I don't have favourites for tools and appliances. I do know, from past experience with a couple of different drills (one cordless), that I will never again buy anything with a Black and Decker affiliation. I don't care whether it's a saw or a toaster oven; it ain't welcome in my house.
My "lawn

" consists of timothy hay, quackgrass, and wild oats. No lawnmower of a residential nature can handle it. I therefore decided that a gas-powered weed whacker was the appropriate approach. I did a bit of a checkout of some models, and finally bought the 30cc Ryobi for a couple of reasons. First was that the thing has some serious cutting power. I mowed my entire lawn with it a couple of times. The other reason is that it runs a split shaft. Half-way down the arm is a quick disconnect joint. For an extra $50 or so (the original purchase was about $250), I can get different bottom half-shafts with a hedge trimmer, edger, chainsaw...
Unfortunately, the damned thing is almost impossible to start. 30:1 premix, check; pump primer bulb 8 times, check; choke to 'start', check; full throttle on the trigger, check; pull cord, check; pull cord again, check; pu...
ad infinitum.
It runs like a bat out of hell
if you can get it to run at all.
edit: By the bye, it apparently has no idle circuit in the carb, because it dies if you release the trigger.