Maybe a dumb question but.....

[chrisk]

I am wanting to upgrade equipment as soon as possible.
My next upgrade will be either a new blower, or a new trimmer.
My question is "what is money better spent on? The best trimmer I can afford or the best blower? I would think money is better spent on a good trimmer but I could be wrong.

Can I get by with a cheapo homelite, or craftsman trimmer for a year?

Thanks guys
Chris

[TGCummings]

Actually, I think this is a very good question, and not an easy one to answer. It comes down to what you have now. Between a string trimmer and a blower I would probably upgrade the trimmer first (many, many more uses on the job), but it would depend on the condition of your current blower! :D

If you have a sputtering blower, and a homelite in good operating condition, you'll have to replace that blower anyway. You can get by with lesser equipment for a while but you can't get by with dying equipment.

All things being equal, however, I'd upgrade my string trimmer first. ;)

[cos]

I would buy a good trimmer. You can always get buy with a cheap hand held blower. I would never buy a cheap trimmer.

[kerr lawn]

buy the trimmer first find your local shindaiwa dealer and go in and ask for the t-2500 c4 technology. Truly awesome piece of equiment.
good luck
bryan

[scott's turf]

My shiny bp blower was well worth the money for the amount of time I saved doing clean-ups. As for trimmers I have 3 homelite's. Throw them out after about 2 years. Only cost around 80 bucks. Don't have tons of trimming to do and don't see where a commercial trimmer would save me much more time.

[Soupy]

I agree with Scott's Turff. A good Back Pack Blower will do you better then a commercial Trimmer. I have always used Comercial trimmers from day one, But they are not really needed to do every day trimming unless you have alot of areas with heavy growth that you can not get to with your mower. If you can afford both, then look into an Echo SRM2100 Trimmer. Around here they are just under $200 and will do just fine for weekly trimming at residential Properties. But as for as a blower goes, You will be best off buying a Back pack for Fall/Spring clean ups. If you just want a hand held then yes a cheap one will work for blowing grass off of hardscapes. Personally I wouldn't be seen with any of the cheapo home owner equipment, but they will get the job done.

Soupy

[BigJim]

Can I get by with a cheapo homelite
Nothing wrong with Homelite,cheap(1/2 the price of other brands here),light,parts cheap if they ever need fixing,its all I use.:blob3:

[65hoss]

It would depend on your current situation, but here is my opinion.

A comm'l trimmer is used 10 times more than a blower. You may be trimming for 20 minutes each stop but the blower is only running 5 minutes. Which one will take the most abuse?

Only in leaf season does a blower take abuse. The life of a blower during grass season is an easy job.

[keifer]

I think it would be different for each person. But in may case I would get a backpack.

[Brickman]

Homelite may be cheap and light, but they are just short enough to give me a backache from H---. And I am not that tall either. I love my Redmax equip. Easy to start, run strong.
For around $800 you could have a new Redmax trimmer and back pak blower. Money well spent in my opinion.

[stslawncare]

as many of u know prior to the start of this season i was planning on buying a trimmer after about a month or two then amonth or two later buy a blower. well about 3 weeks into the season i came upon a garage sale, i bought a homelite trimmer, two 6 cu ft wheel barrels, 3 or 4 hard metal rakes all for about $50. trimmer isnt the best but better then my old craftsman and well worth the money. it does fine edging and trimming. so now my next purchase will be a new backpack blower, then later in season ill get the commercial trimmer. i feel a blower is just as important for me because of the mess edging and trimming makes. good luck on ur purchase

[SLS]

My Homelite trimmers are going on their 3rd year of service now @ 35 accounts a week!

One is a primary use trimmer and the other is a backup...both are straight shaft. I thought the 1st one died last summer and ran out and bought the 2nd one to finish the day. Then I found out (through LawnSite, of course) to check the spark arrestor screen. Yep it, and the exhaust port were dirty. Cleaned them, switched to a excellent "smokeless" oil, and it still starts on the 2nd pull of the rope....and runs like new. The only thing that gets replaced are the "tap buttons" ($5 every 4 or 5 weeks) and I finally replaced the whole spinner head on the primary trimmer this spring (a whopping $25 investment). Oh yeah, I did snatch the starter rope out of the primary one this spring and had to re-wind it to the recoil...took me about 20 minutes to fix.

Use quality 2-cycle oil (like Opti-2) and don't abuse them and they will last you a while.

My Homelite Backpack blower (3rd year also) lost it's spark this weekend so I treated myself to a new Redmax EB 7000. I should have done this sooner as the Redmax REALLY cut down on my cleanup time as it is WAY more powerful. My Homelite handheld blower still serves in 'backup' capacity...it is over 6 years old and runs like a top. It quit running one day and the only thing wrong with it was the cylinderhead had worked itself loose. Tightened it up...no more problems.

I believe the use of quality "smokeless" 2-stroke oil and lack of abuse has kept these Homelite units working way beyond their life expectancy. The spark arresters and spark plugs even stay clean (no carbon buildup).

For what I paid for those trimmers and replacement 'tap buttons' (divided over a couple of thousand lawns)....they have cost me mere PENNIES per job...and work great.

[awm]

i use a light curved shaft craftsman.
with my arthritus it works best and will hold up to light house trim couple o yrs.
for heavier trimming u need a good commercial trimmer brush cutter.
u wont go wrong with commercial equipment either way . but just letting u know there are other ways.
ps if help is going to trim they get commercial period.

[maple city]

If you live in an area where you will be doing leaf jobs in the fall, you have to go with the blower. When we upgraded to a backpack blower, it really made a difference.

If you are doing residential accounts, a cheap trimmer works fine.