Going, Coming, and a Question

First, the bad news about my 20+ year old Japanese Maple:

It's a fungus

It succumbed to a fungus, literally overnight.  I'm so sad.

But I had already planned to redo another section of that garden:

So I'll just include the Japanese Maple section in the redo.  In the section above, we'll remove the spirea and replace them with hydrangeas and loropetalums.  I'm getting a variety called 'Suzanne'!

Also going and coming will be plants in the front of my house.  This will be a major redo. We've lived here almost 13 years and have never done anything to speak of in the front, other than trimming the maples there.  Everything has gotten HUGE and I think it overwhelms the house.

Overall view of the front

South side of front

The liriope will be extended in a curve in front of the tree and over to the side of the house.

Center

We're planning to remove the large hollies and azaleas right by the front door.  There are also Japanese hollies under the bay windows, behind the small azaleas, that will be replaced.   I'll share the replacements after they're done!
         

North side of front

The liriope on this side will be extended to the side as well.  We're also going to try tree-forming the large hollies on either side of the house.  

Isn't that the nature of gardening - going and coming?

Now for the question.  Can anyone recommend a weed-eater that is easy to load the string into and it doesn't constantly jam?   Grrr.  I have an Echo and I like the way it's easy for me to start.  It's a little too heavy, but I don't do a lot at one time, mainly because I'm constantly stopping to UNJAM THE STRING.  Please help if you can.