What's the deal with weedeaters?

In addition to the other comments, a straight shaft is also harder to hit your toes with. If you are going to add a blade, you should go with the straight shaft.

A blade takes more horsepower to run than string. On the smaller engines, this can be a problem that is not immediately obvious. They will turn the blade, but can get into strange oscillation modes when you hit something. They start running in jerks, sort of starting and stopping. When this happened on mine, I had to shut it off and restart to get it to stop. Eventually, I bought a larger unit and have not had the problem. (Put string back on the little one.)

The click-link Ryobi attachments are my favorite for the money. The only problem I have had with this model is that the attachment method is really not heavy enough for a blade and mine broke after two seasons. I had to Jerry rig a beefier attach bolt that works ok, but is not as convenient for quick attach anymore. The string attach, blower and trimmer work great.

jury (j¢r“ź) adjective
Nautical.
Intended or designed for temporary use; makeshift: a jury sail.
[Ultimately from Old French ajuri, help, from Latin adiśtāre, to help. See AID.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from InfoSoft International, Inc. All rights reserved.

This is said, of course, all in good humor, as I do know that "jerry-rig" is merely a corruption of the original term. It has, however, limited my choice of careers: who'd want to buy something advertised as "Jerry-built"?

Old Coastie