Which Brush Cutter

Last year I was lucky enough to acquire a 10,000sqm Olive grove in southern Italy. It is our intention to move out there in a couple of years time and will be getting a mini tractor with attachments to manage the land. However in the meantime I just need to carry out basic maintenance, which apart from the olive harvest, is cutting down the grass and weeds in June as they present a fire hazard by July. See link for image taken last month.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_6F3LZwO0s9E/Sii1lwMVvXI/AAAAAAAAAII/o-pTnMZfeFg/s1600-h/Back+Garden.jpg

To do this I need a brushcutter, but as I will only need to use it annually and then only for a couple of years I do not see the sense in spending a lot of money on say a Stihl or Honda at £300 to £400. I have identified a Ryobi RBC52SB, which is a powerful 50cc machine and from reviews it is well built and a far cry from their normal DIY quality. I can purchase this for £135.

Can anyone give advice or recommendations.

Thanks

 

I reckon you'll still need it for the hard-to-reach bits when you have a tractor. Our mini-tractor (with topper mower) doesn't get into a lot of places.

I may have been unlucky, but I've had a couple of Ryobi devices and have spent more time tinkering than with the "quality brands". Anything can break, of course, but if I was taking something to a foreign country where I couldn't be sure of getting it services etc. I would buy a quality brand. If you buy it out there, where you can take it back to the shop for repair etc., then fine. But its all downtime if you are only out there for a short while and just want to get the job done.

Can you hire a tractor, or pay a local farmer, to do the main large areas for you? 2.5 acres is a fair bit to cut by hand ...

I would use a metal blade - I prefer the ones shaped like this


rather than this type

which I have found wears the tips, and then there is less cutting area. Its probably better for brambles and the like though.

Make sure you get full-face protection, and wear some stout trousers / wellies or somesuch for the stones that will be thrown up :(

 

Thanks Kristen for the reply.

I had a local do it last year which ended up costing me â?¬350 which did include some rotovating, so I thought rather than pay them again it would make economic sense to do it myself.
I agree with what you say about established brands and yes there is more of a risk in buying the ryobi but at £135 delivered and a 2 year guarantee it is very tempting

 

Can you buy it locally, out there? I think that would be prudent (applies to the posh brands too, really. Better to have someone local willing to fix it if/when it breaks :thumb

 

By the by, my brush cutter is starting to misbehave. Its a quality brand (I forget which one) and I reckon I've had it 20 years ... it doesn't owe me much!

 

The Ryobi will fall apart, they are cheap **** and simply wont cope with strimming a large area.

Buy a second hand stihl, FS85 or similar... pleanty on ebay should be around the £200 mark, a second hand stihl will be farr more reliable than a brand new ryobi plus you can get spares, try getting ryobi spares!!!

Oh and personally rather than a tractor Id buy a decent profeshional brushcutter/ clearing saw, I use a Husquvarna 345RX £600 ish but worth it, I could easily strim your area in about 8 hours with it and do this sort of sized area of strimming regularly with this machine.