Is It Worth Buying A Strimmer Or Brush Cutter?

Today my blog post is entitled is it worth buying a strimmer or brush cutter? As you probably know I’m someone who likes to make life as easy as possible and having the right piece of equipment can make so much difference in the garden. I’ve seen far too many people making their life exceptionally hard due to using poor equipment and not having the right type of equipment. So I hope that this article will help you choose the right strimmer or brush cutter and give you a greater understanding of the products available.

What Is A Strimmer Or Brush Cutter?

A strimmer or brush cutter is a machine that for general use has a nylon cord that rotates on a strimmer head. The size of the nylon cord can vary greatly depending on the machine that you’re using and the type of job that you’re doing. For general purpose strimming jobs I find that a 2.4 mm nylon cord works well, it’s heavy enough not to break too easily and strong enough to strim down nettles and tougher grass.

Brush cutters are really heavy duty strimmers that have the option to have a blade attachment, these blades come in all shapes and sizes, from circular saw type blades to hexagonal blades, you can see the various types of brush cutter blade here.

Traditional trimmers and brush cutters have an engine at the top of the machine, this can be a two-stroke petrol engine, electric or cordless type of machine. The engine is attached to a long shaft which then goes down to strimmer head. Most strimmers have straight shafts, but there are a few that have curved shafts. I would go for a strimmer with a straight shaft as the curved shaft models can have a greater tendency to break, I guess being bent over there is a greater strain on the shaft.

There are two types of strimmer and brush cutter handles, some have loop handles and some have the cow horn type handles, these are normally fitted on the heavier strimmer’s or brush cutters and also come with a shoulder strap. Personally, although I have a reasonably high-powered strimmer, I prefer the loop handle for ease of transport and for ease of use. The cow horn handles can become an obstacle depending on what you’re doing, I also prefer not to use a strap to support the strimmer as I feel it gives more freedom in use. However, a lot of the petrol strimmer’s come with a strap if you have loop handle strimmer, it’s optional if you want to use it.

Is A Strimmer Or Brush Cutter For You?

If you have a lawn or even any grassed areas with trees, borders, paths etc, I would say that a strimmer or brush cutter is definitely for you. They really can save hours of time, it doesn’t actually seem that long ago when people were going around the edge of the lawn on their hands and knees with garden shears! I know that there are long handled shears available which make life slightly easier, however, a strimmer or brush cutter can do so much more than a pair of garden shears!

So if you have a lawn and you have areas and edges that you can’t get to a strimmer or brush cutter could make your life much easier!

Which Strimmer Or Brush Cutter Do I Buy?

Strimmer’s and brush cutters are available in all different sizes, from small electric strimmer’s, rechargeable battery strimmer’s and two-stroke petrol strimmers, I believe the Honda also make a four-stroke strimmer.

Our cheapest electric strimmer starts at £26.31, you can see the Bosch ART 23 SL Electric Grass Trimmer here.

Our cheapest rechargeable strimmer comes in at £65.99 find out more about the Cobra GT3240VZ Cordless Line Trimmer (no battery/charger) here. 

Now we come onto my preferred type of strimmer which is powered by a two-stroke petrol engine, no cord or batteries to charge, in general, the petrol models have more power. Our cheapest petrol strimmer starts at £124.99 you can find out more about the Cobra BC260C Loop Handle Petrol Brushcutter here.

The other type of strimmer or brush cutter which is available are the heavy duty wheeled type strimmer’s, these are great for rough areas or overgrown areas as there is no blade to break or damage, just a replaceable nylon cord, very simple. These wheeled trimmers are available in push models and powered models.

Our cheapest wheeled trimmer starts at £295 you can see more information about the Tondu HWTL Petrol Wheeled Trimmer here. 

Buy The Best That You Can Afford

I have given you the cheapest options above for strimmer’s and brush cutters, but once again I would say try and buy the best you can afford.

I have used strimmer is commercially which have literally had hours and hours of use, some of these have lasted up to around seven years. If you purchase a decent strimmer or brush cutter you could have many many years of trouble-free service.

If you are looking for second hand is always worth taking a look at eBay.

Please feel free to comment below.