weed eater feather lite brand products are junk.

Joined
Oct 15, 2005
Messages
2,364
Location
sebring, florida
ok so heres the deal. a year ago i bought a weed eater feather lite brand blower and hedge cutter. the reason i bought these sub $70 pieces of junk is that i dont have alot of blower or hedge work to do. i figured these entry level consumer grade machines would work ok for quite a few years since i only put about 10 hours a year on each one and the engines are rated for 50 hour emissions compliance before requiring a tuneup.

ill talk about the blower first.[image]http://www.poulan.com/getImage.php?m=FL1500LE&s=l&t=BLOWER[/image]

i liked this blower because it was super lightweight. i think its about 6lbs total weight. also its very compact and stores away in a very small space. however the problems i have had are numerous. the very first day of use the recoil starter broke. the spring which rewinds the rope came undone. i pulled it apart and fixed it. next thing to go wrong was some screws on the housing came lose. 1 actually came out and is lost forever. this is within 3 hours of use mind you. finally this week the flywheel key sheared off after only about 10 hours of use. the flywheel key on this cheap piece of junk is cast right into the aluminum flywheel. the key is aluminum just like the flywheel and actually a part of the flywheel and is not replacable. i dont know how the key sheared since the blower doesnt get kickback like a lawnmower or chainsaw. it just blows air at a constant speed. perhaps the crank nut was loose? ill never know. i took it back to walmart and got a new replacment blower on an exchange basis.
the new blower worked great except it would intermittenly die for no reason. finally it quit all together and wouldnt start. i wasnt getting any spark and determined the coil to be bad since a new plug didnt help and everything else looked OK. also the pull start wasnt fully recoiling. this is on a blower thats literally 25 minutes old. off to walmart again for another replacment. lets see how long this one lasts untill it gives up the ghost.

a year ago when i bought the blower i also bought a weedeater hedge trimmer.
[image]http://www.poulan.com/getImage.php?m=GHT195&s=l&t=HEDGETRIMMER[/image]
this hedge trimmer has actually been pretty good. it starts up easily and has good power for its size. i also REALLY like the fact that its very light at under 7lbs weight. makes for less tired arms when cutting hedges and such. this hedge cutter hasnt actually broke on me yet. i keep the cutting bar lubed with motorcycle spary on chain lube which works good. the hedger has had a couple problems though. its lost 2 machine thread screws already. one of them that was lost helped hold the blade on. i had to source a new one from lowes which cost 14 cents. about a dozen screws on the machine were loose, some of which were finger lose and halfway out by the time i noticed. a drop of loc-tite seems to have cured this issue however. also the gearbox was VERY noisy. it turns out that weed eater doesnt lube the gearbox very good at all. after only a few hours of use i pulled the gearbox cover off and found the gears and ball bearings and sliding parts to be virtually dry. there was a hint of grease in the cornders of the gearbox, but this did no good as grease needs to be on the moving parts, not wadded up into a corner where it doesnt touch anything. so i filled the gearbox with some nlgi # 1 grease and you guys cant imagine how much quieter the gearbox is. the gearbox also seems to run cooler to the touch. i do notice it takes more throttle to cut the same hedges, i attribute this to the increased drag of the grease. however ill gladly use more throttle in exchange for a quieter gearbox and hopefully longer service life. i had thought about using an oil instead of grease for the gearbox but this cheap brand doesnt have oil seals on the cover or the input/output shafts so any type of lubricant that can flow will leak out and make a mess. other than those 2 items this hedge cutter has been great.

ive been using 87 octane gas with some castrol super 2 stroke oil designed for atv's and dirtbikes that is JASO FC rated. ($2.37 a quart at walmart) i expiremented with oil mixing ratios and found that i get a 30 degree cylinder tempature drop if i use 30:1 oil ratio compared to 50:1 which is what the factory recomends. i tested this with a digital infrared remote temparture gun. the blower runs at 280F at 50:1 and full throttle. it runs at 250F with 30:1 mix ratio. i tried even richer oil mix but the temp only went down a few degrees, so it appears 30:1 is the sweet spot for the weedeater brand engines. on both the hedger and the blower, the plug and muffler/spark arrestor remain clean at 30:1 so im not worried about it. i figure something else will break before the engines do.

all in all, if you are considering any gas powered yard care products, i would stay away from weedeater brand machines unless you are going to use them very little, and are mechanically inclined like me so you can fix them. buying them from a store with a really good return policy helps too.

if i had to do it over again i would have bought echo brand machines. i have 2 echo chainsaws and some other echo stuff and they are bullet proof but expensive.
 
