26cc string trimmer

I bought this back in may. I loaned my excellent 60 volt powerworks trimmer to a freind for the summer and decided to try a 2 stroke gas trimmer out. The 1st one i got worked well till it got hot then it would conk out and could not be restarted. I contacted wild badger via their web site support ticketing system. This was on a thursday and I got a response in minutes. They sent out, over night, a carb adjusting tool. no bueuno. They then promptly sent me another trimmer. They didn't even ask for a CC or anything just sent one out. The new unit works flawlessly infact i just came back in from doing the lawn a little while ago, and the wild badger chewed through everything like, well, a badger. when i sent my old unit back i asked to buy the lower shaft off of it so i could swap between brush cutting and trimming without needing tools. They said no they wouldn't take my money I could just keep what I wanted off it and I did. The line it came with was ok but i changed it out to Max Power Twisted in the .095 size. Max power line improves any trimmer you use it. I also use the VP 50/40:1 pre mix gas in it. its expensive but the WB starts in 3 pulls sometimes just 2. Fuel consumption is really low on this thing. I started this morning with 1/2 a tank and only used 1/2 of that so a quarter tank was used. The unit is fairly quiet for a gas string trimmer, easy to load trimmer line, doesn't leave your hands numb from vibration, its really easy to start, reasonably powerful, and pretty in expensive to buy. Its a much much better buy than a big box store homelite or ryobi this company really stands behind their product. they also stock spare parts on their website for these and the parts are VERY inexpensive. but the ultimate praise is would you buy it again? the answer is yes. I gotta call monday from a freind fed up with his ryobi 40v batteries dying and he says to me "i'm going back to 2 stroke what was the name of that weed whacker you bought and like so much?" this was the guy who told me I was going backwards buying this trimmer..... ......his gets delivered today 7/22/2021. update: it started on the 3rd pull today and I was fast enough to get the choke off it stayed running. so no burp, just yank yank yank brrrrrrr running. ran it for a solid 30 min this morning ran it hard too trimming my swell and some brush growing next door and it ran flawless used maybe 1/3 of a tank of gas. my freind who bought one he's using a 90 octane wawa ethanol free and opti 2 oil and says its the easiest starting 2 stroke he's ever owned. edit: So after not running my wbp26bci for like 2 months I dug it out to knock down the weeds today....... ........and I will be absolute DAMNED. I have not run it in 6-8 weeks and it popped on the 1st pull. if i had been quick on the choke it might have even just started on that pull. put it to 1/2 choke pulled again and it was running. ran it for 30 minutes and other than while edging it died because it was almost out of gas, it ran flawlessly. Best piece of lawn equipment I've ever owned by far electric or gas!

I don't think you will find a better deal on a Bush cutter. I thought I wanted to an Echo bush cutter since my Echo string trimmer has been so reliable but at nearly $600 and with a significantly smaller motor home depot cured me of that. My experiences so far are as follows: I have a commercial lot that I have to maintain to certain level to avoid citations that has several areas that have deep rusts or old hidden stumps I dare not venture with my mower and my string trimmer constantly gets weeds wrapped around the spindle which need to be cleared and needs an adapter for brush clearing blades which is a hassle getting the right components so I decided to buy the right tool for the job. First attempt I loaded up and as a precaution I tried to start it and made many attempts to start it following the supplied instructions but was unsuccessful and wasted an evening thinking it must be old gas which ran fine on my string trimmer. Apparently there are 2 sets of starting instructions, the one that comes in the box and one online here. The next time I tried to start it days later according to the online instructions i started it without issue. Mine however does not or has yet to start on 2nd pull as it claims and is actually almost difficult to start cold. I am using it strictly as a brush cutter and have used 3 different style blades. The supplied blade does an ok job however the guard needs to be removed or modified as mine has been to make it of any use because the curve of the guard goes down so far it hits the groud several inches below the blade not allowing a very close cut at all. This can be remedy with a heat gun or torch bending the guard upwards as in the attached photo. I can't speak to the level of safety this modification provides but any guard is better than no guard. The circular saw blades work good but with those the fewer teeth the better and buy a heavy or thick one. The kind I used are a bit flimsy since the first collision with an unseen obstacle warped it beyond any quick fix I could make. I next tried the blade with the chainsaw teeth,, a 2 pack cost about what a 3 pack of the flimsy blades did, and it cuts like a dream in open areas but forget about edging or string trimmer work. I cut through thickets without effort and at times when weeds would seem to be wrapped around the blade and spindle which would need to be manually cleared before, only required the application of throttle and a brief shaking to sling it off and work resumes. I also cut a few oak tree branches, the largest cut was 4 to 5 inches and it handled it with ease doing the work of a pole saw. You will need a harness of some type, and adjusting the handle bars to your preference will take some time but easy to do. The supplied harness is not good quality and I bit and bought the Amazon recommended harness which is slightly better garbage than the supplied harness and didn't last an entire session before requiring some in field repairs. I bought a much simpler, better padded over the shoulder type of sling and found it performs as well or better and far less complicated and cost the same $15 as the harness that the front clasp kept separating on although was not overly tightened or under stress and has a quick disconnect that is a joke and far more dangerous than not having a quick disconnect at all. So forger about the quick start, buy a chainsaw tooth blade And a padded sling you will have a powerful brush clearing, limb cutting inexpensive beast in your tool arsenal.

