Stihl FS 45
VerifiedMPN: FS4565 reviews
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I'm getting a collection of these. When they run they'll run but don't walk too far away from the house or they'll conk out. The coils are terrible quality and the best thing you can do is change the standard carb to a chinese copy straight away. I'm trying to make one good one out of three and I can't even get enough decent parts together to do… Read more
that. I have an FS131 and for the money that's not much better. Buy a different brand and have a happy life.
an absolute disaster, bought a new auto head and it is driving me nuts. Can't get the cord to wind on. Another 70 km return trip to the dealer now. I should just bin it. Giving that serious thought right now. Show details
Reviews with attachments
Remember when Sthil actually had good products.. just think about this, they have had the same line trimmer (fs45) for the same price for 10 years.. something has to give, and that is quality. Ive been a Sthil buyer for 30 years and I would not buy one of their products again.. cheaper to go to bunnings, buy the same quality junk brand, and just replace it the year after... Show details
Positive reviews
Old reliable – I’ve had mine for about 18 years. It just won’t die. Sure it’s smelly, loud, over-revs a bit but it is a great little workhorse and I really have thrashed it. I suspect from the other reviews the newer ones may have issues but I can’t fault mine. I have worn out several heads over the years but never had trouble feeding line in. YouTube is your… Read more
friend people. When feeding out I always do it manually. Bumping it during operation does tend to let too much out. I recently had a weird experience at a Stihl shop when I went in for a simple small part, trying to tell me it was going to be a massive job, begrudgingly selling me the $20 part. I’ll go to my local unbranded family mower shop next time.
Goes great and light – I had this given to me by an elderly lady for a spare and to see if i could get it going. It was her late husbands and in pretty good condition. Some fresh fuel and it fired up quite easily. I rewound the cord and it releases fine.What i love most about it, is that it is super lightweight. A very underrated feature when using a wipper snipper. Show details
A awesome Workhorse – I’ve owned my FS45 for 9 years. I bought it used. The Previous owner had used it for a half of season and was moving and no longer needed it. The unit starts on the 3rd pull every time and never fails me. I’ve used it hard while mowing and weedeating 25 yards. I Also do a lot of straight weedeating jobs using it 6 to 8 hours at a time on a… Read more
weekly basis. I replace the head an average of 4 time a year. I’m sorry to say yesterday I had to put it down after 9 wonderful years because the head quit spinning. Still runs though. I’ll miss you. I’m buying another used year old unit Saturday.
Negative reviews
Absolute trash, This wipper snipper has had problems from day one. The cord keeps snapping, ans you have to reload every five minutes. I have had clutch problems. Have taken it back to the dealer four times, tried three different cords and different sizes, and still the cord keeps snapping at the top of the head, this is so frustratin.gg . I have… Read more
contacted Stihl and was told to take it back to the dealer. Buyer beware of this company as they are greedy grubs, so I am now stuck with a rubbish wipper snipper. I have two chainsaws a ms261 and a 500i, I will be selling them and buying Huskie out of principle . I have started a small fire wood business, I will never buy Stihl again, they have lost a loyal customer. What a grubby company.
Trimmer head issues: Some users have reported that the stock AutoCut head is not ideal and can be difficult to use, with some suggesting it is "garbage". It is possible to replace it with other models, but this can be complicated with bent-shaft models.
Above is on Google. Stihl has known about this problem, and has done nothing. All I want is my money back. This company makes it do hard to get your money back, just keep going around in circles until you just give up. Terrible customer service.
Update. I have tried to ring Stihl corporate, all you get is a answering machine. Left a message, no response, why does that not surprise me. What a disgraceful company. All I want is my money back so I can buy a trimmer that actually works.
Be very careful buying anything from Stihl, if you have any defects in there products they make you go around in circles and ignore you, no customer service what so ever. Going to try and sell back to the dealer. Or through it away as it is useless. Should have bought a echo or Honda like I was advised, ever disappointed. Stihl won't last if they keep ripping people off.