Well, I just happen to have bought another cheapy yesterday. I had a piece of junk Bolens trimmer that I paid $70 for 3 years ago. I decided to replace it with a Ryobi SS30 from Home Depot plus I bought an edger attachement. I hope it turns out better than those Poulan products have been for you.
 
When you buy "Bic Lighter" equipment you petty well know what to expect. the real pizzer is buying premium (Echo,Stihl,) and they ---- out just as quick, or the single replacement part is as high as buying the complete "Bic" brand!

Bob
 
If I remember correctly, the weedeater hedge trimmers are single action (one blade stationary) and have the blades riveted together. Good luck with sharpening that setup.
 
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If I remember correctly, the weedeater hedge trimmers are single action (one blade stationary) and have the blades riveted together. Good luck with sharpening that setup.




i have looked at it when i took the gearbox apart to grease it. the blades are riveted together. its pretty much non servicable. i thought about drilling the rivets out, uncoupling the blades and sharpening them via a whetstone. i guess ill cross that bridge when i get there. maybe ill just return it to walmart for a new one.
 
Not one problem with my weed eater feather lite in 5 years now, and i tell ya she gets a work out boy's.
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i'd buy another in a heart beat.
 
Maybe Featherlights got cheaper?
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I've got a 8yr/old Featherlight sting trimmer that never gave me a problem. It's their smallest, direct-drive, curved shaft model. It's been run on what ever mix I had on hand, from very old to new. IIRC, I paid $59 for it new. Other than being way undersized for my current needs, it still starts w/in a cpl of pulls. It's not near as nice as using my new Husqvarna trimmer though. It like going from a Cobalt to a Caddy.

Joel
 
I bought a Weedeater blower and I'm kind of disappointed in it myself. Problems with the recoil. It actually stayed all the way out while blowing off my driveway one day. It coiled right back up after I killed the engine. I recommend weedeater weedwhackers to folks, but might be changing my tune. I got one in yesterday that wouldn't start no matter what I did to it. I'm not done trying though. Maybe the flywheel key...I know, its all one piece, but I've had luck with some aluminum welding rods I got off of Ebay. Build it up, grind it down...good enough! Also, If you have problems adjusting the carb because the screws don't have slots in them, slot them yourself. A dremmel tool with a cut off wheel goes right through the guard and cuts a slot into the screw(s). Careful turning the screws, the slots wear quickly if you hurry things (imagine that, they're made out of soft metal). WARNING: Something that squeezes all the life out of these weedwhackers (expecially the bottom of the line stuff) in no time at all is the huge, heavy aftermarket cutting heads. Tell all your friends, Stihl has their bottom of the line (and some middle of the line)stuff on sale for about $150.00 - $250.00 this time of the year. Great weedwhackers, blowers, chainsaws, and other powerful power equipment. Can only buy from a "reputable" dealer though. I believe that Echo will go completely orange next year, so play with a dealer's mind by letting them know that you know the grey stuff is almost all 2006 stock. Let's make a deal!
 
Ive had the same weedeater, a cheap Craftsman single line, for over 13 years, it still runs like a champ. It can sometimes be hard to start by pulling like 10 times, but it gets a workout and always starts first pull after its been running. Iam curious to see how long this thing lasts. Once a year I lube up the shaft that runs fron the motor to the head other than that< I dump gas in it. 32:1 Amoco two stroke oil, until that ran out in about 10 years, the last 3 years on Husky oil.
 
