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Monday, September 20, 2010

String Trimmer - Gas or Electric

Consumer Reports usually is right about the product reviews. I was shocked to find the top rated gas powered stringer trimmer has very low user/reader review. The top reason for bad reviews is same as my biggest fear of gas powered 2-cycle engines - starting.

It's very cool to hear that "power tool" revving up and down, but I stick to electric trimmer and power cord for the sake of "sure start". Now, I am in a pickle now, the yard to too large even with 100 ft and 50 ft extension cords. Should I be worrying "over extending" the power cord?

Well, the gas powered $100-$150, and professional version is well over $200 range.  The battery powered can be had for $70.  What should I look for in the trimmer, other than electric trimmer?

Option 1:
Power, bad possible start, mixing gas and oil, unlimited usage of fuel supply?

Option 2:
Consistent power output, guarantee start, remember to charge battery, life-cycle limited battery pack?

The manufacture rated the batery life to be around 1 hours - it seems like a long time, but it also could mean a 30 minutes, 15 minutes if the battery pack -goes bad quickly.

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Option 3 - buy more extension cord?