Mitox 430U Brushcutter

The Mitox 430U is a top of the range 'semi professional' brush cutter with a powerful engine.

Ergonomically it is easy to use, and if you buy a decent harness, not too heavy. It comes with a line feeder and a solid metal cutter attachment. Its a noisy engine so you will need decent ear defenders. Its generally easy to start from cold if you use the right oil. I recommend Stihl fully synthetic 2 stroke oil with a 50:1 mix ratio. With cheap oil the engine is very smokey and hard to start.

I have been using it for one season on a third acre plot, part of which had some very tall grass and weeds. It copes with anything you throw at it in terms of power. Unfortunately it is severely let down by the build quality. The feeder disintegrated when I touched a small rock with it. Expensive to replace. The cutter guard is not held in place very well. Normal use caused it the swivel round, ripping the retaining screw from the plastic, then the blade smashed through the plastic. The supplied harness is completely useless. The clip broke within a few weeks, and it is not very comfortable. The cow horn handle bars arn't held in place very well, and swivel round easily. Most seriously, mine was shipped with NO GEARBOX OIL, so it is worth checking before use. Used half a tube of Stihl gearbox grease to top it up!

On the whole it does seam like a lot of brush cutter for the money for £230, however it is just not up to the job in terms of build quality. I would recommend using the money you would have to use on replacement parts for this machine to put towards a better quality Stihl or Husqvarna machine for £300 or so. You get why you pay for.