Yard care equipment recommendations

[Sykes]

Spring is here and the grass is growing and I'm a new home owner that doesn't own a single piece of yard-care equipment.

Can anybody recommend a good lawn mower and weed wacker (and anything else you might think of)?

[codetrap]

For lawnmowers, I'm really happy with my Sears gas powered one. It's a briggs & stratton engine and has held up great over the last 5 years. For a good weed wacker, I picked up the cordless battery powered one from home depot. It's been great to use. I can do the entire property twice before it wears halts.

Weed Wacker
http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CatalogSearchResultView?D=975781&Ntt=975781&catalogId=10051&langId=-15&storeId=10051&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntx=mode+matchall&recN=0&N=0&Ntk=P_PartNumber

Dandelion /Weed Puller..
http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CatalogSearchResultView?D=946999&Ntt=946999&catalogId=10051&langId=-15&storeId=10051&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntx=mode+matchall&recN=0&N=0&Ntk=P_PartNumber

Lawnmower
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_07138911000P?vName=Lawn+%26amp%3B+Garden&cName=Walk-Behind+Lawn+Mowers&sName=Push+Mowers

[core_upt]

We just picked up a lawnmower off Kijiji with a Briggs/Straton motor. It's self propelled, which is nice as my back yard is relatively large and the grass is uneven. Weedwacker is gas as there is a bunch of area to cover (including the alley) and I only have one outdoor plug on my house.

You'll probably want to pick up a couple rakes too:
a thatching rake for dead grass (http://www.rona.ca/shop/~rake-dandelion-thatching-rake-garant-110862_!rake_shop), and leaf rake for general clean-up.

Get a hose and a multi-spray sprinkler: http://www.rona.ca/shop/~sprinkler-rona-427339_!sprinkler_shop

And then depending on what your actual garden is like, you'll need a big shovel, some small hand tools (cultivator, trowel, weeder, etc) and buy a good pruner - Corona anhd Fiskars are good brands. Buy a bypass pruner as an all-purpose pruner to start. Cheap pruners cut like shit and will frustrate you to no end!

[speedog]

Do not cheap out on the small hand tools either, cast aluminum if possible - good ones will last you a life time. A spading fork is also quite useful as well as a beet hoe for weeding chores and a short D-handle spade.

To start though, if you've only got grass to worry about - lawn mower, weed wacker, good quality 5/8" garden hose, adjustable hand nozzle, both an impact and a pattern sprinkler, good quality rakes like core_upt posted about, fertilizer spreader and some broad leaf weed killer. Plus a compost bin if you lean that way.

[chathamf]

Don't get an electric or battery powered weed whacker, unless you have a big vagina in your pants.:guns:

[Freeskier]

Originally posted by chathamf
Don't get an electric or battery powered weed whacker, unless you have a big vagina in your pants.:guns:

:werd: I've worked landscaping as my summer job while at school, and nothing can beat gas powered tools. Stihl and echo make solid trimmers. We could barely break them in 120 days of heavy use and downright abuse.

[HRD2PLZ]

I've got a battery powered weed wacker that seems to work pretty well. I've used gas ones before but wasn't a big fan. For a lawnmower, I have a Husqvarna. I really like it, but at the end of the day... its just a lawnmower.

[speedog]

25+ years of home ownership, have used electric mowers, gas mowers and push reel mowers - have now settled on a self propelled gas mower because of the sloped front lawn. Main thing is to keep it tuned and the blade sharp. Liked electric because it was quieter and didn't require fuel or oil changes, but too many times I ran over the damn extension cord. The push reel mower - can say that it made the most satisfying sounds and certainly did a nice cut.

As far as trimmers, have always had a plug-in electric - any of mine have lasted 8-10 years and easily handle anything that my yard has thrown at them over the years.

Each to their own though, but ya got to know that as you drive by some people's yards as they're working in them, that the bigger gas powered toys are as much as for show and compensation as anything else. No diff than the battery powered or manual stuff that many a tree hugger will use (all the while cursing them under their breath of course) cuz they just don't do the job as well as they'd like sometimes.

[chathamf]

Originally posted by Freeskier


:werd: I've worked landscaping as my summer job while at school, and nothing can beat gas powered tools. Stihl and echo make solid trimmers. We could barely break them in 120 days of heavy use and downright abuse.

