Customer Reviews: Read 47 more reviews...
 GOOD BUY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I OWN 7 JUST LIKE THIS ONE February 17, 2008
HYATT (CENTRALHATCHEE)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
I OWN A SMALL LANDSCPING SERVICE AND I ALWAYS KEEP 2 OR 3 EXTRA TRIMMERS FOR REPLACEMENT ON THE SITE. I HAVE USED MOST ALL BRAND NAME COMMERCIAL TRIMMERS AND HAVE FOUND THAT THE STRAIGHT SHAFT RYOBI WORKS BETTER FOR ME BECAUSE OF THE COST.... I CAN BUY 5 OF THESE FOR THE PRICE OF 1 COMMERCIAL TRIMMER. THE RYOBI'S ARE TOUGH AND WE USE THEM HARD. WE USE A LARGER STRING THAN WHAT IS RECOMMENED, BUT THE LARGE 30CC ENGINE CAN HANDLE IT W/ EASE....GREAT BUY FOR THIS TRIMMER... BY THE WAY THE FACTORY RECONDITIONED TRIMMER LOOKS AND WORK LIKE A BRAND NEW ONE...SO DONT WORRY ABOUT THAT!
 Good Power Plant for Attachments April 27, 2008
Publius Rex
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
I am going to write this review to cover several items, and just duplicate it to all the items involved. The items are the reconditioned Ryobi 30 cc straight shaft tiller, the Expand-It Tiller attachment, the Expand-It Edger attachment. The stars and titles, though are for the item it is attached to.
The Expand-It attachments are made by Homelite. I'm not a Homelite fan, but why this was apparently avoided in the descriptions is beyond me. This having been said, they appear to be at least as capable as their more-famous competitor brands.
Factory Reconditioned Ryobi 18-Inch 30cc 1 HP Gas Powered Striaght Shaft String Trimmer (Non-CARB Compliant) #ZR30002
Factory-Reconditioned Expand-It Tiller Attachment for String Trimmers #ZR15521
Factory Reconditioned Expand-It Edger Attachment For String Trimmers #ZR15518
The Ryobi reconditioned power unit for these units is more than adequate for all the tasks involved. Using the straight shaft Ryobi power unit, though can be a little tough. "Reconditioned" means some surface imperfections. I could see no sign of the power plant itself ever having been used. I opened the gas tank and sniffed inside, and could detect no smell of gas, so I believe this was purchased and returned unused or possibly was a display model. Regardless, I believe I got a new unit for a less than new price. You may or may not be as lucky.
The handle that comes with the Ryobi mounts with zero friction surfaces. The wingnuts used to tighten the handle go on a smooth metal bracket that attaches to a smooth plastic backer, around a smooth, painted metal shaft. I added some shelf-liner (the rubber, non-stick type) inside the bracket, then really cranked down on the wingnuts, which helped the situation with the edger and trimmer. More on the cultivator, later.
The power plant started easily by following the instructions. It uses a 50:7 gas:oil mixture, so make sure you have the proper fuel on hand. I primed it seven times by pushing the rubber bulb, pulled the handle two or three times in the full choke position, put the choke to the half-choke position, pulled two more times, and it started. All that I've mentioned to this point is in the instructions. What follows is my own advice: You need to hold the "run trigger" to make it start easily, but this causes the attachment to start rotating immediately, so you then must quickly release the trigger. It takes a slight bit of coordination, but it is easier than starting it without holding the trigger.
The edger works very well. Our yard has apparently never been truly edged. The previous owners were of the "good enough" variety, and probably rarely cut the lawn, much less edged it. The current lawn crew only uses a string trimmer to give an edged appearance. The Expand-It edger tore into the soil easily and left a neat line. I've not finished all of the edging yet, but it appears to work well, and I anticipate no problems.
The String trimmer worked well-enough for the first few feet. I was sent the wrong cut-off attachment, but Amazon was phenomenal in their response. I sent an email around 10:00 pm the night I received the unit with the curved-shaft cut-off/guard unit instead of the straight-shaft line cutter-guard. When I woke up, the reply from Amazon was in my email, and a replacement for the incorrect unit had been shipped by that evening, which was a Saturday. I expect to receive it within two days, which is three days after the original unit arrived. All in all, I didn't buy the unit for the trimmer, anyway, but for the few feet I could do without new line, it worked quite well. I don't expect any problems with the new cut off unit or the trimmer.
