Hello:
Was thinking of getting a gift for a friend of a Homelite gas string trimmer.
Home Depot seems to sell them in the price range I'm in ($ 100 or so)
I have a 5 year old one, and it's worked pretty well.
But, i've heard that Homelite is (essentially) no longer in business, or viable, and that parts and repair are no longer available.
How true is this, and how concerned should I be about buying one ?
Thanks, Bob
They are in business, pretty much in name only. They are owned by the same Chinese conglomerate that owns Ryobi and others. Parts and service will suck down the road. I would consider them to be a throw away trimmer, once it breaks, toss it. Most any piece of lawn equipment sold at large chain stores will have poor parts and service availability, there are some exceptions.
Why not break out some more cash and buy something you can get parts for, and also help out a local retailer? Stihl for example makes great trimmers. A low end Stihl can be bought for around $150, and parts are easy to find. Greg
I thought I heard they were bought by John Deer?
Deere & Co divested themselves of Homelite in 2001 according to 2002 annual report...
Why not "break out some cash and help a local retailer?" Because they suck, their help are a bunch of high school drop outs, charge way too much to "fix" things, try to sell me a new Stihl when they can't, and because my "throw-away" Ryobi hasn't needed anything but trimmer line in 3 years, and my Murray (!) riding mower hasn't needed anything in 6 years of mowing just under an acre (compare that with my dads John Deere that needed two transaxles in the same amount of time the first less than 3 months after he bought it - not covered under warranty due to "abuse"). Maybe I get lucky. tad
....
From the referenced annual report apparently Homelite was bleeding $$$ big-time.
My JD-branded trimmer is some 20 years older yet and still going strong--it's one of the Japanese makers (I forget who, it's anonymous) and parts are still(!) available--the gas tank had to be replaced last yeat because it cracked simply from age-hardening and, to my surprise, the same identical one was available regular parts route in two days...
I bought one about six years ago from HD, still working fine. Just fed it gas and string so far.
I bought Homelite because years before I worked for a lawn maintenance outfit that had purchased five of them, two of which could be counted on to work at any given time. Because the owner was cheap and they were always breaking down (pull cords, springs, carbs, trimmer heads, etc.) I had to cannabalize the non-working ones all the time for parts. I always kept them in the truck.
But being able to tear them down and build them back up in a pinch to get the job done was a specialty of mine so I guess I got suckered by nostalgia.
I guess to Homelite's defense, we abused the heck out of them > Hello:
And sold again. Greg
Find another dealer then. I can't help if your dealer compares with Kmart! Sears used to be known for their service, you see posts here all the time from people bitching about poor service. I have a couple dealers for lawn equipment in the area I would trust, both have shops that hire real people, not some high school punk. The service manager in one shop has worked there for 20+ years. The other darned near as long.
I glad you have had good luck with your chain store equipment. I wonder if you would be bragging just the same if either of them needed a simple repair. If your local shops are hacks, who would fix your Ryobi, or Murray, if you could not? Yep, I agree, you have been lucky. One day you will need a part and no where to get it except to order it from form high school kid at the chain store you bought it from. Greg
Typical service! My buddy has a lawn service, he buys nothing but $200+ Stihl trimmers. He has me check them over in the spring and usually they will run all summer without repair. He has one that is ten years old, looks like crap but still runs! Greg
replying to Greg O, JEANEISLER5 wrote: My mom used to work for home light in NYC many years ago! It's nice to know they are still around!
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