I paid $99 for a Ryobi RY30530 string trimmer at Home Depot. The main reason I chose it was that I didn’t want a weak electric model and the top of the line trimmers were more than I wanted to pay for.
There were 5 or 6 pieces to put together but it was easy and I didn’t need to use the instruction book. It started easily and worked fine for about five minutes when the “bump head” stopped working. I took it apart and the rope entanglement was not going to be an easy fix. Fortunately, the trimmer came with a free fixed line trimmer head. I put that on and went back to business a few minutes later. The rope is very easy to insert into the landline head. If you get this trimmer, do yourself a favor and put the impact head directly in the trash and install the fixed line head.
I chose the curved cane model and the cane was a bit short for me. The 30cc 2-cycle engine is certainly powerful enough for home use. It has always started easily for me. The motor is louder than my previous model and hurt my ears at full throttle. The power and noise of this trimmer make hearing and eye protection essential. I’ve ignored safety precautions with less powerful trimmers, but I wouldn’t do that with this machine. The plastic where the shaft meets the motor gets very hot and slightly burns my arm. The instructions say not to pull the trigger when starting the engine, but that’s the only way you could start it when it’s hot. This is not a problem when you know the trick.
There is an option to add accessories such as a blower, edger and cultivator; however, I haven’t tried these yet.
Overall, the Ryobi RY30530 is good value for money. I’m going to be careful not to burn my arm at the motor attachment point. I wish Robi would make the motor quieter and the shaft a few inches longer. He would probably get the straight shaft if he had another one of these.