The cultivator is NOT for the weak of arm or back. I am over 6 feet tall, fairly athletic, and weigh over 200 pounds. I worked some virgin soil, hard-packed, with roots and rocks. I did about 8 feet by 25 or 30 feet in two to three hours. The cultivator requires a LOT of muscle. If you hit a small rock, it will just toss it forward. Large rocks require stopping and removal, which is to be expected. Smaller tree roots are cut right through, but larger roots cause the unit to buck upward with a lot of force. It is easiest to work the unit down into the soil by pulling it toward you as you push down. There is not enough weight in the cultivator to be of much help. All in all, I'd prefer more weight to help me push down on the working end, even if it means the unit is harder to get into position to use it.
There is no good place to put the handle to use the cultivator. Even with my added friction pad (rubber shelf liner), the handle continued to twist around, only to be re-adjusted several times. It works better with the shelf liner, but still doesn't stand up to the work required. I was using this unit probably to the extent it can be expected to work, so this was really more of a minor inconvenience. I was typically stopping to catch my breath anyway, and re-adjusting the handle was just one of the things I could do while catching a quick rest. You'll need to stop fairly often unless you're some kind of tri-athlete.
I hit a rock that got wedged between the tines and the guard. This caused the unit to lock up. Once I freed up the rock by literally breaking it out with a hammer, the unit went right back into operation none the worse for the wear. I find this torque-overload-shutdown to be very worthwhile. The power plant continued to operate. I do not know if the power plant or the cultivator is responsible for the shutdown, but since no damage was done to either unit, I was quite happy with both of them.
Changing attachments is done by hand, and takes literally less than a minute. About the only thing you could possibly do wrong is force the unit into place without the small square drive-shaft lining up. As this free-wheels easily, just slipping the unit back an inch or two and re-inserting it is all you need to do to re-align the new attachment. Then you hand-tighten and you're on your way.
Pros: Power plant, edger, tiller, and trimmer do the job well. Holds up well, and has plenty of power. Multiple tools for the price of a single unit is a real plus.
Cons: Handle needs some kind of friction increasing device (splines, pads, etc.). Cultivator/tiller is too light, requiring you to use arm strength to get it to bite better into hard soil. There is no good place to put the handle for balance for all types of units.
Product is a advertised - Works OK March 30, 2008
bigdog texan (Houston, TX)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
The product arrived in good condition and appears to be a store sample with minor scratches on labels on the shaft with previous attachment of the handle.
Assembly was easy and all parts were included. It stared after 3-4 pulls on the starter rope after priming as per the instructions. Runs great. I have about 30 minutes total run time to date. Would purchase this product again if needed.
Great Value April 16, 2008
stuston (Middle GA, USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I was very pleased with the value of this trimmer. It ran great right out of the box. My only issue is that there isn't much line included, and it came loose one time and I had to stop to remove and reassemble the entire bobbin. I found the forward loop handle to be a bit too small to easily balance and manuver the head, especially since a sholder/neck strap was not included. After some practice, I got the hang of it, but I will be looking for a strap to add.
The Expand-It system promises to make this even more of a great value.
No issues with the reconditioned product, simply came in a brown box and has a "RECON" stamp in the plastic.
 Reconditioned Ryobi Gas Powered Trimmer May 25, 2008
E. Allen (San Diego, CA)
4 out of 15 found this review helpful
This is easily the worst product I have ever purchased. One huge piece of junk. Shame on Ryobi for making it and shame on Amazon for selling it. Today is May 25th, and the product was ordered April 16th and giving 5 days for shipping, I am just over the 30 days. Shame on me for keeping it to see if I could make this product work. I should have known reconditioned products was somebody else's mistake. By looking at the return policy, Amazon offers that I can now sell it on Amazon, but who would want to buy this junk? Over the past two years, I have easily spent over $1,000's on products through Amazon and have been mostly satisfied until now. I called and Amazon told me that since I had this product 2 days over the 30 that I would not only have to pay for the shipping back, but they would keep 20-50% of what the item cost me for restocking($90). Rest assure I will not buy from Amazon again and I am appalled that you would suggest that I sell this junk that you won't accept back for a full refund. I would like you to remove my email address and name from your listing as a client.
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