Cub Cadet 4 Cycle Vs Ryobi 4 Cycle Weed Eater | Comparison & Ideas

The Cub Cadet 4-cycle excels in finer trims and reaching far-away corners, while the Ryobi 4-cycle is a jack-of-all-trades lawn maintenance machine. You may consider the Cub Cadet’s use a little more niche than the Ryobi weed eater. 

A 4-cycle weed eater is a powerful machine with excellent cutting performance, so you’ll want to pick one that does its job reliably and consistently. The Cub Cadet 4-cycle string trimmer and the Ryobi 4-cycle trimmer are the weed eaters with the best performance on the market. 

Let’s examine the features and drawbacks of each to help homeowners decide which trimmer excels in which areas. Without further ado, let’s begin! 

Cub Cadet

Cub Cadet is an old name in the outdoor power tools business, with a wide array of lawn mowers and weed eaters to its name. The company has manufactured high-quality weed eaters in two distinct varieties: handheld and walk-behind. 

Its 4-cycle trimmer is one of the former kind, promising to be the one-stop solution to lawn maintenance. Let’s take a peek into the weed eater’s performance in detail. 

The Cub Cadet 4-Cycle Trimmer

The Cub Cadet 4-cycle trimmer features a 25cc full crank 4-cycle engine with a dual-bearing supportive crankshaft for smooth and consistent cutting power. This 4-cycle trimmer comes with an extended reach boom that features a pro-rewind, high capacity bump head to feed line consistently. To top it all off, the trimmer comes with a TrimmerPlus attachment for versatility and decreased storage area. 

Features

1. Powerful Engine

The pro-grade 25cc 4-cycle gas engine packs a punch, especially considering how tiny it is. It manages to draw its power from the fuel without mixing it with engine oil, creating much less of a mess in the process. 

Cub Cadet’s usage of a 4-stroke engine means that the string trimmer is inherently fuel-efficient and gives off fewer emissions. You’ll find yourself spending less time and money on refueling and, in turn, face fewer issues with the engine’s inner workings. 

Despite its fuel efficiency, the string trimmer cuts no corners regarding power. The additional torque it produces helps give your lawn a premium finish. 

2. Wide Cutting Swath

The Cub Cadet weed eater comes with a 17-inch steel cutting swath that cuts cleanly and effortlessly, but that doesn’t come at the cost of speed. Its cutting swath is light as a feather and utilizes the engine’s power to the fullest without letting small rocks or wooden sticks impede its advance. 

No matter the size of your lawn, you’ll finish trimming it quickly and cleanly with the wide-cutting swath. 

3. Performance-Oriented Design

Cub Cadet has cut no corners with the weed eater’s build quality and to be honest, it is quite apparent. Its high-power engine doesn’t falter and keeps the engine oil and fuel gas separate. And the cutting swath shows no signs of slowing down during operation. 

The curved shaft is made from rust-resistant aluminum, and even after prolonged usage, it will not warp or bend. This is notable since the Cub Cadet weed eater is a hefty machine, making the shaft’s ability to remain pristine all the more impressive. 

This weed eater also comes with a thick 0.095-inch line that effortlessly shreds through lawn grass and small plants. Overall, the string trimmer is more than capable of handling any lawn maintenance task you put up to it. 

4. Attachment Compatibility

A string trimmer should be able to make use of several attachments to make it a complete lawn maintenance machine. The Cub Cadet weed eater achieves precisely that, with several universal and brand-specific accessories to choose from. 

String trimmer attachments include the following:

• A leaf blower attachment that generates high airflow
• A string trimmer edger attachment to get the edges of your lawn
• A cultivator attachment for a low-cost means of cultivating
• A brush cutter attachment for tall grasses
• A pole saw attachment for weeds and grasses around trees
• A hedge trimmer for cleanly shaped hedges

Ryobi

Ryobi has maintained a presence in the outdoor power tools segment for a long time, and its string trimmers are no different. Its string trimmers are known to be lightweight and well-built, which also applies to the RY34440. 

