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...