Stihl FS40 Strimmer

I own an fs38 weed eater. This is without a doubt, the most worthless piece of trash I've ever owned in my life. The only way to make it run is to buy new gas every two to three weeks. I owned a generic weed eater called a Yard Man for over twelve years with never a bit of trouble. This fs38 don't even come near to what that Yard Man was. I'm trashing the Stihl and going back to the generic weed eater. I'll be letting everybody know just what a piece of trash the fs38 really is. I'll never own another Stihl product again.

My old Mculloch died the death after 9 years!

As I had Stihl chainsaw Good.And a Blower. Excellent! I had the choice of a mculloch or a Stihl. Chose the Stihl the FS40. Heavier than the Mculloch but only just!

Starts superbly runs OK. Now I need a strimmer that will edge lawns and cut fairly low around obstacles. This is where the FS 40 starts going down in my estimation!

It will not cut below 50mm unless you angle it!

The main problem I found was replacing the line! You do not need to let the line get below 100mm or you have to take it apart! That is after banging it on the ground? Above 100mm banging it on the ground works!

There is a separate sheet with the manual??? Not attached ?? Which describes how to do it?

Getting it apart is not the easiest thing to do!

Getting it back together is worst? When you manage to stop the two lines getting caught up you try and re assemble it. You push the main piece down on the FS40 and then try and get the large plastic top on it? Can take forever!!!??

At present mine is in the garage in pieces. Gave up! Apparently I have seen work that there is a modified head available?? Will try Stihl for that but don't hold out much hope??

I've jsut bought one of these to replace a Ryobi which died after 2.25 years.

Not cheap, it is however seemingly well made and starts instantly. Which is nice. It's light and easy to handle, but at 6'2" I find it a little short for my height.

Accepting it's brand new, I can't comment of course on its durability but I've had experience with Stihl before which suggests its good (at the price it had better be) and my local dealer is just up the road. An important point imho - buying slightly cheaper on the 'net is all well and good until you have to factor in the hassle of returning things by post and covering that cost yourself.

I note it only carries a 1 year guarantee - the Ryobi (for all it was a far cheaper machine) carried a 2 year warranty. The other comment is that I've already used the line on the spool after only 30 mins of strimming round some trees and a wall. Not impressive. It's only 2mm line and seems to be nothing like as robust as the 2.4 I used in the old machine.

Other than that - it's nice, well made, and as long as it proves durable then I'm happy. It's certainly very easy to start, which is more than I could ever say for the Ryobi.