Marc
Addicted to ArboristSite
For reference, I ended up buying an FS90 R trimmer a little over a week ago, see thread: http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=68689.
I figured, for anyone waffling about buying a new trimmer, I'd share what my impressions are of my new toy.
After getting the trimmer home, gassing it up and starting it up, I adjusted the shoulder strap and starting going to town. Kind of my MO with new toys. On start up, I though- wow, sounds weird (I've never heard a small 4 stroke engine). I put in my ear plugs, flipped down the PC glasses and started working around the garage. Did about a 1/2 tank of light stuff. It feels like a very slow engine, geared very high. Plenty of torque. I'm anxious to get into some deep stuff, so I decide to tackle the front side of the barn, because you can see it from the road and it looked ugly-
Before:
After:
I was impressed with the performance in tall, thick grass. Bear in mind, of course, I'm basing the comparison on an FS55, however, I have no complaints about how the 90 performs. Of course, I had to take the line spool out and re-wrap it before I got very far, because the line wouldn't feed at first. Clearly whoever wrapped it at the dealer either didn't know how, or was in a big hurry. Not a big deal though. I did all that plus that fence line and some above it on one tank of fuel. Good economy...
A couple days later, once I got the garden tilled, I decided to knock down some of the grass out back. It's already getting ahead of me (at this point, it's well ahead of me).
Before (with gratuitous tractor pr0n
)
Right after I took this pic I had my first minor problem with my trimmer. The engine started idling poorly and stalling. I had to choke it to start it warm... something wasn't right. Eventually it stopped running altogether. I noticed the bulb had no fuel in it.... weird.
Well, I had plenty of flower beds to attend to so I put the trimmer in my Outback and decided to go see the dealer the next day after work.
I bring in the trimmer, tell him the symptoms. He knows immediately what the problem is. Apparently, there's no clamp to hold the fuel line in the tank onto the pick up, and the line fell off and was sitting on the bottom of the tank. When I looked in the tank, all I could see was the screen of the filter, so I thought I was good there. Apparently not. He said it's a real common issue. Maybe Stihl will correct this in future models. If I were buying one new and knew about this though, I'd ask before I take it home for them to put a little clamp on there like the guy did for mine.
Anyway, once that little issue was solved, I got back to the serious business of playing with it.
After doing some of the trimmer near the barn and the old silo foundations...
...I put on the four tooth grass blade.
I could tell right away I was using the blade precisely for what it was designed. The engine worked much less, there was less resistance going through the tall thick grass, which is especially thick near those silos from years of silage being spilled all over the place. Here's what it looked like post grass carnage-
If you have good eyes, you can spot the silver shaft of the trimmer on the silo foundation to give you an idea of the scale of that area I did. All on two tanks of fuel.
Here's the unit with the grass blade on-
So overall, I'm impressed with the build quality and performance of my new trimmer. $300 very well spent, especially if this lasts anywhere near the length of time our other Stihl products have. I'm also very happy I went with the D handle. With all the buildings, rocks, walls, trees and uneven ground I'm constantly working on, bicycle handles just wouldn't have made sense. I'm actually pretty happy with the should strap too. I don't use it much when I'm doing stuff like that stone wall in but on flat ground it's nice to have.
If you have any specific questions, ask away, or feel free to PM me. I'd recommend this trimmer (or another in this model line) very highly to someone with similar work to do.
I figured, for anyone waffling about buying a new trimmer, I'd share what my impressions are of my new toy.
After getting the trimmer home, gassing it up and starting it up, I adjusted the shoulder strap and starting going to town. Kind of my MO with new toys. On start up, I though- wow, sounds weird (I've never heard a small 4 stroke engine). I put in my ear plugs, flipped down the PC glasses and started working around the garage. Did about a 1/2 tank of light stuff. It feels like a very slow engine, geared very high. Plenty of torque. I'm anxious to get into some deep stuff, so I decide to tackle the front side of the barn, because you can see it from the road and it looked ugly-
Before:
After:
I was impressed with the performance in tall, thick grass. Bear in mind, of course, I'm basing the comparison on an FS55, however, I have no complaints about how the 90 performs. Of course, I had to take the line spool out and re-wrap it before I got very far, because the line wouldn't feed at first. Clearly whoever wrapped it at the dealer either didn't know how, or was in a big hurry. Not a big deal though. I did all that plus that fence line and some above it on one tank of fuel. Good economy...
A couple days later, once I got the garden tilled, I decided to knock down some of the grass out back. It's already getting ahead of me (at this point, it's well ahead of me).
Before (with gratuitous tractor pr0n
)
Right after I took this pic I had my first minor problem with my trimmer. The engine started idling poorly and stalling. I had to choke it to start it warm... something wasn't right. Eventually it stopped running altogether. I noticed the bulb had no fuel in it.... weird.
Well, I had plenty of flower beds to attend to so I put the trimmer in my Outback and decided to go see the dealer the next day after work.
I bring in the trimmer, tell him the symptoms. He knows immediately what the problem is. Apparently, there's no clamp to hold the fuel line in the tank onto the pick up, and the line fell off and was sitting on the bottom of the tank. When I looked in the tank, all I could see was the screen of the filter, so I thought I was good there. Apparently not. He said it's a real common issue. Maybe Stihl will correct this in future models. If I were buying one new and knew about this though, I'd ask before I take it home for them to put a little clamp on there like the guy did for mine.
Anyway, once that little issue was solved, I got back to the serious business of playing with it.
After doing some of the trimmer near the barn and the old silo foundations...
...I put on the four tooth grass blade.
I could tell right away I was using the blade precisely for what it was designed. The engine worked much less, there was less resistance going through the tall thick grass, which is especially thick near those silos from years of silage being spilled all over the place. Here's what it looked like post grass carnage-
If you have good eyes, you can spot the silver shaft of the trimmer on the silo foundation to give you an idea of the scale of that area I did. All on two tanks of fuel.
Here's the unit with the grass blade on-
So overall, I'm impressed with the build quality and performance of my new trimmer. $300 very well spent, especially if this lasts anywhere near the length of time our other Stihl products have. I'm also very happy I went with the D handle. With all the buildings, rocks, walls, trees and uneven ground I'm constantly working on, bicycle handles just wouldn't have made sense. I'm actually pretty happy with the should strap too. I don't use it much when I'm doing stuff like that stone wall in but on flat ground it's nice to have.
If you have any specific questions, ask away, or feel free to PM me. I'd recommend this trimmer (or another in this model line) very highly to someone with similar work to do.