It seems that Wild Badger no longer stands behind the product, as some reviews state. I could not find any type of “online ticketing system” for customer issues. My options were to call or email customer service. I purchased the 52cc 2 months ago. I used it once with the blade. It took over an hour to get it started. When it finally did, the blade was OK. Not amazing but seemed to get the job done. I followed the directions to switch to the trimmer head. The directions online and the directions on YouTube were not specific. They simply stated I should remove the blade and “flange” and screw on the trimmer head, which I did. When I turned it on, the trimmer head did not rotate. So, I tried to remove it and see if I did something wrong. The head would not come back off. I tried for days to remove that head and finally contacted the customer service via email. I received a response about 24 hours later. They were able to tell me, just from my description that I attached the head without the “spacer/washer” in place. I reread through the instructions I had and found no mention of that anywhere. I am not mechanically inclined which is why I closely follow instructions. Had those instructions been there, i would not have the issue I have. They told me to buy a new lower shaft and spool. When I responded and pointed out that the instructions were not clear and this appears to be a common issue, the response was “hopefully you can uninstall the attachment”. I could not get the head removed and, in fact, the metal on the head began to easily chip away. So, I ordered the piece as instructed. Had to pay an extra $10 for shipping. It has been 5 days since I placed the order and according to the tracking website, it still hasn’t even left the warehouse so…so much for overnight shipping and all of that. I think that great customer service review is likely untrue and paid for or they got rid of that department. My experience has been very disappointing and I do not recommend purchasing if you need clear instructions and prompt customer service.

Just got this and have used it once. It was easy to assemble fuel and start. The pluses are that it seems to have plenty of power. it never bogged down and will do most of the cutting at about half throttle. The trimmer line that came with it is pretty tough stuff. it was way better than expected and i will need to find more of it soon. I would say this trimmer is leaning more to the commercial side of things. The cons of the machine are as follows. It is a big machine. thus it weighs a lot. however it dose come with a body harness to carry the weight on your shoulders. That's good, but getting into the monkey suit of a harness is a pain in the butt, then getting out to adjust the straps, then getting back in to see if the adjustments were right. then back in and out several time until it was right took longer than putting it together and trimming the yard and getting gas at the store for it. One would think that I would be a pro at getting in and out of the thing, but I bet next week when its time to break out the trimmer i will have to learn all over again how to get into it. I might just make my own of a different design. This is a big machine with plenty of power. I have a half acre to maintain and this thing is a bit to big for my taste. Its twice of the size of the trimmer it replaced. So if you have an average size yard and spend less than 15 minutes a week weed eating. I would get something smaller for sure. If you do landscape maintenance quite a bit or need to chew your way through heavy weeds and small brush then this may be just your ticket. Just good luck getting into the harness.

Great product! When I got the box, it was heavy, but then, you aren’t going to be lifting this thing during use. It’s got a harness system for that, and it’s wicked comfortable! In fact, I’ll get the only negative out of the way right now. The instructions that come in the box leave something to be desired. The cord for the controller isn’t depicted and there is no instruction for how to route it on the device when you assemble the handles. That said, a little common sense know how goes a long way if you’re in possession of that sort of thing. I’m in IT, so this stuff isn’t really in my common sense wheelhouse. So from some who has, as one of their primary functions, the job of writing instruction sets, I feel qualified in saying these instructions were… meh. There was a single picture of the harness for the thing, and it mostly spent time on the quick release safety feature (which is wicked cool and works fantastic). But I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to figure out how to get it together and put it on. Eventually I had the wife come over to help me and in 17.5 second she had it on me perfectly. So naturally instead of thanking her, I gave a proper cussing for not taking longer and protecting me ego. She just laughed at me and so I had to play it off like I was joking. But whatever. The harness system itself was fantastic (once properly worn and fitted). The whole unit weighs a good bit, but you’ll never notice it when it’s hooked up to this shoulder harness. And the power of the thing. We got the 25cc version (the larger of the two models) and honestly it’s the best $180 I’ve spent on tools! It comes with the string and a blade head (with a nice, easy to use blade guard for storage. The blade attachment comes about as sharp as a marble, but it’s nothing a proper sharpening wouldn’t fix. I used it straight up out of the box just to test and WOW! The power of the thing was blasting down 2” thick chunks of brush easily. Pretty sure it could have done even thicker, but I didn’t feel like trying chainsaw lumber with it just to test. Can’t imagine how good the thing will work when properly sharpened! The whole thing rests comfortably while using. Easy to swing around and you can go for days with it, I’m sure. Eager to try it, I didn’t put on any gloves as I (and any sane person) would normally do. Wasn’t a problem at all! A few minute test turned into an hour of getting carried away and only then did I start thinking I should have worn gloves to protect from blisters. I never did get blisters, and even though the unit is indeed that comfortable to use, I would still recommend using gloves. Anyway, great product! I’m very happy with it and highly recommend it! (And yes, of course I was joking with the wife. Don’t be ridiculous!)

