Weed Eater Featherlite SST25

This is the single most frustrating piece of lawn "equipment" I have ever owned and used in 48 years. Takes many, many pulls to start, (yes, I follow the instructions to the letter), and still I… struggle. Once started, WHEW, it runs better on "half or partial choke setting", then it does in "run" setting. I have had mine about one year and now when I do get it started and move it to "run" in immediately stops. (It has done this since I bought it brand new.) If am ever so fortunate to get it to operate in the "run" setting it stops as soon as I pull the trigger to use it. It is also so INCREDIBLY LOUD, YES, I AM SHOUTING TO MAKE A POINT!! Without ear plugs I actually have an earache in both ears when I am doing using it for 10 minutes. I am so very, very disappointed in so many ways! I don't even know that I would donate it to a charity to be "fixed". Why give them my problems, I am sure that have enough of their own. Don't waste your money on this one! I am so sorry I did!

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I bought this model at Walmart in 2004 for less than a $100 and have used it roughly every weekend since. So far I estimate I have about 300 hours logged in on this thing. So far, I haven't even cleaned… the filter, nor had any maintenance issues, or even changed the spark plug once. I always planned to just run the trimmer into the ground and then buy another one but this thing won't die. The only thing wrong after 5 years is it won't idle on the run setting any longer so I keep it on the half choke setting and it runs fine there. Most importantly, I live in the tropics where the grass grows about 3 inches a week and this thing still gets the job done. The line at .65 is a bit flimsy and I go through quite a bit of it, so if you have tough weeds and hit rocks a lot your line will break so go for a heavier model. However, if you just want to edge your lawn once a week, I highly recommed this unit. I never thought that cheap looking plastic thing would work for as long as it has - I am impressed.

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Immediately upon receiving this product I assembled it, gassed it up, and pulled the starter. It started right away! Only problem, it would not STAY running!! I messed with it for about 20 minutes before… finally giving up and calling the 800 number. After a wait of seven minutes a customer rep told me the problem was the carburetor. The carburetor was not "Adjusted" for my area (Ohio). I would have to take it to a repair shop. This product was just minutes out of the box!!! An email to the company confirmed that the most likely culprit was the carb and that some areas of the country have this problem.

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Folks I have this weed eater since 2001, and it has gotten many work-outs sometimes I run it for almost 2 hrs trimming 3 acres of light to moderate weeds. I will say this I have changed the spark plug… once, and have never been to concerned of the gas to oil mix ratio, just guessing most of the time. It is a little tricky to get started, a few primers and a few pulls on full choke, a few primers and pulls on moderate choke, and off and running removing the choke totally. She runs smooth, and never misses a beat, and I was very happy with almost every feature, but the bump and feed system totally sucks. I mean I'm always turning it off flipping the spool over and pulling the string out to get the proper length etc. I think I paid &69.00 at lowes back in 2001 at, and I've gotten my money out of this, but the time I spend on the bump and feed really slows me down to a crawl. I realize I need a bigger more expensive unit now, but if you have moderate trimming and live in a more city to suburban setting with little ground this will be a nice selection. I think I over used the bump/feed spool, and have suffered through ever since. The little motor humms and I've never done any service but the plug and the throttle wire after many uses had to be repaired, and $20 bill at my local mower shop so now you can make a more informed choice about this one!

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