I purchased a Makita 4 stroke whipper snipper absolutely fabulous I have to deal with Kyku grass and it does it easy. Starts first time the bump feed is so easy and simple to load Brilliant.I am sure people who complain don't read the instructions.
Cheers Brent

so...a couple of months ago bought this model... he said ...easy to start, easy to use, quicker overall, line feed bumper blah blah blah.
Only just started using it ( 3times) and bump line feeder ceases, line breaks, head won’t spin and seems to cease up, all use is as recommended but it’s very frustrating as I need to use it regularly because of the work I do. Today it did all of the above Again... but this time ...while my client was watching, NOT acceptable at all... I looked like a fool and the fact that it took triple the time to complete the job has me seeing red! I’ll be going back to Bunnings and asking for a refund!

I bought this new and took it home and i could not get it started its supposed to be easy start i broke my back it started for a minute and stopped i took it back the guy started after 10 pulls but i got a refund. Dont waste your time.

Starts very easily. Its a little bit heavier and a bit slower than other 2 stroke line trimmers I've used although it runs well and is extremely quite. I haven't experienced any bump feed issues as of yet. Would highly recommend as its about half the cost of a Honda.

Like I said 4 years no problem. Bump feed still operating as it should. Starts easily . Can be used in any position. Four stroke . Quiet, fuel efficient . I use the trimmer for domestic purposes only but in saying that I am a carpenter by trade and I have always used and trusted Makita products . Like most of those in the know I would still prefer 'made in Japan' however I cannot fault this trimmer to date. I would recommend .

Great piece of equipment but the bump head clip seems to be an overall issue for many customers including myself.

After 3 turns trimming grass at the edge of my property the bump head broke. This was under very light use. Disappointing as there were alot of options in this price range. Not covered under warranty according to bunnings. The line trimmer motor starts first time every time, but the bumper? An additional $50 every three options seems very uneconomical

After an ozito battery line trimmer which carked it after about 5sm, the makita ER2650LH was a dream.
The 4 stroke feature is neat, as being able to use unleaded straight up is quite convenient.
This has a lot of power and starts quite consistently.
I dont know if it's excellent, however, I cannot fault it for anything after 1.5 years of use - so, I guess a 5 is fair.
== EDIT 05-Feb-17 ==
After losing the bump head spring, it turns out that you can order small parts from Makita (they'll email you a pdf of the parts list), or you can make a special order from Bunnings and they'll track it down for you. Replacement cost of $9.40. Pretty good value after 2 years use.

I bought this from Bunnings for $298, used it twice with no problem. When I tried it next, I couldn't pull the starter rope further than 100mm - it couldn't be pulled further, so couldn't start it. It's almost brand new ! No mention of this in the troubleshooting page of the instruction manual.

Hopefully Bunnings will give me my money back, so that I can buy something that works !