I bought a new string trimmer this spring and opted for the Husqvarna 223L straight shaft. I've had a straight shaft Echo trimmer for 14 years and it's worked great, but it just worn out from 14 years of heavy use.
I started using the Husky 223L in April and last weekend when I started it, the cord failed to retract. OK, I've seen this before so I took it apart and found the spool design was different from other models I've fixed. When I finally got to the problem area I found that the "new" design of the spool retractor has a flaw that allows the return spring to strip out of the lower return spool rendering it unusable and impossible to repair without parts.
That brings the second problem: I called Husqvarna and they confirmed that this is happening to most of these units out there resulting from a design flaw and that they are back-ordered on replacement spools indefinitely. Lovely.
Middle of growing season and I now own a $275 paper weight. I'm waiting on parts.
Did you buy it from a dealer or Lowes? If Lowes, you can return it for a new trimmer. I did this with mine when I bought it last summer and the pull cord ripped the first time I used it. I was used to pulling like heck on my old echo and these apparently have some type of gear reduction starter on it and pull way easier, I just pulled way to hard the first time.