Waste of money. I will never buy another Stihl product after owning this piece of trash. Never started properly since new. Start it with the choke on and it immediately dies. Turn the choke off then have to pull the start cord another 4-5 times while holding the trigger for it to start. Never ran solidly. Felt like it was always missing. The… Read more
weight balance is such that you can't adjust the handle to balance it properly so you end up with a sore shoulder and sore neck after half an hour. The line feed mechanism never works so I have to carry a pair of pliers around to extract the line every time a piece breaks off. Tapping it on the ground never feeds the line like it's supposed to do. Here's the clincher--you have take the whole damn thing apart just to remove the spark plug because there's not enough clearance around the plug on the shroud to get a socket wrench around the plug! Are you freaking kidding me??? Seriously Stihl. Who did you hire to design this piece or rubbish? Now, just today I went out to use it and it won't even start at all. Fresh petrol, proper 2-strok mix, clean air filter, etc. That's it for me. Never Stihl again! TOTAL RUBBISH.
DONT BUY STIHL – Its really good, for about 19 seconds, and then the wire gets retracted in the reel. Ask stihl for help, hahaha don't be stupid, its been used maybe 3 times, for total of 10 minutes. Which has equated to about 4 hours of me reinsterting line for every 2 minutes of use. No help, crap product. Show details
Recent reviews
Mine is an absolute saint. It goes like a trash out of a shanghai and will smash through anything. Like everyone else here the head had teething problems but only because I didn't understand how to feed line into it properly so it wouldn't feed any line out when I bumped the head. I also put line on that was too heavy because I got sick of the… Read more
trash 2ml line that came with it snapping all the time and the head melted and stuck together. my local stihl shop where I got it put a new head on it and didn't charge me and they gave me 2.4ml line and said this is the only line you should use on these and they showed me how to spool the new head properly.
Since then I haven't had a single problem with it besides the spark arrestor getting clogged up a few times but I know how to fix that no worries. My stihl fs45 is a saint. I use it all the time and it has plenty of grunt in it. It does everything from getting bits of grass the mower can't get to knocking down mountains of tall thick grass. It doesn't care. It does struggle a bit because it isn't as powerful as stihl's commercial grade whipper snippers but it still gets the job done very easily. I have owned it for 2 and a half years now and I love it to bits.
If you are thinking of buying one of these make sure you understand how to start it properly, make sure you know how the mowing head works and how to spool it properly and make sure you get 2.4ml line for it instead of the standard 2ml line. you will have so much fun using it if you do these 3 things. with the 2.4ml line it will get through more grass and be more powerful and trust me and it will go like a cut cat.
Another great thing about it is that it is very light compared to a straight shaft model such as the fs55r. this one is easier on the back because of the curved shaft and less weight. If you have a crook back the fs45 is perfect. you can also get one with an easy start feature (fs45c) in case your shoulder is knackered too.
Horrible is a compliment – I have had this model for a few months, however only tried using it for second time. Horrible is a compliment. I would achieve a better result cutting my edges with a butter knife. Will not run at full throttle. Can not get the bump head to feed line through. And the cord itself is weak. a tuft of buffalo grass is causing the cord to break off. I… Read more
highly recommed against purchasing this terrible product. I had heard good things about stihl, however it might be wise for me to buy something else.
No warranty! – Mother in law bought a fs45 ,used it twice and the nut that engages the trimmer head broke loose from the shaft. Took it to the local stihl dealer and they said yep we have seen that problem before but would not warranty the part even though weedeater was still new. Emailed stihl about the problem and they said no warranty so i said ill just buy… Read more
the part itself but what i didnt know is you cant but that part separately so i had to pay 90.00 for the complete tube assembly all the way to the motor, what damn junk.
Absolute rubbish – Do yourself a really big favour and keep away from this trimmer it is absolute rubbish the cord breaks every metre or so . I wish I had of done my research on this model before I purchased it because it seems to be in ongoing problem from the other reviews that I read so if you want to live with misery go ahead and buy one Show details
Find out how Stihl FS 45 compares to other Petrol Whipper Snippers
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junk product – It has all been said in previous reviews. More fool me. Went in looking for a head replacement, opted for this piece of junk. Does not run smoothly and feed is always breaking inside the head. Also very unwieldy when trying to maintain even throttle. Bogs down then high revs. Should have been a product recall. Goodbye Stihl. Show details
It just doesn’t feed line – It’s powerful enough but I struggled with the line. I returned it three times to shop and they fitted line but no success. Now I unscrew the head wind some line through and hope it lasts the time I need. Often I have to redo that more than once. I am saving up for something else. If I could get a new head that worked the motor good. So annoying because I brought my son one too same problem. Show details
Cannot complain – I've used these for years and used them for hundreds of hours on a rural property on a recurring weed problem each season. I've run them for hours on end and never had a problem. The negative reviews here therefore perplex me. Maybe a combination of the operators, bad fuel/fuel mixes and lack of maintenance ? Show details
Was not a good purchase – Bought this as an upgrade from a Bunnings brand line trimmer. After two uses struggling to keep it running I took it back. I was told to leave it with the suppliers. A few days later I was told I had run old fuel through it. The fuel was purchased the same day as the line trimmer but I was willing to accept it. Bought fresh petrol and it ran well… Read more
for one use and ran poorly again after that. I have ascertained I need to buy 500ml of fresh fuel every time, fill the tank and discard the rest if I want to keep this machine running. It went on the hard rubbish after three or four months.