Here’s how the RY34440 proves to be a great entry in the weed eater segment. 

Ryobi 4 Cycle Trimmer RY34440

The Ryobi 4-cycle trimmer is a powerful entry into the segment that lets its quiet performance speak volumes about its quality. Its engine was designed to be silent and green, requiring minimal fuel to deliver an excellent lawn finish. 

With a plethora of attachments, the Ryobi trimmer doesn’t limit itself to a single application. The string trimmer remains versatile across the board, offering you a complete lawn maintenance package. 

Features

1. The Build

The build quality of the RY34440 is excellent, enabling you to continuously use the machine without constantly running into faults. Consisting of a steel metal shaft, a 4-stroke engine and a wide cutting swath, the Ryobi trimmer carves a place for itself in the segment. You will seldom find yourself facing a broken or rusted part, and even with heavy usage, the Ryobi trimmer remains in prime condition.

Weighing 11.8 lbs., it is fairly light and portable, even with attachments. All in all, this weed eater passes with flying colors when it comes to scrutinizing its build quality.

2. Fuel Efficiency

The fuel tank on the Ryobi weed eater is tiny, with a holding capacity of 0.1 gallons of fuel. While that doesn’t seem all that impressive, the string trimmer balances it out by using very little of the fuel that it holds. You’ll have to worry about refueling once in a while, and this will save you plenty of time and money. 

The fuel efficiency also leads to cleaner emissions, so you won’t have to deal with foul gasses emanating from the weed eater. 

3. Value For Money

The Ryobi string trimmer costs less but offers more power and features in comparison to its competition. Featuring a 30cc four-cycle gas powered engine, the weed eater is reliable and durable enough to give its competitors a run for their money. You’ll spend less time removing the weeds from your lawn with the sheer power it brings to the table. 

Ryobi’s competitively priced string trimmer is the result of being made from refurbished tools straight from the factory. Its functionality rivals that of its newer counterparts and is equally as capable in terms of performance. 

4. Attachment Variety

You can use seven attachments with the Ryobi RY34440 to cover all aspects of lawn maintenance. These include: 

• An edger for trimming the edges of a lawn along the sidewalk 
• A blower for moving debris using a current of air 
• A pruner for cutting plant stems and hard branches 
• A cultivator for loosening the soil in a planting area 
• A brush cutter for clearing out high grass 
• A hedge trimmer for shaping lawn hedges 

These attachments are a great fit for the device, making quick work of the tasks at hand. Thanks to the spring-loaded coupler mechanism, you don’t need any external tools to change these parts around. 

5. Quiet Operation

The Ryobi 4-cycle trimmer is quieter than most string trimmers on the market, including the 4-cycle weed eater from Stihl. This quality goes hand-in-hand with its reduced emissions as well, since fewer emissions lead to reduced overall noise. 

At maximum throttle, the difference in the noise levels of a 2-cycle motor and the Ryobi 4-cycle motor is practically non-existent. That said, you may not always use your string trimmer at full throttle, and at lower RPM, the noise difference between the two motors is like night and day. 

But like with most motor-powered tools, you will need ear protection if you’re using it for an extended period. 

Cub Cadet 4 Cycle Vs Ryobi 4 Cycle Weed Eater Conclusion

The curved shaft of the Cub Cadet 4-cycle string trimmer will enable you to use the weed eater in tight corners and nooks of your lawns. Its compatibility with universal attachments makes it a versatile tool that will satisfy your lawn maintenance needs. 

On the other hand, the Ryobi 4-cycle string trimmer is a powerhouse with a robust build quality that will last you years. Its fuel efficiency, lower emissions, and noise output are highlights of the machine, as is the impressive power output from its 4-cycle motor. 

There are aspects of both the Cub Cadet and the Ryobi string trimmers that impressed us, with some of these applications overlapping. The interesting thing about both models is that most of their flaws come from the limitations of the 4-stroke engine technology. 

Drawing comparisons between, say, Ryobi vs Craftsman 4-cycle weed eater makes this all the more apparent. In any case, these string trimmers make light work of the task they are built for.