I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong, if there was something wrong with the equipment, or if these items simply tend to be finicky in general.

I've had two weedeaters (generic term, not referring to the brand), both electric and both off of Craigslist, so the fact that they were used may well have strong bearing on why they didn't work adequately and may in fact be why they were on Craigslist in the first place, I don't know.

With both of them (one died when the storage area flooded), I had to continually stop every 30 to 60 seconds to unplug the cord, pull the string holder off, feed the line through again, and put it back together, in order to trim another two feet or so. Yes, they are SUPPOSED to feed automatically when you tap it on a firm surface. I try to tap it well BEFORE the line worn down to nothing so that it could continue feeding through the aperature in the holder easily. Occasionally, it seemed to feed out properly, but most of the time, it won't.

Is there something else I should be doing with it besides trying to make sure I tap the button on the bottom of the trimmer before the line wears down?

Obviously, this is NOT a good way to get yard work done. ;D But I'd really like to have a decent weedeater to keep the yard trimmed properly.