Giving My Thoughts on Honda hht25/hht35 Trimmers

[Skeezix]

I'll add my .02 and resurrect an old thread. My 12 year old Stihl FS 55R finally died 2 weeks ago, so I purchased the HHT25 last week and have about 1.5 hours of run time on it so far. I chose this machine based on my past experience with Honda (cars, mower, generators, snowblower, etc). Below are some thought for anyone considering this machine:

Positives:
-Super easy to start
-Very quiet
-Feel lighter than the specs suggest
-Tons of power at half throttle
-No 2-cycle mix needed

Negatives:
-Very expensive
-Hesitates/sputters when mashing the throttle from idle and when running wide open (this may get better with more engine run time)
-Potential lack of support as Honda dealers in my area claim to never have sold an HHT trimmer

I will be monitoring the sputtering/hesitation issue closely and will post results here.

-Skeezix

Quick update: the throttle/top end issues have all gone away on the HHT25. It would seem that a full or hour (or more) engine run time is required for full break-in to occur. It is now a powerhouse.
Very smooth now and loads of torque. Always starts on the second or third pull.
Also of note: I changed the engine oil after 1.5 hrs of run time. Originally, I used the included Honda 10W-30 oil (conventional) and upon draining the engine, the oil looked absolutely filthy. That is good, as all contaminants are suspended in the oil, and not sitting on the pan's floor.
I refilled with a full syn 10W-30 (Havoline ProDS) and will likely change in another 1.5 hours to ensure longest possible life.
Changing oil in this thing is absolutely easy as pie. No idea why anyone would complain about having to change oil in a 4-stroke trimmer.
The only drawback I see for this trimmer is price. I am not sure why it is priced to high, but hoping it will out live any potential competitor trimmer I may have purchased. My old Stihl FS 55R was sold for $100, making the price of the Honda more palatable.
Looking forward to many years of service for this machine and high expectations.

 

[dfbrown]

Quick update: the throttle/top end issues have all gone away on the HHT25. It would seem that a full or hour (or more) engine run time is required for full break-in to occur. It is now a powerhouse.
Very smooth now and loads of torque. Always starts on the second or third pull.
Also of note: I changed the engine oil after 1.5 hrs of run time. Originally, I used the included Honda 10W-30 oil (conventional) and upon draining the engine, the oil looked absolutely filthy. That is good, as all contaminants are suspended in the oil, and not sitting on the pan's floor.
I refilled with a full syn 10W-30 (Havoline ProDS) and will likely change in another 1.5 hours to ensure longest possible life.
Changing oil in this thing is absolutely easy as pie. No idea why anyone would complain about having to change oil in a 4-stroke trimmer.
The only drawback I see for this trimmer is price. I am not sure why it is priced to high, but hoping it will out live any potential competitor trimmer I may have purchased. My old Stihl FS 55R was sold for $100, making the price of the Honda more palatable.
Looking forward to many years of service for this machine and high expectations.

Lol. I knew that would go away. Mine did the exact same thing. Takes a few tanks to initially break in and you can have it for a few years to really seat in. Yes oil changes are actually funny on those things. Super easy fast and uses so little oil and easy to fill and check the level. Air filter is super easy also. Easy with dawn soap and don’t forget to re-oil it. The oil catches all the very fine dust particles. Spark plug will be years before it needs changed. Ngk cmr5h. Give it more time too to loosen up. I put a tachometer on mine and check it and it’s still gaining in max rpm. At first was like 8,400-8,600. Now when warmed up it’s turning 9,300rpm. I know they are rated for 10,000rpm with no head on. So 9300 is pretty good. If the weight bothers you just fill like 1/2 tank at a time. You can tell it helps. FYI. Years down the road if you need to check/ re grease the gear head and flex shaft cable it uses Honda marine grease NLGI #2. Don’t overfill gearbox and the shaft just put a real nice coating all over it. Glad to hear it’s working out for you.

as for starting it’s warm here in the 70s and 80s. You can try to prime it with NO choke but with the trigger in the start position and it will fire first or maybe second pull when cold. If you choke it and doesn’t need it even when cold start in the summer time it may be too much and could take multiple pulls. Hope this helps. I like those u it’s I have a few. Sure I wish they were about 1 pound lighter and the power could always be a touch more but not really needed. Good luck

 

[cruzenmike]

I do not have a lot to add here as I have only owned 1 gas string trimmer in my life and I am still using it. But since I have been interested in purchasing a Honda 4-stroke and have recently been using a family member's Stihl, I though I would comment.

