About the Landscape Juice Network

Founded in 2008. The Landscape Juice Network (LJN) is the largest and fastest growing professional landscaping and horticultural association in the United Kingdom.

LJN's professional business forum is unrivalled and open to anyone within within the UK landscape industry

LJN's Business Objectives Group (BOG) is for any Pro serious about building their business.

For the researching visitor there's a wealth of landscaping ideas, garden design ideas, lawn advice tips and advice about garden maintenance.

brush cutter or combi tool?

hi, im a part time gardener "do around 25 mostly smallish gardens a week" but been getting a fair amount of long grass jobs to trim down recently so thinking about adding a brush cutter or combi tool to my gardening arsenal, would add a long reach hedge trimmer to probably if i opted for the latter, i prefer using my grass trimmer for my gardening round so brush cutter would only come out for the long grass jobs maybe as little as 20 times a year, any advice on what to buy? would normally buy quality like honda/stihl etc but not sure if necessary this time, cheers

You need to be a member of Landscape Juice Network to add comments!

Join Landscape Juice Network

Votes: 0
Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • I use stihl combo. Km130r. 4-mix.

    Think about space also.
    One service (or none in years!)
    Strimmer & long reach hedge cutter..
    Win win. Had mine yrs & only needed Tommy shaft screw & plastic insert as wearable parts £3 each..
  • thanks for reply, top of the range stihl gear not on my radar though "maybe entry level" reckon it would be overkill for what im needing just now, might only get used 1 or 2 hours a week, maybe weeks at a time without getting used at all, reckon somewhere in the region of £350 would be max id be willing to pay for brush cutter or multi tool with brush cutter attachment, been looking at some lesser brands such as mcculloch & mitox which are closer to the £200 mark and wondering if id get away with 1 of them considering id only expect to use machine in the region of 25hrs a year

  • I bought one of those cheap eBay ones and its still going strong after a year and a half of not too much heavy work its only ever needed a new blade which was my fault for trying to cut a bolt in a fence post :) only cost £17 for a new blade.
    Big jobs though dont bother its got no anti vibration at all and I wouldn't recommend it for every day work.
    McCullough I've tried and it didn't last too long and found them to have no power.
  • My fs55 combi system is 11yrs old, & I use it a fair bit, mostly as a hedgecutter. I am now thinking of getting a replacement/supplement power unit to share the tools with, I wouldn't be with out the combi, but I do have a dedicated strimmer.

    Rob

  • Ive got Stihl FS350 as my main brushcutter John but as a backup I've got two Silverline 43cc brushcutters. They do sound a bit tinny but I use them a lot and they are good for the price and suit occasional use. Keep the gearboxes greased and clean the carb and they will do a fair job. New price is only £130, they are better than the ryobi level stuff, but if they don''t get too much tap, they will suit you OK.

  • PRO

    If you buy the 'premium' kit for medium use you should get years out of it, I inherited a husqvarna strimmer a few years back that is still going strong (I think it's probably the best part of 20 years old) Starts after a couple of pulls every time.

    If you buy decent kit from one of the well known brands (not just stihl) you should be using it for years and you will find you get your jobs done faster and to a higher standard.

    Yes it costs a bit more upfront but when you look at how long it will last / verse price it should be a no-brainer
    As the saying goes you never regret buying good gear. Buy cheap, buy twice.

  • thanks for all your advice guys, i do use a stihl grass trimmer to do my round with and totally agree with you should only buy quality machines if your planning to use them on a daily or almost daily basis, dont think this machine will fall into that category it would basically only be used for long grass cutting jobs of which i maybe get 20 or so a season and see even less action in hedge trimmer form so for level of use it would be comparable to domestic users, so i am kinda reluctant to go out and spend £400+ on a commercial grade machine for that level of work but i guess it does pay in the long run and business is growing so chances are levels of usage would increase in the years to come, "still in 2 minds" but leaning towards getting a stihl kombi, thanks again for the info

  • p.s anyone used the honda versatool? local dealers doing a deal on them just now "just buy engine and you get brush cutter attachment free" was lookin at them also but they seem to be a few lbs heavier than stihl kombi's so thats putting me off them

  • The Hoonda is great, bit heavier but thats cus its 4 stroke.
  • I have the stihl 56 combi, and find it very reliable, and though I was in your position of only using it a couple of dozen times a year, I find I use it more and more often, and have bought extra attachments as I have gone along. I don't have any regrets in buying it.
This reply was deleted.

Trade green waste centres

<!-- Google tag (gtag.js) --> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-WQ68WVXQ8K"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-WQ68WVXQ8K'); </script>

LJN Sponsor

Advertising