This is an expensive, poorly engineered toy - do not buy this product – I bought this to replace a Ryobi that I had had for about 10 years. I have other Stihl products (combi) which are fantastic, which is why I trusted that the FS45 would be high quality as well, however... The line breaks repeatedly and sometimes melts together inside the head, Rewinding is not simple and is a frustrating interruption to what… Read more
should be a simple task Worst of all, it doesn't start easily, but when it does get started, it will not rev properly after about 5 minutes of use.
I have taken this back to the dealer for assistance (GYC Castle Hill) to be fobbed off and told that I am using it incorrectly. It is a whipper snipper, not a space shuttle. I've also had a few line trimmers in my time, and they aren't that difficult to work out.
I will try and get this fixed through GYC again because it was made plan to me that a refund would not be offered. It is too expensive to throw away, though I am very reluctant to throw good money after bad.
It is junk and I can only assume that Stihl have chosen to get some VERY cheap OEM manufacturer to build this to fill a spot in their product range. This is not worthy of the Stihl brand, and the company should be ashamed to but their name on this poorly made, ineffective, unreliable, flimsy toy.
Worst whipper snipper I have ever used – Putting new cord in is a nightmare, not as easy as the sales pitch that was given. Cord breaks often, and most of the time at the inside of the hole so have to pull head apart every time to re thread it. Then a nightmare to screw back on. Will not even look at another Stihl product. Waste of money. Show details
Whipper snipper – Had for more than10yrs hasn’t missed a beat ,just took the fuel primer off today for replacement.,if you don’t want the line to break use thicker line and just one strand Show details
Absolute Rubbish – When starting machine it is hard and rough pulling the cord, not smooth and clean, lets be real this is a tiny new machine not an old large 2stroke, multiple pulls are required even when it has been running and you have stopped. Line trimmer head is totally useless, you spend all of your time re-feeding line at trimmer head, line snaps off at head, line is to small and fragile especially if you buy it with a stihl brand on the package. Show details
waste of money – what a terrible terrible product. do not waste your buy something else. the line feed doesn't work it just keeps breaking the cord inside the head so you spend more taking it apart to replace the line .had it back to the shop said it is working ok, take it home use it for two minutes and it does it again. so take it all apart again. wish i had never brought it.listen to what everyone is saying on here Show details
Find out how Stihl FS 45 compares to other Petrol Whipper Snippers
Know better, choose better.
Shocker... read the reviews and don't buy it – Terrible product. Engine runs fast and slow so you can't get a consistent speed. The line feed head and internal mechanics are complete rubbish. Keeps getting jammed and seems to go through way to much chord each time it is used. I spent way more time fiddling around with the chord than I actually did trimming the grass itself. I thought Stihl was… Read more
a good brand so didn't bother checking first but turns out it is complete rubbish. You have been warned.
Do not purchase - epic fail for trimmer – Thought I'd spend extra for quality so wife could use if she so desire. The only product I have ever not reviewed first prior to purchase, what a mistake! Never make that mistake again. Never by Stihl again. From day one, even I struggle to keep this thing running & I've been mechanically minded my whole life. I haven't touched mechanics on… Read more
this myself because I spent extra so I wouldn't have too. Took it back to Stihl dealer after first use. I said it struggled to stay running at mid revs. They start it, disregarded my concerns by running at complete full revs and said nothing wrong with it. I had to explain over again. They claim not made to run at any other revs but full. How stupid is that. Could have bought a cheap $99 Bunnings Homelite like last time & been 110% more satisfied as they can work fine at any rev. Anyway, dealer claimed they tweaked the settings & that it should be better. Not at all. I can't get through our front yard without the revs bogging down constantly. It gets super hot as well & my hands tingle even after short use. Owned since late December 2020 & it's now February 2021. Try to use 4 times now & every time has failed to get through without major issues. Have to let cool down after every ten minutes of use as after about 10, the bogging down is insane, even with less than 120mm of line as recommended. This trimmer does not meet consumer expectations if all Stihl FS45 trimmers run like mine & should be entitled to a refund.