Yea, at landscaping jobs and working at the golf course I always had Stihl products - and yea they are great. They would basically get raped all year long and never failed. Hell, I could even use them to cut down small trees. lol.

[codetrap]

Originally posted by chathamf
Don't get an electric or battery powered weed whacker, unless you have a big vagina in your pants.:guns:


Originally posted by chathamf


Yea, at landscaping jobs and working at the golf course I always had Stihl products - and yea they are great. They would basically get raped all year long and never failed. Hell, I could even use them to cut down small trees. lol.

Uh.. no. Way overkill. It literally takes me 30 minutes to weed trim the whole property. Why on earth would I bother with a gas trimmer for that small of a job? Waay overkill and too expensive. Not to mention maintenance and fuel costs..

I can totally see buying a good quality gas trimmer if you're going to be doing a ton of trimming, like a largish acerage, or a golf course. But not for a single house.. not worth it.

[Freeskier]

Originally posted by codetrap

I can totally see buying a good quality gas trimmer if you're going to be doing a ton of trimming, like a largish acerage, or a golf course. But not for a single house.. not worth it.
That's a decent point, I never trimmed at home lol, that was my brothers job

[D. Dub]

Two words.

Honda Motor

[Sykes]

Originally posted by D. Dub
Two words.

Honda Motor

Haha... this also brings up the price considerably: $400-$500 for a push-mower.

Still debating whether or not to spend that much...

[Sykes]

Ended up going with a Craftsman mower (http://www.sears.ca/product/craftsman-md-21-push-3-in-1-gas-mower/71369310?ptag=1). Sears had a pretty good sale going on (plus a Scratch and Save) so I ended up getting it with a $140 discount.

I also went with the advice that a gas trimmer was overkill and bought a Black & Decker corded electric (http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CatalogSearchResultView?D=910716&Ntt=910716&catalogId=10051&langId=-15&storeId=10051&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntx=mode+matchall&recN=0&N=0&Ntk=P_PartNumber) one.

I purchased some other random stuff: sprinkler, nozzles, garbage can, and a reciprocating saw (to prune our two 25ft spruce trees - Mastercraft Maximum FTW!).

Man... all this stuff is adding up REAL fast (and there's still more things to buy)! The things you take for granted when you're used to live at home and used your parent's stuff... LOL

[Graham_A_M]

^ Sears has an easy start mower with a a Briggs & Stratton motor for like $270 on sale. I (generally) absolutely despise B & S, but for two years I used it for about 4 hours a day, everyday.... doing commercial landscaping, and it took it and took it and took it. Not so much as a single complaint, and it just SIPPED the gas. It was surreal.
:nut:

B & S makes pure shit, but that easy start 6.5hp engine was just a marvel. Started on 1st or 2nd pull, no matter how long it sat for, even over a year.
:thumbsup:

For a line trimmer, do *NOT* buy one of those curved neck or electric ones. Its quite honestly impossible to do decent work with those curved neck ones, as you cant do proper trimming with them, same with the POS electric ones.
I've taught countless people in my day how to trim properly and have concours results, and I can vouche towards not buying either.

Buy a decent 2 or 4 stroke straight neck trimmer. Shindaiwa, Stihl, RedMax or any other companies make decent trimmers. Expect to pay $250++, but it'll last you 15 years+ of use if you dont beat on it, before needing a rebuild, of which is $70.
Occasionally Princess auto gets these reconditioned (straight neck) Weed Eater line trimmers for $150 or so. Go for one of those, as that'll do the same quality of work as would the $400++ only it wont last nearly as long.

[Maxt]

Stihl products are very good, its to bad they don't make a lawn mower or riding tractor, I would be all over it..

[chathamf]

Originally posted by Graham_A_M


For a line trimmer, do *NOT* buy one of those curved neck or electric ones. Its quite honestly impossible to do decent work with those curved neck ones, as you cant do proper trimming with them, same with the POS electric ones.
I've taught countless people in my day how to trim properly and have concours results, and I can vouche towards not buying either.


Totally agree on the curve neck ones. One company I worked for handed me one of those and I couldn't do a damn thing with it. The straight Stihl's on the other hand I could kick some serious trimming ass with!