I have a ryobi 775r and i loved it. Operative word being loved. While
it was old and sat in my parent's garage for about 1 yr before i got
it (oct 02), it worked fine from Jan-Apr 03. loud as heck though. Then
the carb started leaking. oh what a pain... after hemming and hawing,
I saw the JD's at Home Depot and got the BCS600 (brushcutter and
trimmer), which is actually the 1600 on the John Deere website. same
$80 price. Told my neighbor, he got one too.

From the 2 that I've got, I'll say this, the JD is quieter than the
Ryobi. plus the JD has the shoulder strap which makes it great.
Doesn't vibrate as much and easy to turn right up.

Also, it takes the universal attachments so that's great. It has a
thicker line on it, and more HP. The cheapest one I've seen that has
the same options is $169 Toro.

People might say, its a JD and reconditioned, but my take is this. It
didn't work before, whether it never passed QC or just failed on its
own after sale. Now I know the folks fixed it and made sure it was
tested before it went out, so I should have a better one than if I
spent the $189 MSRP on this one. Plus it was $80.

I'm going to trim today, but from testing it out yesterday, it cut
really well, and the thicker line (.095) held up better then the
Ryobi's (.080) around the driveway.

(Mojo) wrote in message ...
I have narrowed down my choice of trimmers to the following 3:

John Deere S1400
Stihl FS-45
Riyobi 775r

I am looking for a reliable trimmer that is comfortable to use. Any
comments or suggestions? Thanks in advance.