Black & Decker GL350 Strimmer

I bought one of these strimmers last spring and used it throughout last summer in the garden. It's a great strimmer for use in a small to medium garden, does what it says on the can! I gave it a good clean at the end of last growing season before putting it away in the garage over the winter. I've just got the strimmer out to make sure it's in good working order ready for the coming summer. It's still looking good and when I gave it a quick try in the back garden, it's all still working well and it's the strimmer I'll be using this summer.

After some weeks using it,i have smashed this piece of junk against a brick wal!DO NOT BUY THIS!

This piece of junk is made by an idiot!

I also decided never buy someting again made by B&D,Buy a Wolf Garden!!

Hope this help to clear up the negative comment for this product.Actually you can refill the line with commercial grade line not necessary black decker blue line with spool(the price is 2X commercial grade in Malaysia).When the spool finish :

1st step-Open the spool cover(Orange color)

2nd step-Take out the spool(Black color)

3rd step-Must secure the head of the line at the inner core of the spool by using the hole provided in the middle of the spool.This is important to get a strong winding so that the line will not use up so fast.

4th step-Wind the line according to the direction show on the spool.This is important if the direction is wrong the line will feed too fast.Secure the end of line with the hole at the outer part of the spool so that you can install the spool back to the cover without line unwinding

5th step-Install spool cover(with spool install)and start trimming again.

The negative comment for this product is the weight.Black Decker should design wheel same as what Bosch did to benefit their customer

as per another reviewer's comments - worked fine out of the box but once the reels needed replacing it all went wrong. bought the expensive replacement heads, checked the little black actuator was in place but still the machine delivers great swirls of twisted blue string onto the lawn. Sometimes gets long enough to give toes and ankles a good painful whipping.

I liked the extendable handle and the weight of it but the auto line feed failure is to basic to ignore so can't recommend it..............

B&D GL350 strimmer - Worked fine when bought from shop although when replacing the reel it was absolutely useless. I even used the expensive replacement approved reels. Spool kept unwinding with no tension. Replacement instructions were too small to be of any use and not clear. After seriously considering throwing it against a wall, I even resorted to the manual for fault finding, although this too was useless.

It turns out the notches and cutouts on the spools are not used for anything, only to stop it unwinding when packaged. Only when I looked further into it I noticed the parts list identified an "actuator" (little black plastic arm) which was now missing from my product. This keeps the reel tension. The parts list (i think item 6) gives it a part number, which you can buy for around £2 on the internet but not from any major stores. If this is missing on your model I suggest you go to the store where you bought it and look at the display model, so you can see which piece is missing ;-) Now I've replaced this item it works fine.

Obviously the other reviewers are not using the strimmer correctly-here are a few tips:

(1) Ensure that the wire is installed in opposite directions on the spools

(2) Ensure that the extremity of the wires are inside the cover guard.

(3) Don't tip the ground with the end of the strimmer as this releases more line which is cut off by the blade on the end of the Cover-henc people finding strips of wire on the ground- a great machine for it's price

I can only echo the thoughts of everyone else here. I bought this strimmer begining of last summer and disliked it then. First cut of this year and the lawn is covered in bits of blue line and I now need to buy a new spool of the stuff. PLEASE DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THE GL350

Bought a GL350 at the tail end of the summer (09) and just it back out of the shed for the first cut and strim of the year - as usual it began chewing up the line, so like many others on here I invested ina pre-loaded spool, which it ate in the space of my lawn - how I wish I had read this website last year - do not buy a GL350 complete waste of money.

Like many others I wish i'd reviewed this website first. After a few years year messing about with cheap strimmers, I bought this thinking it would be half decent. How wrong I was. Same experience as everyone else, line chews up in no time and is left scattered all over the garden. Now that i've read this and realise it isn't me doing something wrong, i'll persevere no more and buy something decent. Anyone any suggestions?

need to be a brain surgeon to rewind cutting line