I bought a string trimmer by Weedeater from china mart. I used it for about an hour with nothing but troubles and then brought it back. It's been a while now but I can't remember one good thing about it. But those types of things seem so simple and get such little usage I just can't stand to spend a few hundred bucks on a high end model.
 
Surprise! The new blower broke too. It has about 2 hours on it.

The Craftsman 4-stoke is great so far. Got the blower attachment. Gave the Weedeater blower (after repairs) to my parents for lake house use.
 
Quote:


Well, I just happen to have bought another cheapy yesterday. I had a piece of junk Bolens trimmer that I paid $70 for 3 years ago.




Wow, how interesting. Just tossed a 3 year old Bolens $70 trimmer in the trash last weekend, after I beat it to a bloody pulp in my driveway after it made me mad for the last time. String head seized, fixed that and then the engine would only run for about 5 seconds. Carb RIVETED together and made in China so I couldn't take it apart to clean it! Yeck. What a piece of junk.

Replaced it with a Husqvarna. Holy cow is that Husky nice. Wife even said how much quieter it was and how much better it sounded...

later,
b
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Had an Echo. Fought it for 3 years. Hard to start, very noisy from the clutch, ran poorly. Replacement string head was as much as a new "cheap" trimmer. Bought a Sears, made by Poulan. Starts easy, runs strong. Needed some carb adjusting, bought the tool from an on line Poulan parts distributor. Run 32:1 MX2T, and found spare heads on closeout at WM for a buck a piece. Running strong on it's second year now, about 20 hours total. I might be talked into a Husky, but no way on another Echo.
 
Had an Echo. Fought it for 3 years. Hard to start, very noisy from the clutch, ran poorly. Replacement string head was as much as a new "cheap" trimmer. Bought a Sears, made by Poulan. Starts easy, runs strong. Needed some carb adjusting, bought the tool from an on line Poulan parts distributor. Run 32:1 MX2T, and found spare heads on closeout at WM for a buck a piece. Running strong on it's second year now, about 20 hours total. I might be talked into a Husky, but no way on another Echo.
I have an Echo CS346 chainsaw, 2 - Echo GT-200 trimmers, 1 - Echo ES-210 Shred N Vac and owned an Echo self propelled lawn mower. I also own a Stihl brush cutter, a Stihl chainsaw, 2 Jonsereds chainsaws, a Tanaka gas powered drill,a Shindaiwa gas powered water pump as well as a couple old Lawnboy mowers. The Echo equipment is, without hesitation, as good as any two cycle equipment I've ever owned and considerably better than the Stihl equipment I own. The newest Echo piece that I own is 14 years old. The only work I've had to do is replace the carburetor on the ES-210 ($15.00) last year. The Echo equipment is my first choice "go to" OPE and has been for over 15 years. Chances are your carb may have fouled from bad gas. Replace the carb and see what happens.
 
I have an Echo CS346 chainsaw, 2 - Echo GT-200 trimmers, 1 - Echo ES-210 Shred N Vac and owned an Echo self propelled lawn mower. I also own a Stihl brush cutter, a Stihl chainsaw, 2 Jonsereds chainsaws, a Tanaka gas powered drill,a Shindaiwa gas powered water pump as well as a couple old Lawnboy mowers. The Echo equipment is, without hesitation, as good as any two cycle equipment I've ever owned and considerably better than the Stihl equipment I own. The newest Echo piece that I own is 14 years old. The only work I've had to do is replace the carburetor on the ES-210 ($15.00) last year. The Echo equipment is my first choice "go to" OPE and has been for over 15 years. Chances are your carb may have fouled from bad gas. Replace the carb and see what happens.
You might be about 14 YEARS too late my man.
 
You might be about 14 YEARS too late my man.

Too late for what?

I see what you mean now. Didn't realize the post I was responding to was that old! Nonetheless, I wanted to relate my experience with Echo equipment. It's definitely good stuff.
 
Too late for what?

I see what you mean now. Didn't realize the post I was responding to was that old! Nonetheless, I wanted to relate my experience with Echo equipment. It's definitely good stuff.

Echo for me starts easy, never any problems, I wonder if beanoil bought his Echo from Home Depot?
 
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