36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant, clever and powerful, and exceptional value for money, 15 May 2011
This review is from: Ryobi RLT26CDS Line Trimmer Petrol 26cc with Simple Start (DIY & Tools)
I bought this along with the hedge trimmer attachment, to use really as a hedge trimmer with the strimmer as a bonus. I have about 50metres of thick woody hedge, some 3metres high that has always been a total nightmare to cut using electric trimmers. They are all either not quite powerful enough, or vibrate so much and are so heavy that they are exhausting to use.
I finally decided to go for a petrol option and bought this. It's very very good. The weight of the motor is behind you, giving you a lever when cutting and making the whole thing very balanced. Vibration is virtually non-existant, it's so smooth and satisfying to use. There is ample power, far more than even my expensive electric trimmer, and it just cuts through everything with ease. I also bought an extended beam for it
Ryobi Expand-It Aex 02 Extension Shaft which gives you something like 9feet of reach.
The whole expand-it idea is a brilliant one, as you can buy all sorts of attachements to turn your strimmer into everything from a blower to a lawnmower to even a rotorvator.
If you're nervous about uncontrolled petrol engines whirring away and perhaps trundling off with out you, then don't be. The cutting heads don't engage fully until you've pulled in the power levers. i.e., the engine is running but the blades are still. Pull the power switch, and the engine revs up and the cutters start. Very safe. It's actually far easier to use and safer than an electic one, as you don't have wires trailing behind you.
Downsides - it's mad loud. You will definitely near ear protection using this, and safety glasses too as it powers through things so fast you'll get chips everywhere.
Also it's a two-stroke, so you need to mix up the fuel (easy to do) and use it all up before it goes stale. Not really an issue.
Upsides - Easy to start, despite being a pull-cord, with a sort-of semi-automatic choke. You pretty much just need to pull-start it and you're off. It's quite easy to do, far easier than most lawnmowers where you starting swearing at the thing.
Good run-time, 250ml of fuel lasts about 2 or three hours of use.
Well balanced. It's reasonably heavy, although not excessive, but is so well balanced it's not an issue. There is also a mounting point for a shoulder strap so you can take some of the weight off your arms if you struggle.
Compact - because it's designed to swap out different attachments, it all comes to pieces and is easy to store. You won't have some unwieldy bit of kit in your shed getting in the way with this.
Fun - It's intensely satisfying to fire up this thing with a roar and attack the garden with it!
The strimmer attachement is also very clever, with a brilliant way of loading the strimmer wire. The instuctions are all pictograms and are not very clear about this, but basically you put the head together without the wire, feed the wire through the holes and out the other side, and then wind the knob to wind it all up. Very very easy and a great design.
I'm delighted with this thing, by far the best garden tool I've bought.
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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
ryobi 26cc strimmer, 6 Mar 2011
This review is from: Ryobi RLT26CDS Line Trimmer Petrol 26cc with Simple Start (DIY & Tools)
i bought the ryobi 26cc rlt26cds strimmer with hedgecutter attachment late last year from choicebrand for £34 and though i have only used the strimmer i find it realy quiet and realy light.before this i was using an electric strimmer,you have to be careful when mixing the 2 stroke oil with the petrol as it's a 50 to 1 mix,but you get a mixing bottle for this.the strimmer take's arround 4 or 5 pull's before it start's from cold but it's easy to pull,also it is an expand it tool with a split shaft so you can get extra addon's like a chainsaw or a mower attachment.i was so pleased with my purchase and if you think that petrol run strimmer's are not for you think again.i would reccommend this strimmer.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
disappointed, 16 July 2011
This review is from: Ryobi RLT26CDS Line Trimmer Petrol 26cc with Simple Start (DIY & Tools)
The instructions are all pics which are fine if you have a magnifying glass, and even then you still can't always work out what they are telling you.
I had trouble with the easy start choke and had to return the item because the lever pinged back to the run position all the time thus making it almost impossible to start.
There isn't enough space on the handle grip to grip with your hand without resting your arm on the red hot engine next to it and possibly burning yourself
You have to run it at full throttle to make sure it cuts well which is very noisy and high on petrol consumption.
Its a shame because its so close to being a very good strimmer but fails for those reasons
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