Brush cutter recomendations

[ericm979]

We need a brush cutter. We have a Stihl FS85 trimmer and it's just not strong enough for our weeds. I'd also like to use a brush cutter instead of chain saws for some of our brush, where it's thick with weeds, the brush stems are small and hard to get to through the weeds. It also seems like it'd be faster than the chain saw. We have 20 acres, half brush and half timber, and I want to remove some of the brush. My wife does some weed whacking and complains that the FS85 is too weak.

On paper the Husky 336 and 345 look good. Stihls are also a possibility but they seem really expensive. However I'd pay a few hundred more for a real upgrade in quality or performance. The Huskies come with trimmer and saw blades and a harness, which I think is all extra with the Stihls. I recently got an Echo saw and would get one of their brush cutters but they seem to be about the same price as the Huskys. I'm leaning towards the 336 as its lighter than the 345 making it easier for my wife to operate.

Any suggestions or things I overlooked?

 

[ANewSawyer]

I bought a Stihl FS240 for the very slight performance upgrade over the 336fr. But I spent another $100 on saw blade, limit stop and brush blade for the FS240. That all comes with the Huskie. Hmmm. If I had it to do over again, I would look really hard at the 336fr. You could consider the Stihl FS130 or 131 four stroke. But again, you got to buy all the extras. If you could wait, I have seen the 336fr on sale on ebay of all places. Ebay will from time to time run 20% off coupons for tools. Just have to watch.

And get yourself an Aircut blade for your unit. Best flat blade on the market.

 

[alderman]

If you are mechanically inclined at all, don't overlook a used unit.
Often can be had for much less money and often the brushcutter said don't have a lot of hours on them.
I've got a Shindaiwa C35 that was purchased in 1984. Still going strong after 30+ years of use on 50 acres of thick WeStern Oregon brush.
Echo took over Shindaiwa so I can't vouch for the quality of current models.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[ironman_gq]

I bought a Stihl FS240 for the very slight performance upgrade over the 336fr. But I spent another $100 on saw blade, limit stop and brush blade for the FS240. That all comes with the Huskie. Hmmm. If I had it to do over again, I would look really hard at the 336fr. You could consider the Stihl FS130 or 131 four stroke. But again, you got to buy all the extras. If you could wait, I have seen the 336fr on sale on ebay of all places. Ebay will from time to time run 20% off coupons for tools. Just have to watch.

And get yourself an Aircut blade for your unit. Best flat blade on the market.

Those aircut tri wing blades are awesome on anything under 1/2. I highly recommend wearing a face shield, gloves, long sleeves. The blade tends to through a lot of stuff around and I've had some six inch pieces come flying right back at my head, best thing I've found for raspberry and things like that which normally jamb up a string or normal blade.

 

[tylerbeach3]

Nathan, i know this isnt an answer to your question but: i recently fixed a brush dr/dr fields. 431cc, 17 or so horsepower. The thing is expensive but saves so much time. 4 gears and reverse, cuts sappling up to about 4 inches. It works wonders here on my property! I even ran it over a chip pile and the brush/slash disappeared! Great tool, take care of it and itll last forever.
Hope your new job is working out. Had my second interview today, looks like im starting full time w bennys june 1. Talk to ya soon.

 

[Franny K]

We need a brush cutter. .........

Any suggestions or things I overlooked?

Honda makes some product in this category. There is a compression release kind of inside the cam gear that makes starting very easy. Better exhaust fumes than two cycle or 4mix. Kind of on the light side for tube diameter and lacking anti vibe. I have the 35cc bike handle version. The way I use it plenty of energy is stored in the spinning blade. I have a much larger in every way brush cutter as well however it is really running 0.130 trimmer line and long stick out where it makes much sense to use it. That is unless we have two people working at the same time.

 

[backhoelover]

If you are going to be using the brush cutter a lot I would look into the stihl ft series

 

[backhoelover]

Fr series