Been keeping an eye out for a brush cutter for some time as ive got a ditch along the perimiter that my land drains into and it needs kept clear or it backs up. My current electric nylon unit struggles severely with the wild grass and just gets tangled up. last time i did it i actually used the hedge cutter.

Todays screwfix dealoftheday is an hitachi 21.1cc unit for 130 quid and ive found a bump feed nylon head for it for 49 quid so i can do the garden with it as well.

Been looking for a used stihl as i know stihl like back of hand but figure that 180 quid with a 2 year warrenty & good spares availible cant be too bad as the stihl will always be a gamble used.

Any thoughts on hitachi kit ? Anyone seen better value ?

Only had one hitachi item which was a small/medium sized sds drill and it was awesome! It eventually smoked and died but had been involved in a lot of heavy work including a lot of chiselling which to be fair it’s not really designed for.

my dad just said the same he has an hitachi 24v cordless hammer chisel that refuses to die. Gonna take a punt on it i think as ive been watching stihls fs46s since i moved in and they go for silly money used …. 200 quid plus for some ropey looking ex council stuff …..

You can get fs50 stil for £190 new if you look round

http://www.worldofpower.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=fs50c-e

There you go £179

Oops, that’s a grass trimmer, but there are some good deals on still if you search round

yeah im still looking at around 250-275 for the basic stihl with harness , blade and bump feed

only bonus would be i could sell it on for what i pay nearly if i look after it ….

HI OP

Which bump feed strimmer head would fit this then?

(I too have been looking around for a good one, don’t get a ryobi one!……………I have had one 3 months and it wont bump fee, the guard thingy is broken and I am taking it back to part fund the hitatchi one!)

If you would be so kind as to tell me which strimmer head fits, it would help lots!

Cheers
Al.

I bought a second hand Kawasaki on ebay and it is not nearly as good as my Echo, but I needed a long reach one for occassional use. Having said that I get the impression that Hitachi stuff is generally good – Echo* are also Japanese and are highly regarded but do not have the cachet of Stihl so ebay bargains are possible. I bought one of their chainsaws for £50 on ebay and it is excellent.

*I also inherited a strimmer and a hedge cutter and have bought a leaf blower as well.

[Img]Mefty ive been offered the 450 stihl leaf blower , i still cant see a use though

Got the strimmer today , solid bit of kit. First impressions are much much higher than i expected for 130 quid.

The bump feed head is 50 quid from

http://www.mowers-online.co.uk/Lawn-Care—Garden-Care/Brush-Cutter—Garden-Strimmers/Brush-Cutter-Accessories/Trimmer-Heads%5B/img%5D

Ill give it a blast on the road side at the weekend.

I’ve got a lot of trees – it is handy but not indispensable – still use the rakes on the big lawn – I use it to blow the leaves under hedges on other lawns so they decompose to form a mulch with the minimum of effort.

Sthil all the way, would you buy a mountain bike made by cadbury?? I worked for the local council using fs 415s bull bar versions, 415s are also local authority only spec same as the 410 but more cc and larger fuel tanks, ive used ryobi,hitachi and mountfields all are good but not the real deal its well worth buying the 2nd hand sthil council jobbies as we had to service them every week (im also a qualified sthil service and repair engineer) and my machine was nearly 9 years young and run like a dream started first Nd every time, auto feed head with sthil red cable (thick!!!!) It chewd through anything!!!!!! And was controlable to use on fine rye grass to get a better finish imo than a mulch deck mower, sthil also keep all spares and if your tight you can readily gain copy parts ie filters pots/pistons for penuts, they are made to be abused and still run, easy to repair and use, a tip remove the plastic guard on the head as this gains a neater cut,closer and a nicer finish on your edges, aslo work anti clockwise around anything as this aids in clean up due to the grass flying onto what you have just cut.

Well it fired up extremely easy

It cut shit easy

Its ear defenders loud – so was the stihl

Well balanced , not quite as well finished as a stihl and wouldnt see it lasting long getting chucked in and out of vans and trailers and used and abused daily

But for the ditch once a month and the garden once a week itll do