From the look of it when you were starting the walmart trimmer, it seems like it was direct drive whereas the echo has a clutch at the power head. The clutch permits some slippage under load, and the direct drive would have that over powered effect you were mentioning.
The other year I bought 2 27cc straight shaft Snapper units from Wally World. One is a dedicated for edging with the aftermarket attachment. Paid $45 each upc 084931846937. Just a heads up if anyone has some in their area. They have been good so far running them at 80:1 with Amsoil Saber
@@stephanpatko if the manufacturer recommends 50:1 mix why would you run 80:1? I read lots of posts of ppl who spend more money on expensive oils only to run at 1.5-2x the lean mixture the manufacturer recommends. I find it interesting how many ppl think they know better than the manufacturer of engine products. I run Super Tech Universal 2 cycle oil and ethonal free gasoline mixed at 50:1 and have zero issues day in and day out. I noticed Alan uses premix...fine for the homeowner that doesn't go thru much-but VERY expensive for something you can make easily yourself. Buy a transparent small bottle that mixes w/1 gal of gas and mark the bottle where it is full...simply refill it from a quart bottle 1gal at a time
@@Thelawncarenut well, and I also agree some of the real cheap MTD brands need reviewed for people, I got the craftsmen version of this trimmer, and I swear, I hate the head on it, its really made for precut trimmer line and using it as a bump head doesn't work well, soo now I gotta find a bump head to replace it with, having the line all fly out when I bump it to get another inch or two drives me nuts
Speaking to longevity, I bought one of these in the spring of '18 not really knowing better and not wanting to spend $$ and its still going strong for me. And as someone who's 6'4, having to bend over isn't THAT bad to me (and I have the curved shaft model). Im sure using a straight shaft Echo would change my world but it works for me right now.
Personally I think the lower end trimmers are totally worth the money, I have a cheap one that’s lasted me 10 years of consistent use! Great video and it’s nice to see the comparison. 👌🏼
For residential once a a week use it doesn't matter that much unless you really care about cut quality but if u use one pretty much everyday or for big jobs like a burm or a bank it is quite noticeable
I have the curved version of the hyper tough. Was a gift from my mother in-law when we moved. Everything he said I feel every time I use it. I’m 5’11 and it’s just miserable. Can’t wait to buy a new one. I appreciate the gesture tho but time for a better trimmer
I probably went through 3 different MTD trimmers before I got my Echo PAS. The MTD ones maybe lasted 2 years, then crapped out. The Echo, though more expensive, lasts much longer. Pay more upfront, save more in the end.
I love my stihl straight shaft trimmer . Don’t remember what model . Paid about $320 for it but I’ve had it 4 years and it runs like an absolute monster still . Never seen such a powerful trimmer
I bought a cheap bolens trimmer for a one time ditch trimming job to maximize my profit and still walked away making money. However long it lasts is just a bonus for me now.
Once you have a good trimmer with a Speed Feed head you will never subject yourself to the shortcomings of budget equipment. I have had the same multi tool trimmer for 18 years. More expensive up front but she has gone the long haul. Great vid Mr. Allyn!
Thank you lawn care nut, master weedwacher, Grass engineer and product reviewer. I thoroughly enjoyed your review, although i also own a Echo weed trimmer which i love using and proudly display it to my neighbors. I hope you continue to do such reviews and am waiting for the next one.
Yes definitely more reviews. As a pro / DYI your opinion matters especially on the equipment you use and why. Beginners can obviously use the help getting started on the right foot. Plus guys like me with a little experience can get a lift up as well. Thank you for all you do!
I used one of those curved shafts and a week ago used a straight shaft; OMG!!! What a huge difference for your back and shoulders!!! Never ever going back to the curved one!!! As you said, save for a week or two if you need to but the difference is huge!!!! No matter the brand, go straight!!! Thanks for your time, the reviews and the family friendly content as I use to watch you with my kids too!!! :)
3yrs. later.... They are now 98 & 115 $$. They also have a twist line feed( feed the line & twist. ). I prefer the curved shaft & 0.65 string. Most of my wacking is done around a picket fence. Bigger line will eat my fence. Also I'm 5'2" & 71 yrs. Curve for me! Great video. Sorry took me so long to find you😉
My main takeaway... Echo doesn't just BBRRRAAAA! MMMRRAAA! Just break through it. I have a battery powered Black and Decker trimmer with a single line and I'm 5'4" so "Hyper Tough" may be an upgrade 🤣🤣
My favorite weedeater was $20 from Facebook marketplace and when I put a different head on it (it wasn't for me) the shaft snapped because it didn't have a clutch. Took a shaft from a clutched one and cut it so the shaft would fit into the motor, now it works! Also it's mine now
Just picked the straight shaft model at walmart today on clearance for $58. I'll give it a go this weekend and use it until it dies then upgrade at that point. Thank you for this very informative video!
Thanks, Allyn, always appreciate your reviews. You point out things most people would not know to consider. I’d like to see some other trimmer reviews and also a review on trimmer line. How well do the higher end lines perform on budget trimmers? In addition, I’m recovering from a back injury, and being one of the 2% (lady LCNs), those trimmers are much to heavy for me to lift. I would re-injure my back in heartbeat! Even though I have the Toro Flex battery mower, I did not get the Toro trimmer because that battery is waaaay too heavy for me to lift. I wound up getting a Worx trimmer as it was the lightest weight I could find, and it has a wheel that you can roll along the walkway as you edge so you don’t have to lift the trimmer for straight up edging. However, their line is absolute crap. It would be great to see what high end lines work on low end trimmers. Also, are there other light weight models on the market for those of us with back issues? One thing many do not realize, men have longer torsos and longer arms than women, so you have more muscle to hold these trimmers with, they aren’t as heavy to men as they are to women. It would be great to see some lighter weight models for women and also guys that may also have some back issues. Thanks for all the great content you share with us 😊
When i started doing lawn care by myself i had Nothing so i picked one up at wally world my back hurt almost everyday qhen i came home but the machine itself worked well for weed whipping and edging that first year
This was a GREAT video, not because of the trimmer itself, but because it felt like some of your very first videos you ever did on RU-vid. Took me back to the old days. Anyone who's ever watched some of the first stuff you put out would know what I'm talking about. Great stuff. Look forward to more reviews and videos like this one!
Loved the rotation portion. As a right hand dominant, I have always preferred to walk backwards. It's how I first learned when working for a local landscaping company decades ago.
Gotta do a review on the new Hart line of trimmers from Walmart. They are 40v and awesome! I never thought I'd leave my gas trimmer behind but these hart 40v trimmers sold exclusively from Walmart are amazingly well built and don't break the bank. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on their new 20 volt back pack sprayers as well
My parents didnt know and bought me a short shaft stihl trimmer 3 years ago for my new house. Just upgraded to a straight shaft husqvarna and my back is thanking me. So much better. Bump feed works great too.
I grew up using a curved shaft trimmer because that's what my Dad had. I bought a straight shaft Toro for myself and will not go back. I'll take the tiny extra weight for the ability to add attachments and an overall longer lasting drive shaft.
IMHO Toro's with straight shaft or split shaft are the best value trimmer available at Home Depot OR get the Black Max Trimmer/Edger combo from Sam's Club/Walmart for the ultimate win in the US
Thanks for another fine video. Watching this reminds me why I ditched gas and went with battery powered. Ryobi 40v is easy to reload the line and can take care of my 1/3 acre clearing both sides of privacy fence. 😁
2-cycle Echo or Stihl straight-shaft with Speed-Feed head and Black Diamond line with EDGIT PRO upgrade. Only way to go. Good points and tips in your vids.
I know you probably wanted to follow the instructions, but in general, instead of exactly following instructions to start the engine, I usually proceed until the engine tries to start and then advance the choke to the next settings. The general instructions can cause you to flood out the engine a bit, which actually makes the engine harder to start & also wears out the pull-start mechanism faster. Worth a try anyway, it seems to work for me.
I searched cheapest trimmer because I want to buy a cheap one. We got a homelite and it got stuck on cord, sent in for repair/ got $ back, still under 1 yr warranty. Trying to see what other cheap trimmer will be better than that homelite. Don’t really want to buy a homelite again. Thanks very much for this video. Funny, entertaining and informative.
The " power band" on the echo is much smoother than the hyper tough and is tuned better, has a better carburetor and better cylinder, better metal used etc. The head and gears are better in the echo also.
So ur wrong and I’ll tell u y on an echo or Stihl and other higher brands the have a clutch attached to the motor meaning at an idle the head doesn’t spin until u give throttle on Walmart cheap brand which I do own has a solid cable going to motor to head with no clutch and u can tell this by pulling rope if the head spins while pulling rope there no clutch this is why it seems to be smoother on the echo because the clutch absorbs a lot of the brute force vs walmart brand just goes full power all the time
Meh...China made 2 cycle engines and carbs are all pretty much the same if they are spec'd the same. Don't be fooled into thinking dealer brands are necessarily any better unless they are spec'd better. Made in Japan vs China any day...but good luck with that...
As I made my mind up to mow wet on Saturday because of the forecast and I was overgrown. I wondered if Allyn was mowing wet over by there!!!!! Memorial Day Milo is poppin 😍
I have a Black and Decker 40 volt electric weed whip. No more gas or physical torture to start it plus it's way quieter. Once you go electric you will ditch your gas trimmer. Very good video too. Good job.
Back when I was in college, I worked as a sales person in the lawn & garden department of my local Sears. I should point out this was just around the time of and right after the K-Mart merger so the stuff was still pretty good quality and we did pretty high sales volume. The junk crash was a year or two after I left. Unless the customer was 5'2" or shorter, we always steered them away from the curved shaft and to the straight. The curved is just not designed to be comfortable unless you are really short. We probably sold 9 out of 10 straight shaft trimmers and most of the 1 curved shaft came back as a return after the person tried them. That curved shaft is also a mess to edge with if you use the string trimmer to edge and not a dedicated bladed edger attachment or separate unit. It puts it at a really weird angle to get a straight walking pattern along your driveway or street edge. It's always worth it to spend the extra $20 and get the straight shaft.
Loved the video, perfect time as I am looking at getting a weed eater and just didn’t want to spend a lot. But, ended up buying a shindawia, lol. There goes no spending a bunch, lol. I would love to see you take this to the freedom factory and throw it in the taller stuff and see how it will handle the tougher thicker taller grass. Great video, have a wonderful day!!!
There are two notches on the head where you put the string through. Put the string through the holes and insert the head assembly in. Before you tighten the bolt you pull on the string and you can then bump feed the string.
i'm 5'6" and use the stihl 91R with no issues. This video was great and informational. Thank you for the reviews, we can only imagine how frustrating some of these trimmers/weedeaters must have been to test the whole day.
So I'm an odd ball then, I'm a lefty and hold the trimmer the same way you do. My right hand controls the throttle and I trim walking forward or even sideways sometimes. Oh by the way, there are notches in the trimmer head to hold the line while you respool the other side. Also while spooling those heads, start with the outside first then do the inside.
Allyn: "I'm short, I'm 5'8". If you are 5'10" or 6' like most of your are ..." Me: I might as well be considered a kid at 5'6". Time to heat up my Raviolis.
I have the straight-shaft Hyper Tough... When you re-string, it has notches in the reel to hold the line while you re-install it. The notches are labeled, so it looks like it can take the smaller line as well. Downside is tall grass winds itself inside that knuckle above the reel. Very annoying.
I didn't think I would learn much from this video, I was wrong. I always pick up new techniques or facts. I have the same PAS Echo, but never considered the spin of the head as a factor. I prefer to walk forward, but i feel like my precision is better when I walk backwards.
I’m glad that you pointed out the length of the trimmer being a major issue for all trimmers, not just cheap ones - even $150+ trimmers suffer from this, especially the battery powered ones. People often point out price, power, and build quality but neglect comfort and usability. This is important at any price - not much use in saving $100 on a trimmer if you are laid up for the rest of the day from hunching over. I love my Echo PAS as well - the quality and versatility of the whole PAS system is tough to beat.
There are little slots on the side of the string wheel where you can stick the string ends once wound up so you don't have to hold them in place. Then bring the wheel close to the trimmer head so that you can stick the string heads through the holes in the head and then once you push the wheel in the head and pull on the ends the string will pop out of the slots. It makes the reassembly a lot simpler.
I run a small mowing business and have been running the straight shaft version for the last 2 summers. Starting out i went as cheap as I could. I bought it not expecting it to hold up but it is still my main trimmer. I have another more expensive trimmer as well now but I'm keeping it as my backup because at this point I just want to see how long the hyper tough will last.
@@theshield1613 i used it for 2 straight summers. I retired it the end of last summer when I picked up 2 Blackmax trimmers at Walmart for $75 a piece. I ran those all summer no issues either.
Loved it Allyn!!! I would definitely like to see more review videos. I love the way you broke this down too and compared it to what you know and love. I too have the Echo PAS 225 based on your previous recommendation and absolutely love the thing!!!! Thanks again and keep up the great work!
Love this review video bro! Really important information for advanced and new lawn owners. I really enjoyed it! Definitely make some more reviews. On another note all this rain has my St.Aug on steroids lol.
Hey Al, if you haven’t seen it, you should check out the video on Smarter Every Day’s channel about how weed eaters work. He films a string trimmer at 62,000 frames per second! Loving the “cheapest” type videos and hope to see more!
I loved this. I have a garden with lots of curves. I own a rechargable Ryobi and its ok but I'm not sure how to hold it and it is too short for me. It kicks stuff against my legs some times too. Im 5'8 woman, so I definitely understand stuff made for short people. Id appreciate a video on blowers. I have been using the same blower for about 10 yrs and I'm hating on the cord. You are right aboiut people hating to use their equiptment because of difficulties such as threading the weed wacker. I liked this so much I will watch it again.
My father has a brand new Stihl trimmer. It's a curve shaft. I hate it. I have a 15+ year old craftsman with a straight shaft. Love it. Everytime I think I need to upgrade, my craftsman just keeps on running. I clean the sponge carburetor filter and a new spark plug every other year, that's it. Maybe next year.
I bought a battery powered black and decker for about $90. Now I have to go see which way it spins. LOL. It works fine for me so far. Great review Allyn. Keep 'em coming.
I just bought several of these, in the straight shaft version, for family members and myself, brand new on clearance for only $20 each! I’m looking forward firing up mine for this weekend’s yard work.😉
Replacing the line is much easier when you use the little line cut out slots to hold the line ends vertically. Then, you can simply thread the lines through the holes in the head without any muss or fuss. The final move, which you demonstrated, was to yank on the lines to pull them out of the cut out hold slots to free the line for bump feed operation. :-)
The hyper tough was my starter. Had it four years didn’t have many issues. Being 6’0 and actually started learning about lawn equipment and feeling equipment out for comfort anytime I was at a hardware store prompted the upgrade. Was definitely tiered of hunching but just learned to adapt and made it work for a while. Wish this video was out back then. I enjoy the content and the added fluff.
Still using my old trusty Stihl FS90R and 80R. I have a couple battery trimmers I use once in awhile as well. EGO 56v and an ECHO 58v. The EGO 56v is the quietest easiest to finesse trimmer I have ever used. Great for stealth trimming early mornings with silent twist black diamond line. I normally grab the 90R though.
LOL.....You're killing me Allyn! Watching you reload the trimmer brings back frustrating memories 4 sure. I enjoyed the video greatly. I would definitely like to see more videos of this nature. Great review!
When you wrap the line the loose ends are snapped into the slots you see. Now you leave enough to push through the holes. Mount the spool and screw the lock back on. Now pull out each line until it is long enough to hit the cutter. I hope this made sense. Personally I get rid of these type of spools and go for the one you thread the line from one side through to the other side and then turn body to take up the line. So much easier and much less like to get the line over-wrapping itself and stop feeding, which makes you take it apart and start all over. Buy the best spooler; you won't regret it.
Next you should try the Ames rotary edger. It's a manual edger but it does a fantastic job on St. Augustine grass and keeps edges straight and clean, and takes less time than any gas or electric edger.
Try adjust the handle back towards the throttle area where you hand squeezs the trigger, you loos swinging power but gain back posture, so just keep in mind I've been trimming for years
LOL..Oh man, I had that engine on a Craftsman trimmer. After about a years use I was trying to restart it one day and it just wouldn't go and actually I gave myself a hernia. It sits in the back of my shed and I will never touch it again!
I replaced my self feeding head on my trimmer because I hated winding the string on the spool. Got a replacement head at HD that allows me to insert a single piece into head, two tales coming out. Quick to install and fast to replace.
Hyper Tough, Troy Bilt, Murray and some other are all built exactly the same. They're just branded different. I bought a Troy Bilt about 7 years ago that looks identical to this one for $90. It lasted about 2 seasons before I finally bought a Stihl.
I have this trimmer! As far as longevity: I bought it about about 6 years ago. It was sitting, with a full tank of E10+oil fuel, in my garage for about 4 years, and after replacing the rotten fuel line, putting some fresh ethanol-free fuel+oil in, and running the engine with a drill for about two minutes to get the gunk out, it started up just fine and has actually been running great all season! It remains to be seen if it will continue to hold up under regular use. As for how to winding the line: do the bottom side (closest to ground) first, and then put the line in the slot marked for the line thickness. Then do the other side and place it in the slot on the opposite side. Now thread the line through the holes and then push down on the bump stop while pulling the lines out of the slots. TADA!
Tip to restring the line @17:40, there are those 6 tabs sticking out and usually 2-4 of them are notched. You can snap the line into the notch to keep the line tight in the spool. Do the line closer to the tabs first. Stop 1 line on one side of the spool and stop line 2 on the other side. With the lines held in the notches, you can let go of the lines. This makes it easier to put lines into the 2 holes too. Pull the line through the hole and it'll pop off the notch. Done. No more anxiety.
Hi Allan....great info....Do more of videos like this...They help all of us decide what equipment to purchase!....Tks for all your videos!....Take Care
The line is added easier if you wind both at the same time. Also the notch on the base .02 or .095 is used to hold the line in place. Once you pop in the feed thru the holes and push down it will release from the notch.
I can’t separate from stihl trimmers/chainsaws. My almost 26 year old stihl trimmer finally died over the weekend and picked up a new stihl trimmer hoping to repeat history with this one.
I’ve had a stihl rc56 trimmer for about 4 years now after having many echos that I could never keep running for more than a couple years . It handles any kind of abuse from being out in the elements all day all summer long . Getting dropped . Running in dust and rain . Other than having to remove the screen from the exhaust it’s been great . Little on the heavy side but it’s the most powerful and high revving trimmer I’ve ever ran . I’ll always buy stihls
Actually you can hold the string trimmer where it is at a 15 or 20 degree angle on the side is pulls clippings out toward you with is doesn’t matter what way you walk. The edge that is cutting is throwing stuff back to you. Basically cut the sting trimmer head in half. Whatever side brings clipping back to you that’s the side that need to be closest to the ground.
