Just picked up a high torque trimmer attachment for my Shindaiwa M262. While I have used a high torque head on a Maruyama and an echo 3020T, I really couldn't make a fair assessment of how well they work compared to the standard heads because both trimmers are larger more powerful trimmers than anything I have with a standard head to begin with.
With that said, I felt like the Echo 3020T didn't bog down in the slightest, but neither do trimmers with that type of power using standard gearing, so the high torque thing seemed silly on a trimmer with close to 2hp. All it really did was slow the head speed down IMO. Anyways, it just seems like the 2 to 1 gear ratio would work better with the smaller trimmers that actually do bog a bit in the thick stuff. I also feel like the high torque would work better with a blade, particularly the mulching blades I use for Blackberries here in the north west.
Since I use my Shindaiwa M262 multi tool for blade stuff (I find it easy to switch between a mulching blade or saw blade with two separate attachments already set up), I decided to get an Echo high torque head that fits on the Shindaiwa for my mulching blade, and turn the existing head into a back up trimmer head.
But before I did this, I set both a standard head and the new high torque head up with a speed feed 400 and tried some .105 square line without a guard cut to 17" 20" and 23"
These where my findings.
At 1.35 HP, the M262 using the standard gear head with a 17" swath cuts better than the high torque head in knee high field grass. It wasn't even close. Like not even remotely. The standard absolutely rips compared to the high torque. Neither bogged despite the grass being very damp, but the standard visibly cut better and felt more powerful with the high RPMs
Next I cut the same grass with a 20" swath. The power difference was less noticeable, but the the standard still had better head speed and was cutting better with very little to no bogging.
Finally, I tried both heads with a 23" swath. I know a lot of guys do this to trim banks or ditches in a hurry. I got to be honest, the standard once again cut better, but you could feel it bog a bit when you really pushed it whereas the high torque did not bog. However, the the line on the high torque would also bend a lot more and often wrap around the head in the thickest stuff because of the reduced centrifugal force as a result of the reduced RPMs.
Conclusion-
The high torque thing is a bit gimmicky unless you're running a lot of string or really big string. I'll try some .130 and give an update. I could see the high torque head being easier on the machine by not stressing it as much, but with string, they do not cut as well. If I were going to clear a bank with tall thick grass, I would use the standard head with a 17" swath with my 25cc multi-tool.
Ill try some blade stuff and give an update in regards to the comparison.
With that said, I felt like the Echo 3020T didn't bog down in the slightest, but neither do trimmers with that type of power using standard gearing, so the high torque thing seemed silly on a trimmer with close to 2hp. All it really did was slow the head speed down IMO. Anyways, it just seems like the 2 to 1 gear ratio would work better with the smaller trimmers that actually do bog a bit in the thick stuff. I also feel like the high torque would work better with a blade, particularly the mulching blades I use for Blackberries here in the north west.
Since I use my Shindaiwa M262 multi tool for blade stuff (I find it easy to switch between a mulching blade or saw blade with two separate attachments already set up), I decided to get an Echo high torque head that fits on the Shindaiwa for my mulching blade, and turn the existing head into a back up trimmer head.
But before I did this, I set both a standard head and the new high torque head up with a speed feed 400 and tried some .105 square line without a guard cut to 17" 20" and 23"
These where my findings.
At 1.35 HP, the M262 using the standard gear head with a 17" swath cuts better than the high torque head in knee high field grass. It wasn't even close. Like not even remotely. The standard absolutely rips compared to the high torque. Neither bogged despite the grass being very damp, but the standard visibly cut better and felt more powerful with the high RPMs
Next I cut the same grass with a 20" swath. The power difference was less noticeable, but the the standard still had better head speed and was cutting better with very little to no bogging.
Finally, I tried both heads with a 23" swath. I know a lot of guys do this to trim banks or ditches in a hurry. I got to be honest, the standard once again cut better, but you could feel it bog a bit when you really pushed it whereas the high torque did not bog. However, the the line on the high torque would also bend a lot more and often wrap around the head in the thickest stuff because of the reduced centrifugal force as a result of the reduced RPMs.
Conclusion-
The high torque thing is a bit gimmicky unless you're running a lot of string or really big string. I'll try some .130 and give an update. I could see the high torque head being easier on the machine by not stressing it as much, but with string, they do not cut as well. If I were going to clear a bank with tall thick grass, I would use the standard head with a 17" swath with my 25cc multi-tool.
Ill try some blade stuff and give an update in regards to the comparison.
