On Wed, 04 Jun 2003 22:26:38 GMT, (Simon
Avery) wrote:

~"Mike" wrote:
~
~Hello Mike
~
~ M Decided its time to convert to petrol :-)
~ M Anyone know the cheapest place to buy petrol strimmers
~ M is?. I've looked at BandQ.com and the cheapest was £80
~ M which seems quite expensive.
~
~ It's not, and they are about the cheapest retailers about.
~
~ M I think youre right. My lawnmower only cost that.
~ M I expected them to be just less than double the price of a
~ M electric one i.e. about £50-£60. Most seem to be about £100
~
~They've actually come down in price an awful lot over the past 5-10
~years or so as the home gardening market has strengthened. Back when I
~was doing it every day for six months of the year the cheapest
~strimmers were about 400+ and all for professional use, 40cc and
~upwards. It's no wonder Black and Decker did so well out of their
~little electric ones.
~
I bought one of the 80 pound 21cc McCullochs from B&Q for two reasons:
I'm not that strong (it's the lightest on the market, just about) and
I'm not that rich... I strimmed two allotments last night (our
inspection's on Saturday!) and another allotmenteer borrowed it to cut
his boundary which was by that time waist high. His new x hundred
pound Husqvarna had literally fallen in two last week and they told
him it would be 3 weeks before he could get it back again. His comment
about the McCulloch was it was a sturdy little thing. And he's had
strimmers and allotments for years, so I guess it's not as bad as all
that!

When I first got the allotment 2 years ago the cheapest petrol one was
over a hundred. I bought a £40 battery one instead, and have lived to
regret it. Battery life gradually but inexorably fell off, leaving me
with no means of doing anything. And this seems to be common to
several makes as I compared notes with another chap who'd bought a
more expensive one. Don't get a battery one, please. It will be fine
for the first year and then...
(They're heavier than petrol strimmers too, and don't have nearly the
power even when fully charged)

For other help, there's a thread we were running last week on usage
and safety etc.


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!