doobin

I'd avoid Echo, had one once and it was pretty pants. If it's for gardening etc, get SH86 handheld, great with vac kit for work on steps/yards etc, and you don't want to be strapping on a backpack every five minutes to blow a bed you've just pruned off. If it's for clearing up after a big takedown, lots of sawdust stuck in a lawn etc, then a BG600 is the only way to go IMHO. Awesome power, but excessive for most applications. Whatever you do, don't get a Stihl BG/SH 56. These are probably the source of Johnny Walkers 'knuckleshaker' comment- the anti vibe is a third of that on the 86 series. HTH.

You don't need a van. A car is cheaper for insurance, etc, stick a trailer behind it and away you go! Basic tools should be a combi tool with strimmer and hedgecutter attachments (or one of each, hand gardening tools, a barrow, a blower and a sprayer. Good money in weedkilling. As stated, your boss will find someone else. That's the way it goes.

Then I would say Tanaka pay more attention to the real world that their machines will be used in than Stihl do! Why does that not surprise me?

Then I retract my earlier statement that I wanted to try some! Thanks for the heads up!

Indeed. A decent bloke can leave the grass in a windrow ready for a machine like a digger to clear up.

Why is it the same length across the range then? Rev up an FS85 with the cord the 'correct' length and try it in a bit of light grass. Then do the same with an FS400, especially one with a smaller head on it. The FS400 is at the top of the rev range straight away. No need for it to be there, it's a waste of petrol. A chainsaw operator constantly at the top of the rev range would be told to stop messing around and actually start cutting.... A decent operator can tell when a machine is about to become overloaded, and will avoid bumping the cord out that much. As mentioned before, there's a sweet spot. Point is, that sweet spot is a lot different on an FS400 to an FS85. But the 'proper' cord length is the same. Surely then an FS 85 used for anything more than light grass trimming will be subject to the same or even more wear as an FS400 with the cord bumped out a bit more? I know which sounds more overloaded when being used in typical long grass. I think it's operator error with 95% of the machines you see if you're attributing the damage to the longer cord. Too much cord, and a bad technique. Basically no mechanical sympathy

For the chip spout, I'd use the windpipe of the scumbag who nicked it.

I agree with you up to a point. However, on larger brushcutters such as the FS400 and above, there is way more power available than that needed to run the 'normal' length. So long as it's not too long and causing the engine to lug, I can't see a problem. In five years of doing it I haven't had any repairs (other than having to decoke the exhaust) that I could attribute to not running flat out all the time. I used two second hand FS400s for three years, and now have three bought from new FS460s two years in.

Flail mower won't do that anyway. Long grass kills flails- a single blade/length of cord is much more efficient. If it's just grass you're cutting with 2.5mm line and you're having trouble, then you're doing something wrong. You say it keeps breaking? Do you mean breaking where it goes into the head? If so it's because you're not bumping it out often enough, and the constant flexing on one point is causing it to snap. I'd say filling the head 4 times is about right for a full day's strimming.

Another example of why qualifications mean jack. Especially for something as simple as a strimmer...

What I've found is: 2.4 mm is ideal for grass, especially with the guard off. Any thicker and you're sapping power for no reason. On a big strimmer, run a smaller head for grass trimming (just change the centre nut over if necessary) Square profile tends to gum in the head. Have not tried star, so will get a bit to play with. 2.7 or sometimes even 3mm is OK for thicker stuff, and if you run it in a 4-way autocut head, the wear on each bit is reduced by half so it lasts OK. Good for brambles against walls etc. 4mm causes too much drag. If the target is that tough, put a shredder knife on FFS. Flexiblade is a complete waste of money. If the cord isn't the maximum length the the stimmer can handle, you're wasting time and petrol. You can make it run in a bump feed head, but it's not worth the hassle. Final tip- the throttle is just that. It's not an on-off switch. A pity so many operators struggle to grasp this concept. I run 3x Stihl FS460s

I wish people would stop using the tired old 'we will need to feed X billion more people in X years time' line. What are the extra billions going to do, live on fresh air whilst farmers play catch-up? Of course they won't. As unpaletable as it may seem, hunger and starvation is the greatest control of the human population. Which I believe is required. We'll be no worse off without GM. Farmers are only for it because they see it as a way to make greater profits. What they fail to grasp is that since they all sell into the same marketplace, they will always be price takers rather than price makers. If we go GM, farmers will have to use it or go bankrupt. The only people making money will be the GM developers. Using GM to produce more food to feed more people is not a desirable or laudable aim IMHO.

Just trace the wire from the solenoid back to the starter switch. Should take five minutes at most to find the fault. Does yours have a safety switch on the clutch pedal?

Have had one for the last five years. Saying they are 'ideal for nail embedded wood and sleepers' is false advertising TBH- they don't cut so much as burn through the wood, cutting a sleeper takes an age and you're better off with a chainsaw. For cutting roots in flinty ground, it paid for itself on one job. Worst thing about them is the extreme gyroscopic force generated, and the time they take to run down. You end up stabbing it in the ground just to get it to stop. HTH

MS181 with a 12" 1.1mm gauge bar and chain is in budget brand new and will be ideal for you. Rock solid resale value on eBay also. Assuming you collect the logs as per your pic to process yourself.

Just poured myself another coffee, shall I pour one for you?

A cube of loose logs is nowhere near that amount. Perhaps you are confusing that with the weight of a solid cube of timber?

I used to use a 106 diesel for everything. Logs, gardening, forestry, they're awesome cars and very very good offroad with the right tires. All the brake and fuel lines are internal so nothing to rip off I used to deliver 1.2 cube in two loads in a decent ally single axle trailer. It towed beautifully, and was well within the 700KG car towing limit. £60 for half the trailer, £100 a cube. It's also worth nothing that this keeps you 100% legal, the trailer is under 750KG. Cost wise it was brilliant. I did a thirty mile round trip fairly regularly. Three years ago that trip in the 106 with trailer to sell £120 of logs cost exactly £4.90 in diesel. Once I did the trip in a mates Hilux- more than double the diesel cost for a little more speed and street cred. I wouldn't put any logs in a 106 (though i have in the past! ) The rear torsion bars are a weak point, and if you load it too much you will end up with the tyres rubbing against the rear arches. Wheel spacers will only alleviate this problem for so long! Stick with the trailer- as shown above it can be very profitable. Something like this 155/80R13 Kingpin Mud & Snow Tyres order online from Tyres Direct Will give you AMAZING grip offroad and in rain/snow on the road. I ran Fedimas (similar) for two years and never even a puncture. So cheap too. HTH

Is that your empty industrial unit that you keep only a bit of timber and an old Fergie in??

Lol, that's a year younger than the missus! I know, I'm a toyboy

Anyone for a Landrover tyre? 7.50 R16 C tyre- Landrover, horsebox, tractor tyre | eBay

Been slow on the website and email recently. Also their control panel is a clunkey, outdated piece of crap. They're much more interested in selling you extras than making it easy to navigate.

Perhaps it's where the built in pumping thingy expells moist and sweaty air from your feet. Shows it's working?

Just flicked over in time to see some Spanish 'tree specialist' fell a scrubby multistem ash, which apparently was worth a fortune for planking and bowmaking The hinge was like a wedge of cheese on the first stem. Then he went for the second, and hung it up. Tried to cut the bottom off it, much sweating and the rest of the tree dropped and stayed hung of course. Then he tried the third, and spun it off the hinge What a prick! :lol: