I am going to buy a new trimmer a Stihl or Husquvarna since that is what is sold locally. I want to get a professional grade so hopefully it will last more than 1 or 2 years. It will be for around the house and I also want to be able to put a blade on it to trim shooting lanes in some grown up thinned out pines. Looking for suggestions from anyone that has experience with these on which model you would recommend.

stihl always stihl

This

Unless you are buying a chainsaw. Husquvarna has good chainsaws.

I was pretty much sold on a Stihl until I found out there trimmers have some kind of 4stroke engine that you mix oil with the gas called a 4mix engine and that caused me to consider the Husky that has a 2stroke. Do any of you have one with the 4mix engine.

I have a 4 stroke weedeater and it is a hoss a little heavy though but that thing will cut like no other.. I am pretty sure you can still get a 2 stroke stihl.

http://www.carbidebrushcutterblades.com/
Get some of these to cut with

From what I have read they discontinued the FS250 which was the last professional grade 2 stroke trimmer in there line.

As above, I'd find out what replaced the FS250. I keep one with a trimmer head and one with a blade for working fences and cleaning around the pond. Didn't know it had been discontinued.

Stihl

Stihl FS 130 with the saw blade, cuts everything. Had mine for over 5 years and it never has failed me. I use Alabama Mower in Hayden.

Echo makes a dang good product.

I own a lawn care/landscape company and I swapped from stihl to redmax. I like my red max because they're lighter from a weight to cc ratio. But I've still got a couple stihl 90r left that have a blade on them all the time for clean ups. One is so wore out that you can grab the pull rope and pull it all the way out before the trimmer picks up but it's still my best cranking trimmer. 1 pull no choke doesn't matter if it sits for a month or a day. I run non ethanol fuel red amsoil 50:1 since it was new that one has probably 600-700 hrs on run wide open all the time its a 4 mix motor. If my red max stuff don't last as long I'll go back to stihl except for my backpack blower the red max blows the stihl away there with weight and power

Husqvarna 345 is my choice, strong enough for a pretty big job but light enough for around the house small stuff. Switch out to an 18 bar for bigger jobs, I think mine came with a 16

I use chainsaws every day to make a living, wouldn't have anything but a stihl. But I have saw some of my neighbors have alot of trouble out of stihl weedeaters. I bought an echo for my home use last summer, love it. $200.00, great warranty. I'd get an echo if I were you.

P.s. The weedeater I quit using last summer, my dad bought it 25 years ago. It was still running fine. It was an echo.

I'm not knocking the echos but the old echo stuff was good after they got bought out it went way down hill. I bought one commercial grade 29cc or 30 cc trimmer and it barely made it a mowing season before the cylinder egged out and it wouldn't run. For what they cost I need more for my money I've got a old echo chainsaw that has a 12" bar now it's heavy there is no plastic on it but the little feller won't die

I think this is what you are asking about... I have the professional grade Stihl Kombi 130R and have the brush cutter and saw heads for it.

Been a real good piece of equipment. I have put a lot of hard miles on it.

Do not get the smaller Kombi head. I had one and it did not last but a couple years. Homeowner grade stuff is terrible with any of these brands but all their professional lines are pretty good. I have Husquvarna stuff as well.

Oh... and the hedge trimmer is a really handy piece of equipment as well. I have that and use it to limb roads after you've initially limbed them back. Much faster than the chainsaw head on the new growth.

Shindaiwa ST230 I think is the model. Bought in 1999 and still running strong. Little to no maintenance and cranks easily. Have used a blade on it a lot also. I do have Stihl chainsaw and backpack blower and they are great also.

Stihl. I've got 3 trimmers, 2 edgers and 1 split shaft. But I like Husqvarna back pack blowers the best. The stihl trimmers are 2 stroke but they have a intake/exhaust valve that is supposed to be adjusted yearly or so. I've run Echo, Husky and Stihl. Had the least issues with Stihl. If you gonna run a blade make sure you get the right model. Some don't recommend using a blade. I've got the FS100, 130 and 250.

I had an old commercial grade Ryobi from the early 90's that I ran the snot out of. It was one of the combo models, and I had all of the attachments that fit it. Husqvarna was the only model that fit all the attachments, so I picked up a Husqvarna 128 at one of the big box stores. I've used it for about 4 years. Homeowner use, using trimmer, edger, hedge clipper, blower, pole saw and some tiller use. No problems, with a steady dose of Stabil.