Not Happy – I bought the FS45 a year ago and used it only in my garden 1.5hrs every 2 weeks and now the handle broke off which apparently is not being replaced under warranty and will cost $50 to replace. Having to buy a replacement handle every year sounds to me like a massive design flaw. Additionally, the head mechanism is user unfriendly and needs to be replaced immediately. Show details
Horrible quality – It's always been hard to start, sometimes the line doesn't feed, had it serviced twice in 12 months as it just wouldn't start, now has the same issue, so it's going. I thought Stihl was a good brand, but not worth the hassle to try it again. Show details
Poor Stihl quality and dealer support – This Stihl FS45 model whipper snipper is the worst garden maintenance product I have owned. It is difficult to start and impossible to regulate the engine speed via the throttle, it either stalls on application of throttle or races. It was purchased from Cannings 4.5 years ago and has never run properly since the day it was brought home. I would… Read more
never recommend Stihl products, and would actively dissuade anyone who may be considering their product range from doing so. Whilst is was cheap to buy, one is entitled to believe it will have a relatively short service life, but a reliable one for that period. At this time, this product meets neither criteria. In short, I am staggered Stihl would risk their name on a product of such inferior quality. I also own a Stihl FS74 purchased about 30 years ago that runs well, except for when your service agent gets hold of it.
Another Quality Stihl Product – Easy to start and fairly lightweight. The bump head is awful, but line trimmers in general are awful. Stihl should really have a replaceable wedge type fixed cutting line they are much stronger and easy to change I changed to a Sabre Cut 3 blade head and love it Show details
Do not buy – These used to be one of the best trimers going right to when the idiots change the bump line advance head, now with the new head on it i consider it to be the biggest piece of crap you can buy. Never will i buy another Stihl product. Show details
Absolute abomination of a device – I had an FS45 for years prior to it finally packing it in. The Stijl shop said it would be almost the same price to buy a new one so I did. What a mistake. The new style of head on it is a piece of garbage. Used for 30 seconds, and then the cord disappears back into the head. Dismantle the whole thing, and go through the same thing over and over.… Read more
So I took it back, they said nothing was wrong with it. Kept happening, took it back again, they replaced the head. Now same thing is happening again. Clearly there is something wrong with this design and how it works. Avoid at all costs until they fix this issue.
Useless – This thing is a pain in butt Has been back for repairs twice because it wouldn't start. And the head is the most annoying whipper snipper head iv ever used. Doesn't feed properly, will spit the hole line out. Just doing a backyard you to stop like 10 times to fiddle with the head to get line to come out. Spent the extra coin on this because I had a cheap on before, this one is worse then the cheap Chinese one I had.. Show details
I wish I could turn back time, I got “stihl’d”, oh how I wish I could turn back time! – I’m just wondering with all the comments that it SIMPLY DOES NOT START, whether comments are not from stihl employees! Nylon winding is also a problem its just a machine that is just not easy, reliable and simple as it implies. It’s not at all truthful, It should simply be impeached! Show details
Doesn't start easily - which is what I paid extra for – Simply does not start easily. Should not have paid the extra for easy start as I can start a normal mower no problem. Was talked into it. Not happy that it doesn't start at all. Waste of money. It cuts ok once it is started, but too much of a hassle. Would have been better off buying a crappy model.
Crap, crap, crap – State facts...lol you still won't believe me when I tell you the product U sold me had played up from the the day I bought it brand new. Cause I'm aboriginal (white Aussies think some of us are dumb ) people claimed it needed to run in the rings cause it was brand new....well 4 to 5 years later, it stihl plays up. To me it seems it's not getting… Read more
fuel properly cause when I pump the fuel plunger it revs back up. So yeah...I thought stihl was a good brand but it's just another crap product I've....again wasted money on. So I'll be trying Honda next, I'm too scared to buy and waste money on stihl again. Crap crap crap. Don't waste your money
Extended warranty is false advertising. BEWARE – FREIND GOT extended warranty. NOT AVAILABLE FOR ME .SUX sux sux Show details
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Finally I gave up and gave it back to GYC. I didn’t bother asking for a refund or exchange, I just… Read more