it lasted about 5yrs with minimal love plus this is local so have opted for that. If it lasts a couple of summers at t'farm then probably enough. Being fair, if it lasts till Monday and survives a weekend of low scale countryside destruction it'll be worth it as I was quoted £450+ to clear the areas in question...

[Silvanus]

I'd definitely go battery. If you like DeWalt and already have their tools, start there. Choose a model that has the same batteries as tool you already own, that way if you find you run out of juice, you have batteries at the ready.

I had a couple of petrol tools that started to become a pain so swapped to batteries for all my gardening tools, in hindsight I probably didn't go for the right brand (already had some of their batteries), but have been happy with going battery only. It's quieter, cleaner and easier to live with if you have plenty of spare batteries, the only item I'm disappointed with is the chainsaw, all the other stuff I have is great.

[ClaphamGT3]

In my experience, nowhere is the old trope 'buy cheap, buy twice' truer than in garden equipment.

Bite the bullet and buy the appropriately sized Stihl/Honda/Husquvana product for your requirement

[Silvanus]

ClaphamGT3 said:

In my experience, nowhere is the old trope 'buy cheap, buy twice' truer than in garden equipment.

Bite the bullet and buy the appropriately sized Stihl/Honda/Husquvana product for your requirement

There are a few cheaper brands that are still very good, but it's def worth researching the specs so you get something decent. The above brands still do the odd duff product at the entry level end where a higher spec cheaper brand would out perform

[dhutch]

ClaphamGT3 said:

In my experience, nowhere is the old trope 'buy cheap, buy twice' truer than in garden equipment.

Bite the bullet and buy the appropriately sized Stihl/Honda/Husquvana product for your requirement

Yeah, you say you are happy to throw £150 on something which might last five years of light use.
But yet the Stihl range starts below £300 and will last you 20+ years of light use without drama.

[Davie]

Silvanus said:

I'd definitely go battery. If you like DeWalt and already have their tools, start there. Choose a model that has the same batteries as tool you already own, that way if you find you run out of juice, you have batteries at the ready.

I had a couple of petrol tools that started to become a pain so swapped to batteries for all my gardening tools, in hindsight I probably didn't go for the right brand (already had some of their batteries), but have been happy with going battery only. It's quieter, cleaner and easier to live with if you have plenty of spare batteries, the only item I'm disappointed with is the chainsaw, all the other stuff I have is great.

Realistically I'm up towards £300 for a DeWalt unit with the extra bladed brush cutter attachment, which would be a must as the task in hand is a decent run of unkept ground so think brambles, nettles, gorse, bits of dead tree etc etc and I would be pretty amazed if a battery unit coped more so for prolonged work without having a couple of 5Ah batteries to rotate. I could be wrong but I'd want to see one in action on this sort of task before committing that sort of outlay.

I've picked up a very lightly used Titan petrol unit, comes complete with unused hedge cutter, chainsaw and bladed brush cutter attachments so whilst not branded, for the cost it's not bad. If it manages to survive the weekends plan of attack, it's paid for itself. Probably just trying to convince myself it wasn't a crap decision...