If you’re a loyal HomeFixated reader, you may know that I’m from the extremely awesome, amazing and humble country of Canada. You can imagine that it feels a little funny for me to be reviewing a hedge and grass trimmer in January. My current concerns have more to do with salt stains on jeans and plugging the car in (anyone who hasn’t lived in a northern climate officially has no idea what I’m talking about).
I have to remind myself that some of you live in places that aren’t affected by the drastically changing seasons and that lawn care is still a relevant issue for you (unless you’re in Antarctica). Should you be one of those jerks who is able to go outside without mittens right now, my jealousy is at least comforted that you have yard work to do while I sit indoors free to watch all the Jersey Shore I want. Luckily for you, though, you can now do a lot of outdoor chores more safely thanks to the Lehr Propane Trimmer.
Because propane canisters now coming in cute baby sizes, more and more yard tools that would normally run on oil and gasoline are being remodelled. The benefit of propane is that it’s cleaner to use, gives off less emissions and is safer for the handler.
The Lehr Propane Trimmer (which is also sold in some stores as the Craftsman Propane Line Trimmer powered by Lehr) features a 4-cycle engine that runs off a 6.4-oz. propane tank. This tank will give you about two hours of grass trimming, weed wacking and hedge shaving power. A “Twist ‘n Go fuel system” lets you swap out propane canisters easily and safely. As for the job it does – this trimmer has a bump-feed cutting head (in this model, the string gets used fairly effectively – less waste!) and it provides a 17” cutting width.
You don’t have to take our word for it – Popular Mechanics listed it as one of its 10 Breakthrough Products of 2009. Not too shabby!
The Lehr Propane Trimmer — Straight Shaft, 0.095in. Cutting Line, 17in. Dia. Cutting Area, Model# ST025DS is available at Northern Tool for $249.99.
They do make a power-head model that accepts attachments so you could throw the power broom on the end and go clear some snow from small sidewalks or something… with mittens on. It looks to have a very similar coupler as the Echo power-heads.
http://www.golehr.com/products.shtml#1
Winter is not so bad, it gives us northerners a reason to wear our tuque and jersey to work for 4 months.