There is no doubt that WeedEater is a great brand, and now it is owned by Husqvarna.
George Ballas is the creator of Weed Eater. He was a famous entrepreneur in the United States. He was the first founder of the string trimmer. And he founded the Weed Eater in 1971.
Ballas had the idea to turn the trimmer while driving through an automatic car wash, where the rotating brushes gave him an idea. With a can of fishing line and an edge trimmer, he tried his idea, which worked.
After some refinements, he sought several toolmakers who rejected his invention. Let’s explore more about this brand through this article.
From where he started his journey?
The creator of Weed Eater, George Ballas, knew that a better solution for mowing the lawn will be needed if one of his co-workers is bitten by a venomous snake while cutting the grass with scissors. However, the inspiration was only properly perceived during a visit to the car wash.
In 1972, the businessman from Houston was intrigued to see the rotating bristles clean his car without damaging it. He wondered whether he could use the same principle to cut the grass around the trunks of his trees without damaging the bark.
As he ran home, he found a can of popcorn in the trash, drilled holes in it, inserted a fishing line to simulate the car wash bristles, and attached it to the press of his lawnmower. In a few seconds, the spinning lines started to cut the grass, and thus, Weed Eater was born. He knew that he had found the answer to his prayers and millions of other people.
After working with an engineer to develop the new product, Ballas created the first two models of Weed Eater, the Weedie and the Clippie. But unfortunately, Ballas could not find a company that wanted to sell its new device. This made Weed Eater a company with annual sales of $ 40 million in just a few years. In 1977, television commercials caught Weed Eater’s national attention and sales exceeded $ 80 million.
“The Weed King”, as Ballas knew, eventually sold Weed Eater to Emerson Electric Co., which later merged with Poulan and was taken over by Husqvarna in 1986. Today, the Weed Eater brand no longer only includes thread trimmers, but also comes with mowers, and blowers.
Based upon one incredibly lousy experience, I would never purchase or use any Snapper product.
I have the grim misfortune of owning a Snapper lawn mower which my future wife purchased new from a dealer in 2016. The model # is 12ALC3B3707 per a label on the mower chassis and 1696628 per the owner’s manual that came with the mower.
Said product is a total piece of crap. If OSHA and the EPA possessed any level of competence, they would order a recall of this product.
The mower has one good feature – the single lever mechanism to raise and lower the mower deck. This one feature is far outweighed by many its worthless features, among which are:
(1) The design of the grasscatcher attachment to the mower is unacceptably poor. During operation, the grasscatcher frequently falls off and becomes a tripping hazard.
NOTE: I mitigated this defect by installing a chain on the catcher and a knob on the rear discharge door (RDD). This work around is an annoyance to use but is better than the risk of injury.
(2) When “properly” mounted, there is a 1” gap between the catcher and the RDD. During the brief period that the grasscatcher remains attached to the mower, the mower throws a continuous stream of clippings and dust into the face of the operator.
NOTE: I mitigated this defect by mounting a shield on the catcher bonnet. Like the chain, this work around is an annoyance to use but is better than the risk of eye or lung injury.
(3) The mower leaves a substantial trail of clippings in its wake even when the grasscatcher bag is empty. The mower leaves more clippings than it collects after the bag is a third to half full. My old Toro is much better.
(4) The automatic start feature is a joke. One must leave it on the charger overnight to get one decent start. If the mower should stall during operation, forget autostart. One must use the pull cord.
(5) The self-propulsion feature is unacceptably poor both in terms of operation and reliability.
a. The various settings appear to regulate torque to the wheels rather than speed – to wit, a higher setting is required to provide any assistance at all on even the gentlest upward slope. On the same setting the mower takes off like a bat out of hell on level ground or on a gentle downward slope.
b. The self-propulsion feature requires frequent servicing. The lower “speed” settings essentially stop working after 3 or 4 lawn mowings.
It is no mystery to me that there are so many lawn equipment dealers in Iowa who formerly sold Snapper products but no longer do so.