Strimmers
 

All of the gardeners in this area operate their strimmers in the same way: revving the engine every second like frustrated bikers.

I doubt that any of them went to strimmer school, so I assume that they just learnt to do this from listening to other operators.

Is this really the most efficient way to strim? It makes a very annoying noise and is probably not too good for the engine or fuel economy (thus producing more pollution). Would a constant engine speed - such as they use when blowing leaves - not be better?

I think there's something wrong with your keyboard.

I'm taking it that the OP has never used a string trimmer.

I have no idea what you mean by this, stevecmo - maybe you can explain in a little more detail. Thank you.

I have, and I have also read several articles on how best to strim, and none of them has mentioned revving the engine up and down.

Several say something similar to: "a strimmer utilises high speed centrifugal force to do all the cutting - essentially the faster it spins, the stiffer the line, the greater the cutting potential" so slowing the rotational speed will produce an inferior cut.

Simple, the user revs it up when cutting and lets up on the throttle in between. Makes no sense to keep the engine revved up when not cutting. Same thing when using a chain saw.

But, it's so macho. Like riding around on a v8-powered chrome-plated air-conditioned riding mower to mow a postage stamp. (I may have exaggerated just a little)

My personal suggestion is that all lawns have to be mowed on one day - say, Tuesdays. That will give us peace and quiet the other 6 days a week.

That certainly makes sense, tophcfa, but I'm referring to the rev/cut every second that they seem to do, even when strimming a largish area of grass/weeds. I know nothing about small engines, but I assume that the wear and tear is considerably increased by this practice.

It certainly is a constant row of mowers, strimmers and blowers. Bikes and carts used to be noisier when they were two-stroke, so maybe we can hope for garden tools to go four-stroke some time soon :-)

Commercial garden tools that are carried by the user, like string trimmers, leaf blowers, and chain saws, are very unlikely to go four stroke. The power to weight ratio of two stroke engines is far superior.

And what do you suggest the landscape companies do with their employees the other 4-5 days a week?

They could pull weeds.

Ban all gas powered lawn equipment!
 

Every gas powered trimmer (& chain saw) I owned always needed revved even between cuts or the engine died. I finally got fed up and went to battery powered trimmers and saws. The trimmer gas engines are junk and problematic at best, not to mention making one of the most annoying sounds ever (especially leaf blowers). California has banned gas mowers and leaf blowers effective 2024. It is time for TV to follow suit (much as I hate most things that CA legislates). Every day it seems one or two neighbors (at least) has their lawn service out there making such a racket that I have to keep the windows and doors shut to help block out the noise. Banning the gas lowered lawn equipment (yes, it would probably mean a price increase for services you cheapskate misers) would get rid of the seemingly constant noise & would be well worth it. As a side effect, it would be good to reduce all those gas generated pollutants.

Mow another neighborhood. I would say Dean’s mows at least half the homes in our neighborhood. They are literally here all day on Mondays. That’s one reason I switched to them. Because my former mower came on Tuesday.

Sure, just quadruple (or quintuple) your workforce, so they can do a week's worth of mowing in one day, and just have all those people "pull weeds" the rest of the time...

Let me know how that business model works out you you...

So, force everyone to use Deans? Okay, sure...

Oh, and btw, I use Deans and they show up on different days of the week...

Dean's only mows three homes in my immediate area. Many others farther down the street, and on other streets, but only mine, my one next door neighbor and the house behind me. The homes across the street are using another landscaper, one guy mows his own lawn and the guy on the other side of me and the person behind him uses Massey's, as are just as many who are using Deans...

How are they all going to synchronize their mowing schedules to satisfy you?

And "reliability has nothing to do with anything. My lawn is mowed every other week, just as I contracted. The days may differ due to other factors, such as WEATHER... You know, if it's pouring rain, they won't mow that day...

A little humor, Sheldon. You of all people should recognize...

It's "sarcasm" that Sheldon doesn't understand. Not humor (of which your post was also lacking...)

See, THAT's sarcasm!

