I\u2019ve been toying with the idea of replacing our string trimmer.\u00a0 I have a 5 year ![\"Poulon](\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20180124090255\/http:\/\/dougbittinger.com\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/String-Trimmer-Poulon-Pro-31cc-300x169.jpg\")
old Poulon Pro that hasn’t needed anything more that the usual maintenance and upkeep until this year.\u00a0 I have replaced several major parts on it lately and it continues to find new and inventive ways to avoid doing its job. I’ve considered taking it to a repair shop to have it “rebuilt” but with their labor rates and parts prices, replacing it will (most likely) be cheaper.\u00a0 This is not an expensive trimmer.<\/p>\n
I’ve been looking at string trimmers, comparing features, prices, and reviews. The reviews are the really amazing part.\u00a0 In most cases users either love or hate all of them, regardless of brand, and the reviews are posted with the vast majority being either 4 and 5 stars or 1 star: very little in between.\u00a0 I wonder if it’s really that black and white (you either get a good one or a bad one) or if people are getting too emotional in their reactions.<\/p>\n
I’m looking at trimmers in the $150 – $175 range.\u00a0 Basic models: not bottom of the line, but not even mid-range on the better brands.\u00a0 Of course “better brands” is subjective.\u00a0 If I were willing to move up to the $300 price range, the review chart starts\u00a0 being much more top-heavy.\u00a0 But I am not able to put $300 (or more) into a string trimmer.\u00a0 My needs are modest<\/a> as is my budget.<\/p>\n I’d bought the Poulon at Lowe’s, but Lowe’s has moved away from Poulon and toward Husqvarna and Troy Bilt.\u00a0 I have nothing against Husqvarna: I have a “Husqy” chainsaw that serves me well.\u00a0 Husqvarna tends to be a smidge higher priced ($179.00) in a feature-to-feature comparison and has a 2 year warranty.\u00a0 My main reason for dodging this option is the service availability.\u00a0 If I don’t buy a Lowe’s Extended Warranty ($25.00 minimum) they won’t have anything to do with it should I have trouble and need service under warranty.<\/p>\n I have owned several Troy Bilt products and have found them to be a good example of the review charts.\u00a0 The good ones work well for a long time, the not-so-good ones make me cautious of this brand.<\/p>\n I had the field narrowed down to a Cub Cadet<\/a> model at Tractor Supply or a Stihl<\/a> model at Ace Hardware.\u00a0 Both were $169.00 and had similar features, ratings, and reviews.\u00a0 Both are stores I shop at a lot.<\/p>\n On Saturday I got a sale notice from Tractor Supply, and in that my Cubby trimmer was listed as $20 off.\u00a0 Okay … that seemed like a good sign post, and I planned to go into town either after church on Sunday or Monday morning to get it.<\/p>\n After church we just went home.<\/p>\n At home I looked at that sale flyer again and found the sale ended that day.\u00a0 So I left Marie in charge of The Dog Herd and drove into town to get one of those Cub Cadet trimmers while on sale.<\/p>\n When I got there I found three of them hanging on the display rack.\u00a0 All had been used, all had been returned and were marked down for sale \u201cas is, no warranty\u201d.\u00a0 One of them was only $75!\u00a0 I was temped\u00a0\u2013 for a second or two.\u00a0 Then I thought, \u201cIf I wanted to spend my time tearing down and repairing a string trimmer, I have one hanging on the wall of my shed already.\u201d\u00a0 So this was a dampener of my enthusiasm for this make and model.\u00a0 They had no more new ones and a rain check would lock in the sale price but the unit would not arrive for two weeks.\u00a0 There would be gazelles grazing around my workshop in two weeks: I need to cut that area back now and cannot do it with even a walk-behind mower.\u00a0 I’d been pondering this decision a while already.<\/p>\n So I drove down the street to buy the Steele trimmer.\u00a0 It would be $20 more, but … (shrug).<\/p>\n When I got there I found that the price was down from $169.00 to $159.00 making it only $10 more than the sale price of the Cub Cadet.\u00a0 The Stihl 2 year warranty gets bumped to a 4 year warranty (as opposed to three years on the Cubby) if I buy a 6-pack of Stihl synthetic oil for it at the same time ($12.00: half the price of most “extended warranties”).\u00a0 If I do have trouble, I take it back to Ace and their Stihl technician comes around weekly to make repairs in shop (if possible).\u00a0 With the Cub I\u2019d have to take it to a Cub Cadet service center in Dandridge\u00a0\u2013 which is better than having to ship it to Albuquerque or something, but still less convenient than dropping it off on an errand run to Newport.<\/p>\n By the time I got home with my new trimmer it was dinner time, so I stashed it in the shop and went home.<\/p>\n It’s Monday morning now and it’s been raining since before dawn.\u00a0 No trimmer testing will get done this morning.\u00a0 Maybe later.\u00a0 But I’m glad I didn’t put off my trip into town for this morning; it’s mighty wet out there!<\/p>\n See: Stihl Trimmer First Use and Review<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve been toying with the idea of replacing our string trimmer. I have a 5 year old Poulon Pro that hasn’t needed anything more that the usual maintenance and upkeep until this year. I have replaced several major parts on it lately and it continues to find new and inventive ways to avoid doing its … Continue reading “Trimmer Trippin’”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[22],"class_list":["post-14652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-mountain-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14652"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20702,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14652\/revisions\/20702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Cub](\"https:\/\/PineyMountainFoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/String-Trimmer_Cub-Cadet-150x150.jpg\")
Speed Bump<\/h1>\n
Encouraging<\/h1>\n
![\"Stihl](\"https:\/\/PineyMountainFoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/String-Trimmer_Stihl-FS40C-150x150.jpg\")