I've done a lot of mowing in my life, both residential and commercial, and I've always sworn by the straight shaft brushcutter style trimmers with a full harness.
It takes a lot of stress off your arms and shoulders.
When I worked for the council many many many years ago, all we had was Stihl.
Top stuff.
I know you said you're only doing a couple of lawns a week, but it's still worth it to spend just that little bit more to get decent quality gear.
It saves you time in the end as it will get the job done faster and better and you'll spend less time repairing the machinery.
I bought a Homelite hedgetrimmer about a year ago as I prune the odd hedge or shrub here and there, and thought it would be a good enough machine for the job.
Last week I went to use it for the first time in a couple of months and the fuel lines had completely disintegrated.
What was left of them just crumbled like wet pastry in my hands.
It cost me an hour of my working day all up to go get new fuel line, set it all up and get it going again.
These days I don't do any mowing for other people, just my own yard, and have a bit of a monster creation I put together from stuff I collected at the scrapyard and recycle centre.
Stihl FS45 motor stuck on a straight shaft from an old Stihl FS80 (still keeping it Stihl
) and a modified handle.