I currently have a Ryobi SS26, straight shaft, half crank, expand-it 2-cycle trimmer. I absolutely love this thing. I have had it for about 10 years now and I think that with this year's repairs I have probably put about $50 buck into it, so my total investment is around $160. The trimmer is a little unbalanced and too short for my liking, but I make do. For the first 5 years that I owned it I felt that I was struggling to get it started, but to be honest, I never followed the starting procedure on the air cleaner cover. Once I started doing that it always starts like this: prime 10x, hold throttle down all the way, move to full choke, pull until it cranks over, move to half choke, pull 1-2x until it starts and continue to hold throttle full for 10 seconds, move to choke off and let go of throttle to idle. After this startup, it doesn't matter how long it has sat, it just runs perfectly. I use the power head for both straight and curve shaft trimmers, the brush cutter, edger and blower attachments. Everything works well enough and I really don't have any complaints. (as a side note, I purchased a new Ryobi power head a couple years back when my carb got gunked up and the new full-crank design did not work as well, revving much slower and topping out at a lower RPM; so I returned it and fix my half-crank for $25 at the time).

Recently I have been doing some yard work at my Mom's house and I have been using her Stihl FS90 straight shaft trimmer. As opposed to my Ryobi, this feels a tiny bit lighter and the shaft seems a tad bit longer which makes for a more comfortable experience. While I believe this trimmer to have plenty of power, and possibly more than my Ryobi, I feel that modulating the throttle on it is not any harder than my own trimmer. Two things that I noticed about it that I am not a fan of is that the trimmer head is a complete pain to reload with string. Also, I noticed that sometimes when I am getting on the throttle from idle it sounds like the engine is "clunking" or "lugging" and to be honest it feels as if it is doing the engine some harm. Other than my two complaints, it does the job fine. I have used the trimmer for 2-3 hours straight, filling the tank 3-4 times while trimming. It always starts on the first pull when warm, but cold it takes some fiddling with the choke and priming as I have not found a perfect cold startup sequence like on my Ryobi.

Now for the Honda trimmer, after another $15 thrown at the Ryobi I am convinced that should anything else go wrong with it I will upgrade into the VersAttach system, Stihl Kombi or Echo PAS. I love the flexibility of a multi-purpose tool. Although I have the money invested in my handful of Expand-it attachments, I am not too thrilled with the power head options for it at this time. With that being said, the ease of use, reliability and quietness of the Honda certainly make it a top contender for me, so thank you to the OP (from 2013) for the review.

 

[Briantii]

Im not sure about the Honda, but the Stihl Kombi is compatible with the mtd big box store stuff. The Stihl dealer will tell you it isn’t but it is. This makes migrating from consumer grade to professional grade a lot easier especially for the stuff you only use occasionally. Also while I love my KM130R, it really is stupidly overpowered for what I need. Literally nothing I use it for can run full throttle without bouncing off the rev limiter. My Stihl dealer told me it was way more than I needed and he was right.

Also you can change trimmer heads on most of these and I think Stihl even has a few to choose from not to mention all the other companies making them.

 

[evident]

I have a HHT35 and i replaced the head with a speedfeed head. I overfilled it with oil about 2 oz and that was bad news. It smoked real bad and i fouled the plug up. i replaced the plug and otherwise i've had no issues with this machine and i hope it holds up well.

 

[tranchinh]

Thinking to replaced my Echo trimmer with Honda .What do you recommend 25cc or 35cc

 

[dfbrown]

Thinking to replaced my Echo trimmer with Honda .What do you recommend 25cc or 35cc

If your cutting weekly grass if that’s at your own house or weekly I would get the hht25sltat. Reasons being. It’s lighter and still has plenty of power. If you have very high grass on several acres and cut every other week or more then I’d would get the hht35sltat. More power but yes heavier. I have all the Honda trimmers and versattach systems and have years of using these machines. Any questions let me know. Good luck.
also. I do have all the blades for these machines too. 9” for the 25cc and 10” for the 35cc. You can use blades on any Honda machine. No problem basically it all depends what you intend to actually use the machine for. Good luck

 

[Skeezix]

Another update: my Honda 25 has been doing well so far. I like it, but after several months of use, I do question if it is worth the price. I like the 4-stroke engine, and the fact that at half throttle it has a load of torque, but $375 US seems steep. I’m not sure what the Honda offers over the competition, but I would say it is $75-$100 too high. One would think Honda would want to get more of these little guys into hands of customers.....

 

[RetireeRon]

I bought the HHT25 back in 2017 and haven’t had a single issue with it. Hands down the best trimmer I’ve owned, and I’ve had Echo, Craftsman, and others. None of them come close in comparison to the Honda. The price was very steep for what it is but I bought it for the (hopefully) reliability of Honda products.

 

[bertsmobile1]

My commercial customer all use Honda trimmers both GX25 & GX 35 .
he only complaint is the weight from those who refuse to wear the shoulder harness .
The other thing to watch like a hawk is the oil level.
I only fill them with 10W 40 against the recommended 10W 30