That's good to know, thanks. Maybe a little discussion among neighbors and we could get everyone in ours to go with one contractor to get them all done the same day. I have spoken to a few and it seems everyone I spoke too is annoyed that it seems every day there is at least one here, making noise and driving our dogs crazy - :)

Six of our neighbors use the same gardener as us and it works really well.

Unfortunately, we are at the end of the group, so need to persuade our neighbors to the other side to join the party as we are still getting noise on other days from their gardeners.

Strimmers. Really?
Sounds dopey.

Thank you for joining the discussion, fishon.

Your input is invaluable.

well, at least he's not wrong:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

or, as Bambi's mom told Thumper:

"If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all.”

If it is that annoying, get together with the other residents in your neighborhood and see if you can get quotes for the entire block. The expense should be less for the landscaper so more profit (if they do not pass on the savings) for them and less noise for you.

A little????::)

Most of the landscapers has removed guts in muffler that why they are loud and obnoxious. This IMO noise pollution and shouldn’t be allowed. But I’m guy with only one good ear left so I might be just little bias….:shocked:

Then there would be hardly no posts and the operators would go broke…:22yikes:

Short for gas operated muffler removed string trimmers. ( SGMRST)

Nobody removes the guts of the muffler. What we do is surf the internet looking for the loudest 2 stroke motors available, because we LOVE wearing earplugs in 100 degree heat, while we annoy our customer's neighbors.

Mowing homes in TV is as thankless as it gets. No matter how good you are, there will be SO many complaint calls, and always that once a day jerk that comes outside screaming at you, like his $10 a week is paying your son's college and adding big to your 401K.

I understand your frustration. In my case the payment was FAR north of $10/week.

Second, large companies have a lot of turn over and often hire people that are not qualified. I have half my grass killed by one because the riding mower was too low and scalped the grass down to the dirt.

Third, I had standing orders with each company that it was MANDATORY that no one goes into my backyard without knocking first. I have a Giant Breed that is not socialized dog, who could be frightened and or get loose. Either could lead to bad things. SO, we have a large sign on the gate (CYV) and lock it most of the time. Every company we hired latest until they changed crews and our dogs were let out - sometimes that didn't even bother to close the gate. The instructions were NOT ambiguous, if we don't come to the door and tell the to go in, they don't do the back yard. Every company eventually failed. Putting us at liability for what ever the result was.

So, you answer while true in some cases, as always there is more than one side to the stories. I DID run out into the street the last time and screamed at the team leader. He thought it was funny my dog got out, and them yelled at me that I didn't answer the door. I told him he was fired, and to get out of my property. The local office send someone out, and they apologized.

That crust the company a Termite contract, lawn care, pest control. A LOT more than $10/mth.

I am sorry you get paid so little. But even $10 to mow the postage stage lawn we have taking maybe 5 minutes max is no reason to give poor customer service.

And we finally after several attempts found a person who is self employed, does good work himself and sometimes brings his son to help. The price is more than $10/week, and we ALWAYS add a tip as a way to say, "Thank you". SO, it does not have to be a thankless job, but I can assure you after being self employed my entire life I do NOT says thanks for **** poor customer service that most (Many? all?) of the large companies give.

After our lawn guy died last year I decided to save a buck or two over the long haul and take care of all my yard work (lawn mowing, hedge and bush trimming, edging, weedwhacking). With gasoline storage a problem I went (corded) electric on everything and couldn't be happier. Good exercise and after about a year, considering what I had been paying our lawn guy, I made back my investment on the stuff and everything from here on out is gravy.

My equipment is quieter than gasoline but not by much. It IS cleaner.

Wrong.

LOL , no WAY am I mowing any lawn but mine. But I am out there every day and see how those underqualified underpaid workers are treated by the crew leaders, and the customers. A lot is left to be desired on both sides of the fence. Though, overall, I think most customers are awesome, the mean 5% and the economy keeps my mower at my house.

Harley riders and antique cars owners do it all the time.

Talk about a curse!!! Please don’t make TV anything like California. In Ca they are going to tax people using their own well water.

I don't know about the commercial trimmers, but my electric trimmer needs to be revved to advance the trimming line....( see Toro user manual)