I bought this Gas Weed Whacker 2 years ago this month. May 2024. I was skeptical that it would last more than a year or 2 from the use i would give it. I was wrong. Got it going for the first time this season and took 30 seconds to get it started. 20 minutes later I was whacking away. Gave it a good workout. Used it extensively in 24 and 25. Plan to this season too. My only gripe is concerning restringing it. Such a pain but that is my problem. I deal with it. Worth the money in my opinion. If you do buy this, i suggest a face protector of some kind.

I have no idea what the bad reviews are for, I just finished cutting ~1.5 acres at our cabin that was grown up quite a bit having not been cut since the end of last year. Roughly 10 solid hours of running and 1.5 gallons of VP premix through it on rocky / weedy terrain with with some Oregon heavy duty string and it never missed a beat. A couple of things from the bad reviews - Leaks / you can cross thread the gas cap, but it is easy to tell that it gets tight way too soon, make sure it spins easily for a couple of threads before it gets tight and it will not leak. Hard to rewind / I did not find this at all, I was carrying precut lengths of spare line in my pocket and was able to rewind in minutes when needed. Instructions / they were not the best, but everything is in there if you pay attention, even how to attach the brush blade safely (someone said it was dangerous, again, just look closely at the instructions...). And as for broken pieces, none on mine so far! I was so impressed with this unit that I ordered a backpack blower from the same manufacture.

This is seems like a pretty good weedwhacker. I haven't used it a bunch yet so cant say what it's long term reliability is like but the engine has ran good so far. A few things I don't like. It is pretty heavy. A big part of that is related to it being a multi purpose tool. Because one of it's attachments is a pole saw the shaft needs to be hefty. That's where a lot of the weight comes from. I have an issue with my upper back and shoulders and with the included harness it was absolutely un useable for me. The harness that came with it combined with the weight was super uncomfortable. I couldn't use it any length of time much less an hour or two. I was thinking I would need to return it. I then read that it's not a returnable item. I hadn't even put gas in it had just put it on. Thanks people that would try to return something like this full of gas... Anyway I looked for an aftermarket harness and tried a couple. Once I had a decent harness for it even with my back/shoulder issues it was no longer totally unusable. Another thing the head seems to be made for different types of things like a brush blade. There is a spacer and it's such that it should use the string head without the spacer. When it's without the spacer it makes it so the gap between the head and the output flange has a very small gap (which is what you want so that long grass and stuff doesn't get tangled in the gap) when I ran it like that it seized the head. It was quite difficult to break it loose. Once I did and added the spacer back the gap there behind the head is quite big and get's long particularly wet grass caught. That means stopping pulling it out so the head can spin. Now this can be an issue with even quality Sthil Commercial grade trimmers so it's not a deal breaker at this point. I'm pretty sure I could fix it with a thinner shim or something which I'll probably do. So those are really the only things. I think it should include a better harness and the head gap needs figured out. Minus one star for each of those issues otherwise it would get five from me.

good

The blade attachment causes extreme vibration. I am of normal height, weight and strength, and was not able to control it. The vibration caused the trigger to burn my hand through heavy gloves, caused grease to leak from the attachment head and caused the pin that holds the shaft together to come out after mere seconds. Had that gone unnoticed, the blade and lower portion of the shaft could have easily gone flying to kill or maim someone. Not just crap, but wildly dangerous crap. The seller refuses to issue a refund, saying that I have to return the item first, but neither Amazon nor any other shipping company will accept items that have held fuel. This essentially equates to refusing to provide a refund for a defective product. Amazon's automated response is telling me that I am not eligible for an A to Z refund because I have to contact the seller, which I did four days ago, with him giving me a nonsensical response. I am disgusted with the product, the seller and Amazon. Stay safe, stay away from the Wild Badger trimmer!

I own a lawncare company and I need my machines to work 100%. The only reason this trimmer got a one star is because it comes with detachable shaft. Other wise this trimmer dies out when it gets hot and I have trouble starting it back up. I only had it for a couple of weeks and it's a contestant problem. It came to a point that if I didn't have a backup trimmer I would have lost out a lot of money. And the funny part is that I was hoping to make this my go to company. But definitely not anymore. Sad to say. I really did have high hopes. Don't buy. Save your money.