Self advancing strimmer - a myth?

[John Rumm]

By a process of elimination, it must be you then!

[brass monkey]

Can't be that, John. He has a degree. I LMFAO every time I'm reminded of it.

[Lieutenant Scott]

And all the others in here complaining about them.

[John Rumm]

All? You seem to be having comprehension difficulties...

Let's see:

Brian said "Well the idea works to some extent"

TNP "Mine works perfectly."

Tim "Ours used to be like that until I realised that I'd loaded the new string the wrong way round. Worked perfectly ever since."

Alan "Both work fine - tap on ground [while spinning] and it feeds out a bit more - centrifugal force pulls out more, tapping action releases lock briefly.(Both have two exit holes, one is lower than the other)"

Muddymike ""My tap to unreel" strimmer head works perfectly as long as I load it carefully.

Davey "The bump-on-ground type of advancement always worked for me, as long as I was careful when winding a spool,"

Rick "I had a petrol strimmer for a while, that had bump feed ... you knocked the centre of spool drum on hard surface and it fed out length of line. "

Jules "It seems to work find on the (petrol) weed-eater that I have. "

and me "It works very well on mine[1] - just tap it on the ground - does not matter if its soggy grass or concrete and it feeds out more"

So 9 of the 12 responders to this thread who expressed an opinion on bump feed heads report at least some success.

[The Natural Philosopher]

It worked poorly on an electric strimmer with thinner line..think that was an atco. Gave it to a fruind with postage stamp garden I think.

Or was that the equally crap electric hedgetimmer?

I am all petrol now. with a garden 200m long..

The stuff works..

[Baz]

I have a Flmo Electric strimmer. Just Release the trigger and power up again and out pops more core. Easy. Baz

[Lieutenant Scott]

I've counted 5 that said they were no good, so "By a process of elimination, it must be you then!" was a silly remark:

Brian Gaff:

the problem in my oppinion is that if the grass is wet or juicy, it gums up the works making the whole thing useless. then when you reload if you do not get the winding exactly right it all gets jammed up in the crevices between the windings as they tighten back up. It seems that the alternative version just uses a plunger to do the job of banging it on the ground and the underlying gummed up issue is still there!

Davey:

The bump-on-ground type of advancement always worked for me, as long as I was careful when winding a spool, to make sure that the 'string' was able to unwind easily, ie it didn't get crossed up going onto the spool. I have also had (still have one) some B&D no-bump ones, Brush-hog or something, and they can be a real pain, never giving up new string.

Jules Richardson:

I remember my dad had a strimmer - B&D I think - and the advance mechanism would clog on that one extremely easily.

Andy Dingley:

I've never found this the slightest use either. I stop, press the centre spool down to rotate it a notch or two and then pull at the ends to release some more string.

Fred:

Never found the bump to unwind ones worth a tinkers curse.

[Lieutenant Scott]

Does it float away? ;-)

[Lieutenant Scott]

Petrol stalls. Electric motors have MORE power at lower speeds.