I have a couple of industrial Stihl brushcutters and about to fit a new head to one of them that takes line, as I’ve now got alot of the land under control to the point where I no longer have any heavy clearance to do. I was just looking at line on the net and a little overwhelmed by the variety of both size, manufacturer and cost! What I plan to be cutting is rather course grass plus some other tougher creeper type weeds.
I’d welcome any reco’s on line that folks have used successfully, as I can imagine that quality varies a bit, if I consider the range in cost that I see!
You need the right diameter to fit your strimmer head, so need to check the technical specs. We then use a square (carré) line that has a strand of wire inside so is described as mixed material
The spec of the head states anything between 2.4 - 3.3mm can be used.
I was seeing the Stihl line and seeing it was relatively expensive compared to other manufacturers. I’m more than happy with all the Stihl equipment that I have but just wondered if any others offered similar quality at a lower cost??? I do normally subscribe to the old addage of ‘you get what you pay for’, but was curious
That sounds very interesting, as I assume it would make the line alot more durable
It may well be more expensive but it is harder wearing imo therefore working out to be good value for the work I do. I can find cheaper but the quality is inferior again, imo.
I find using line of any kind to be frustrating process. I’ve had several strimmers over the years & have concluded that using a three pointed blade is the best option.
Lines either jam or run out, & they leave tiny bits of plastic everywhere (I tried the biodegradable line & it was weaker than anything plastic). A blade is also quieter & the flywheel effect means they use less energy.
I use a cordless Stihl FSA90 with a battery big enough to last longer than I’m prepared to be strimming for (& I have second battery to use if I am keen). I gave up on noisy, smelly & unreliable petrol strimmers years ago.
Blades are super-effective.And super-dangerous. Second only to chain saws in nasty garden accidents, including ricochets. I wouldn’t recommend for a novice strimmer.
Both of my strimmers had blades, which I found very useful, and incredibly durable, except if I was trimming near any walls, steps, irrigation pipework… I’d be taking chunks out of whatever. So I decided to change out one of the strimmers to line, so I could use it for what is now manageable grass and not continue to cause damage. I’ll see how it goes, but still have one strimmer with blade fitted. For the heavy strimming I’ve been doing, not sure if the battery powered unit would have been capable enough, but I do like the idea. Having said that, all of the petrol driven Stihl equipment that I have has been extremely reliable…touch wood.
Don’t go by what the line head says, go by Stihl’s line size recommendations.
Running oversize line in the smaller and mid-range Stihl trimmers will just accelerate wear on the engine and cutting head gears.
I’ve found that my local farm equipment store’s own brand 2.0mm round cuts better than all the larger and fancier stuff as the small engine in my FS55 can spin it at full speed nigh on instantly and being much cheaper that brand name line, I don’t mind it not wearing quite as well.
One of those Echo line heads which allows you to simply wind line into the head without removing and reloading a spool is next on my strummer shopping list.
The Stihl reco for the Stihl auto head that I now have is the 2.4 - 3.3mm range - this is now fitted to an fs550, with the fs460 still retaining the blade. I’ll come back and provide feedback on whatever line I finally purchase and also the effectiveness of the auto head Thanks alot to everyone for the comments and advice - very much appreciated
PS vegetable garden starting to get established, so the excitement’s growing, imagining dining on my own home grown veg for the first time strimmer wont be going anywhere near that
For years, I wound the line onto the strimmer drum/head manually. That is, hand wound, wind by wind. It never bothered me, I found it quite relaxing in fact as patience is something I have. Then I saw (rtfm?) that you could simple feed the line through the drum, fit it back and turn the whole head to wind the thread on. You live and learn.
I’ve just used up a slightly oversized thread (purchased in error) I do a lot of living and learning.
We have an Oregon strimmer, and can load the drum with about 12 meters It is a delight, as when it gets too short you just tap the head and more is extruded.
The more you can get to know the local shops and services the easier it all becomes, naturally there are rip off merchants, but not so many. You get to know people. I have found the French very welcoming if one tries to communicate (I don’t know how good your french is) and a little charm and politeness goes a long way, they can be very patient. When article 50 was triggered I was so revolted that I applied for dual nationality, 3 years later I had it. It was not easy, and my spoken french was good enough to get through an hour long interview. The response was great, universal congratulations, smiles and comments, one of which recently was “judging by the chaos in your country of origin after brexit and your dreadful primes minister, I think you made a good decision.” I replied that I had always felt european, and had to agree. These are ordinary folk, mainly in my local small town. I wonder what other Survivors feel.
I can’t imagine how complicated life must be if one doesn’t speak French! Requires a different sort of courage I guess, and does go some way to explain the British bubbles.
We have “lived locally” from day 1, happily arriving with good French. And in small rural places it becomes known whether you use local services or not. So many times we have benefited as someone will say “oh yes my cousin X services your boiler” and go out of their way to be helpful.
I too am now French, but currently keeping it a bit quiet. The mayor knows and congratulated me warmly. But the results of the presidential in this commune show the majority support not allowing immigrants to become French, so not shouting from the rooftops apart from close friends here.
I do always try to support local services, where possible, but price check online and if it’s a marginal increase locally I’ll swallow it as also more convenient. But if it’s a reasonable increase I wont hesitate to buy online as the savings do soon add up. Also, for many items, in today’s world, you may not even be able to find what you’re looking for locally. And as far as the language goes, I do also find that trying to communicate in the local language always goes along way, wherever you go. So I blunder on, probably murdering the language, but as every week goes by I pick up more and more which is heartening and don’t feel any hesitation whatsoever about continuing to try to speak French whenever possible, despite some rather puzzled faces sometimes learn by doing
That’s something my recent visits to the dental surgeon have reminded me. I ‘get by’ in French but in honesty have need for more than that. I can chat to neighbours etc, watch the French news for the lastest, listen to the radio. I usually get the gist even if I don’t understand fully.
However, with the dental surgeon, I was in a more technical area that both extended and often exceeded my abilities. Further, I was listening to them solidly for minutes at a time, and that is draining. I usually use the natural breaks in conversation to catch up, but there were none here. I realised I was switching off as I couldn’t keep up. I found that demoralising tbh.
I thought I was someone who could manage, and by-and-large I both can and do. It was a useful reminder however to not be complacent. I’d like to find a local conversation class/group.
Thanks alot to everyone for the comments and advice - very much appreciated 
strimmer wont be going anywhere near that 
and don’t feel any hesitation whatsoever about continuing to try to speak French whenever possible, despite some rather puzzled faces sometimes