Not a bad brush cutter deal

[John Rumm]

I had a look about for alternative brands of brush cutter that would drive the expand-it accessories from the ryobi. There were a few, but none compelling; Husqvarna do some - but very pricey and not that readily available. McCollouch seem to do one - but that looks very much like a badge engineered ryobi or similar. The Makita split shaft models apparently don't fit. Which brought me back to another ryobi.

I was contemplating something similar to what I had (30cc 2 stroke) which going to cost about £93, when I noticed that Makro had these 4 stroke ones at £89+VAT:

seemed like a significantly better deal than anywhere else. It came with two line heads and a tri-arc steel one.

Seems to start nice an easily, but I shall report back once it has had a decent work out.

[ransley]

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Dont you have Echo in the UK, Echos have the longest lasting motors , the tools are pure commercial grade and not expensive. Ryobi is a big step below, Echo is recommended over Sthil in my area because of motor quality.

[John Rumm]

They are not particularly common but you can certainly get them. Pricing typically into the Sthil sort of money - or about three times the ryobi. Do they drive the expand-it accessories? Since I have a few of those, that was a key requirement.

I am not particularly a fan of ryobi stuff, but then again this is for occasional domestic use, and in theory it ought to do... so long as you exclude the fate of my last one:

[JimK]

thanks for the heads up John, are they a Makro special offer or usually stocked?

JimK

[John Rumm]

Its the first time I have seen them there. They seem to roll out more of these sorts of things according to season - and now they seem to have a reasonable range on the shelf. They had a 2 stroke one with the additional hedge cutter for £119 inc, plus a McColouch and a couple of other own brand type affairs ("Einhall"). I did not spot the 4 stroke at first because it was in a floor display rather than on the shelf. The delivery label on one said "4 of 6" for the branch in question. So whether this is a one off, or they will re-order I don't know.

[Rick Hughes]

> which seemed like a significantly better deal than anywhere else. It came

John there is a company on eBay that sells factory returns.... of Ryobi brush cutters .............. usually means they are brand new items sent back for whatever reason. They come complete & with warranty.

I ordered mine and got the electric start model sent as 'alternative' ........... worked out about 1/2 price.

[John Rumm]

Best I could see on ebay for the 4 stroke was about 130 -140 with delivery. So I was quite pleased with £105...

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Thats why I responded, they do have a multi tool set up. Go to their site and check them out, Here in the US Echo is what pro lawn maintenance people use, My echo stuff is 18 years old and fine the new design on echo motors probably makes them the longest lasting. Ryobi is just home owner grade but not the lowest sold. Buy and Echo or Sthil and it will probably be your last, unless you are using it every day as a pro, but they are meant to be fixed unlike many brands that are meant to be junked when they fail

[Mark]

out of curiosity did you enquire about the availability/cost of the block/crank assembly.  

[John Rumm]

Only so far as it was priced on the parts lists I had, plus a few other parts sites on the web. Mostly it seemed to be in the £45 - £50 sort of range. My concern was I had no guarantee that was the only bit I needed. It may have turned out it was a bit of the carb that fell off and into it for example. So although I spent twice that in the end, I did not have to tit about rebuilding it, got a four stroke machine that ought not have any worries about fuel mixture etc, and a whole new trimmer end with a couple of line types thrown in. So I can have one permanently set up with a line, and another ready to go with the steel tri-arc blade.

[Steve Firth]

Hmm, £105.

I think I'd spend a little extra and go for this one:

[Mark]

Ah ok, hope you have better luck that one. 

[John Rumm]

thought about that, but it seemed like a bit of a gimic - so I figured I would rather have the 4 stroke, its not like they are that difficult to start usually anyway.