STIHL FS55 STRIMMER/BRUSHCUTTER REVIEW 

Yup, realised that after the vid went out. Came that way assembled from the factory, which is why it didn't catch my attention at the time. All fixed now, and makes all the difference :)

Thanks bud, much appreciated :)

Nice, Milos Panic. Spot on.

Cheers mate, really nice feedback. Need to get back on this really, haven't done anything for a while. Thanks for the nudge!

Hah no worries. Picked up the fs55 today. Cracking machine, if a bit thirsty on the Stihl brand energy drink. Stihl owe you a beer or two in commission.

I haven't actually ever used the line attachment but am tempted to try it. I think I was put off years ago by a strimmer (not Stihl) where the cord was just a complete PITA to use. But I might try it now, thanks for putting the idea in my head!

Hello mate, thanks for stopping by and for your kind comments. Tbh, I wasn't sure myself whether it was going to be man enough (person enough?!) for my purposes but I've been pleasantly surprised. It stormed through 1"-thick bramble stems no bother, and also went through 1/2" hawthorn. I found the upside of the light weight (other than being considerably less exhausting to use) is that it tends to bounce off heavier stuff (like wire stock fence) which saves the blade a bit better. It did take longer for the blade to spin up than the old cutter and I'm not sure it reached the same RPM, but didn't make any noticeable difference to cutting. The other thing, which I forgot to mention in the video, is it's supplied with a single shoulder strap, which again I wasn't initially convinced by but actually is a lot less faff than the harness set-up my last brushcutter used. Also fuel consumption was just about half the old cutter - all the cutting you saw in the vid. was done on a single tank, whereas I'd've used at least two to 2 1/2 with the old one. Hope this helps! Best of luck.

@@myharris Thanks for your reply, very helpful. If the motor is capable then I'm all for the lighter weight of this model over it's bigger brothers in the Stihl range. Not to mention the lower purchase price.

Thanks Mick. Much appreciated 🙏

Hey Andrew, thanks for stopping by. By coincidence I've been using the FS55 heavily the past few days, both bladed and corded, on brambles and weeds, and it's still going great guns. Started on the third pull after 4 months of storage. Really can't fault it. At one point I was using it to hack back a blackthorn hedge - I was out in the fields and couldn't be bothered going back to the workshop to switch over to the blade and it chewed its way through a fair bit of cord but it did the job no sweat. I think this is its third year, I'll be interested to see where it's at in five years, which from experience with other brands is generally when the carb goes squirly. Best of luck with your project.

No puedo recomendar esto, es demasiado peligroso y dudo que la máquina sea capaz. Mucho mejor conseguir una motosierra pequeña.

That's about 3/5 of an acre, so if it's an area you'll be clearing regularly personally I'd be looking at some kind of self-propelled brush hog for that size of land, just for the work involved.. The machine would handle it fine though. And you'd be getting a good work-out too!

Hey Lucian, thanks for your feedback. I use 2 ancient Samsung Galaxy S5s, they really work well - true 4k, removable batteries, and cheap as chips :)

Off of ebay. I don't know what country you're based in, but the UK link is: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284208054384. Basically you're searching for a 'Stihl brushcutter metal blade fixing kit'. It fits more than one Stihl, so look for the kit, then go through what machines it fits. Good luck! Thanks for stopping by, and welcome to the channel 🙏

Cheers. I’m in the UK and bought this exact model today. Came with a strimmer head, but couldn’t work out how to attach a blade, this has been very helpful and an adapter kit like yours is on order already! Many thanks

@@mw1tt5 Cool. Glad the vid. helped out. It's a tidy little machine, best of luck with it.

Judging by what you have accomplished in your video with it, It will do what I require of it easily. Cheers.

Hi Milan, thanks for your feedback. The trigger handle came pre-assembled on the cowhorn and I hadn't registered Stihl had fitted it upside down - thanks for the tip! Not sure what you mean by the blade cover - if you mean the plastic guard, it's what the machine came with, so probably it is for the string, but seems to work well for the blade too. Thanks again for taking the time.

@@myharris yep with blade cover I mean plastic guard as you wrote. For different tools there is supposed to be different covers. Its in manual, for blades cover is much closer to blade. Default cover deliverd with machine is made for string. I think that with trigger assembled in right position your work experience will be much better since you can control trotle much better with point/middle fingers. I bought this machine yesterday and today I worked with it for 2h and all was fine, good tools.

@Milan Havir Interesting to know about the blade guard, I'll look into it. Good luck with the brushcutter, and do feel free to come back with feedback later on if anything occurs to you. 👍

Agree. I have an FS55 which was not built. Mine is the other way around and it’s really easy to modulate the revs, or example with line when coming close to a fence post. There must be a way to turn it around

@@ashleydarby3652 There was, I changed it after Milan pointed it out. It had just been assembled wrongly in the factory (or actually, I'm wondering if this was a return which had already been assembled by someone else.) Like you say, it makes all the difference to throttle control.

Once the bolt is tightened down, it's a fully enclosed cavity there - no way for debris to get in.

There is an access screw on the head to put more grease in.

Hi Ghislain, thanks for stopping by and sharing your experience. I'm coming up to 2 years with this machine just now, and fingers crossed no issues so far. Sorry to hear about the problems you've been having, I agree it should last better than that. I've also been happy with my Stihl chainsaw. I must admit I'm getting increasingly sceptical in general about trusting brand names these days - so many older brands seem to be sacrificing their reputation by offshoring their manufacturing, with quality often decreasing as a result. I'm not sure if that's the situation with Stihl; I'm aware they have a manufacturing plant in China. Where was your FS55 made? I hope you find a better replacement.

Actually most brushcutters are 2 stroke engines that can go full throttle as needed, were as a car is 4 stroke engine that arent designed to run at full throttle for long.

This is wrong man. Two stroke brushcutters are done to be used at full power. When the machine is heated you can use her at full throttle.

It can be used at full throttle as it’s a 2 stroke engine. Depending on what you are doing but grass cuts easily so full throttle isn’t actually needed. If you are edging with the machine inverted at 90% then full throttle is preferable to ensure the Strimmer line is straight due to centrifugal force. The down side is edging with a Strimmer at 90% and at full speed is the perfect tool for launching a stone through a window or worse into someone’s eye. Take care out there.