I hope my experience was not typical...
Written: Jun 22 '04
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Manual well written, includes oil and line
Cons: hard to start, hard to use, vibrates, line tangled
The Bottom Line: Stay far away based on my experience.
|
|
|
| digitaldoc's Full Review: Ryobi Straight Shaft Gas Trimmer 767r |
Introduction
The need for a powerful weed trimmer and edger was great. It was taking one and one-half hours a week to make the lawn look neat again. I have weed trimming along landscape ties, fences and around tree roots. The edging needs include grass islands, a concrete patio and trenches. The existing tool I was using was an electric trimmer/edger from Eager Beaver. It had served well for over 10 years; as my needs had grown it was increasingly outgunned. I made the decision to buy a gas trimmer, cut the cord and "get serious."
Purchase Process
I looked up various brands and features on epinions as well as the manufacturers websites. Ryobi seemed like a well made brand with generally positive reviews. The unit purchased was from Big Lots. It was labeled as "reconditioned," and while I usually don't purchase anything not brand spankin' new, the price seemed irresistible.
Features
The unit had the following features:
-31 cc engine
-straight shaft
-weighs 12 lbs.
-0.080 cord diameter
-16 inch cutting path
-bump head line advance
-2 cutting strings from head
-adjustable D handle
Assembly
The unit came mostly assembled. The manual was well done with appropriate diagrams. The D handle snapped with little difficulty onto the shaft; it was secured with a bolt and thumb screw for adjustability in the field. The guard was held in place with 3 nuts, perfectly adequate. The assembly took about 10 minutes and only a Phillips head screwdriver.
The motor is a 2 cycle engine that uses a gas and oil mix in a 40:1 ratio. A 4 oz bottle is included in the box for mixing with a gallon of gasoline. I purchased a new gas can at Wal-Mart and mixed up a fresh batch of fuel. The spool comes loaded with trimming line. All in all, a very complete package, just add safety glasses.
In Use
I followed the complex starting sequence exactly. I pulled the starting cord with great anticipation and moved the 3 position choke as directed in the manual. After a tiring 25 minutes of pulling the cord, I had the motor running.
The machine had quite a vibration to it that made it unwieldy to hold and use despite leather gloves. When I let up on the throttle, it still was running fast enough to trim the grass. Due to the vibrations and handle/throttle placement the machine was very awkward to hold and use as an edger. It powerfully cut the grass. Despite bumping the head several times, the line did not advance. I turned the unit off to manually depress the line feed and advance the line. Even hot, it took 5 minutes to get restarted each time requiring many starting pulls, choke position adjustments and throttle manipulation.
Believe it or not, it now got even worse. After 2 cycles of turning off to advance line, and 5 minutes to restart, both trimming lines got lost inside the head. I opened up the head but could not find either end among the tangled line. This was the final straw- this weed trimmer was wasting more time than saving and would have to be returned.
Conclusion
This was a thoroughly frustrating experience. Maybe I purchased a "bad one," but this thing was a piece of junk in my epinion. I hope that this was related to an isolated shoddy reconditioning process. I couldn't wait to get my money refunded. I will no longer be interested in purchasing a product from Ryobi, and it reaffirms my longstanding aversion to reconditioned products.
If you need a mower, check out this review
http://www.epinions.com/content_141189090948
or if you think my expectations are just too high, see this review of a DVD player
http://www.epinions.com/content_138792767108
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
digitaldoc
|
|
Location: New York
Reviews written: 21
Trusted by: 13 members
About Me:
Men don't outgrow their toys, they just get more expensive.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.