Looking to buy my 1st cordless grass trimmer. I need to replace my old gas powered one with something I don't have to pull multiple times to get started.
Anyone have any preferences or experiences with one ? Thanks
Not great. Batteries go bad way more often than they should. Still, when it's working, it gets the job done.
In addition, I typically would have to charge 2 batteries to do the trimming that was necessary. I would have to plan ahead as the batteries required a charge cycle overnight. It was nice not to bother with the gas, but as soon as the batteries wouldn't hold a charge, I ditched it to go back to gas.
with a 40 volt Lithium battery. I like it. I now have 3 different B & D devices (weed trimmer, hedge trimmer and leaf blower) that use the same battery. I have 2 batteries that last fairly long time.
with a 40 volt Lithium battery. I like it. I now have 3 different B & D devices (weed trimmer, hedge trimmer and leaf blower) that use the same battery. I have 2 batteries that last fairly long time.
Ha, this post could have been written by me -- I've got the exact same lineup.
They all work really well, but we did have to replace the battery about 2 weeks after its warranty expired. Their batteries ain't cheap either.
Black and Decker LST136W 40V MAX Lithium Ion String Trimmer, 13" last year. It cost about $150. I have a small yard so I'm not running it for more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time but it's never come close to losing it's charge and the battery recharges quickly. It does a good job.
I originally bought a Worx edger that came with 2 batteries and cost about $165. It was a piece of crap so I returned it and got the B & D.
they're so much better than the old 18 volt, which took about 24 hours to charge and died in about 4 minutes.
My experience was with the 18 volt B/D trimmer. I ended up buying a Ryobi gas in Jan. that cost $89. Seemed to be a lot cheaper than the Lithium series.
Yes, you have to mess with the cord, but you don't have to worry about the battery going dead before you finish or forgetting to charge the battery.
I had gas models and they were all a pain in the ass to start and keep running. I switched to a battery and it didn't have a whole lot of power and died too soon. So, I've gone with corded electric and it's the best of the three for me.
Yep, me too. I know I do, in fact -- just yesterday I looked up the model number so I could download the manual and read the section about manually replacing the wire.
Just bought this Ryobi Trimmer at Home Depot for $30
I've used it 3 times and love it, especially for the price. The battery lasts for about 30 minutes and is fully charged again in 2 hours. link - ( New Window )
Used it four or five times and I really liked it! Plenty of power, no issues with battery life. But, the first time I used it this spring it crapped out. I spent about an hour on the phone waiting to speak with Ego and was eventually told I had to bring it to Home Depot for service. I bought the trimmer on Amazon so while Home Depot was very professional, they weren't going to exchange the clearly defective unit with a new one. So, now I'm waiting until HD ships the unit back to HD. Eventually, I'm sure I'll get back a working trimmer but waiting is a huge hassle as now I don't have a trimmer.
So, stuff breaks, I'm not gonna kill Ego on this, but their customer service wasn't good and their warranty process has left me without a trimmer for at least a month. If you get the Ego, I'd go ahead and buy it at Home Depot and not buy it at Amazon.
Also, understand that the high cost of batteries means you're probably committing to a single company for all your cordless yard tools. I'm probably going to buy an Ego blower, from HD, so I can use my trimmer and blower with the same battery.
and love it. Had an 18V Black & Decker prior to that and the B&D was awful. Would get 10-15 min tops with the B&D batteries fully charged. With the Ryobi, I can trim everything I need to with a 4Ah battery which lasts ~30 min. The Ryobi also seems more powerful than the B&D was.
That said, I went with the Ryobi because I have several other Ryobi cordless tools and probably have at least 4-5 batteries that I could easily swap in if needed. I would recommend doing something similar (i.e. if you have B&D cordless tools already, stick with them so you have extra batteries). Also, the 4-Ah Ryobi batteries make a huge difference. The older Ryobi 18V ones were significantly less capacity.
RE: If you can go with a corded one it's a lot better.
Yes, you have to mess with the cord, but you don't have to worry about the battery going dead before you finish or forgetting to charge the battery.
I had gas models and they were all a pain in the ass to start and keep running. I switched to a battery and it didn't have a whole lot of power and died too soon. So, I've gone with corded electric and it's the best of the three for me.
Sure a corded trimmer is more powerful, and it always works. But my experience is it extends the time to trim the yard by a factor of 4.
The battery has more than enough juice for basic yard trimming, and is sufficiently powerful to do the job. The battery goes right in the charger when I'm done, so I never have an issue of a dead battery.
..venturing into cordless lawncare tools now too. I bought the big hedge trimmers after my old Craftsman died because I already had about a half dozen batteries and chargers from other tools. A little underpowered but the battery life is really good.
I believe the Ryobi's are hybrids. You slide up a little door in the battery compartment and you can plug in. I have a Ryobi blower that I use more or less just to blow clean out my garage/shop and it's a hybrid - the power increase from plugging straight in is staggering. The batteries suck balls. I can't even blow out the beds around my house before is taps out so I don't use it in the yard anymore.
20v Lithium Weed Trimmer and Blower Combo bought 2 years ago on sale at the local true value hardware store for abt $75. I was very skeptical but at $75 I figured what the hell. Have to say the trimmer has been excellent; I can get through the trimming on my 1/4 acre lot with plenty of battery left. I kept my gas powered trimmer thinking I would need it for heavier jobs but it hasn't been touched since I bought the battery unit.
The blower isn't the greatest, but I would not say it has underachieved since I had little expectations for it. It works well enough cleaning off the patio and driveway of clipping and debris, I've also found its lower power works well in getting things out from underneath shrubs and such without also blowing the mulch. I have a corded blower that I have to use often enough.
I just went electric and I I went with ego. It reviewed very well and I couldn't be happier. I have half an acre and a cedar fence and it gets the job done. EGO trimmer - ( New Window )
Found one in someone's trash pile and it lasted 4 yrs, now 5 years in on lithium battery unit I bought. I like how flexible that are for changing positions slightly and the edging wheel.
mainly because all of my cordless tools for work are Makita. I am a big fan of their products and the batteries are the best in the business. I can work all day, pull the battery right out of my imact and do all of my weed eating with battery life to spare
I have between about 3/4 acre of yard, not entire property just my yard and you need a 40v (I had the B&D) and if your yard is similarly sized and you have a lot of street frontage you will need multiple batteries.
when I had one battery I'd get slightly more than halfway through and the battery would die.
I eventually went back to a Stihl gas powered. Just seems like eventually your yard grows out of battery powered lawn tools.
worked for Ryobi in product development, a gas trimmer should be the only option you're looking for.
I tested so many battery trimmers, whether they were Ryobi or a competitor and they all die quickly, either from batteries going dead or just failing. Meanwhile, I have 2 weed whackers still hanging on my garage wall - both gas string trimmers from 2004 that I use each week.
Any cordless outdoor implement is designed for a short use time and it is designed for the casual user that will have to replace it in 5-7 years, or pump more money into batteries.
I bought a battery powered Kobalt trimmer. When it worked the thing was ok. They batteries didn't go on me but the chargers did. I went through 2 chargers and then said F this and bought a gas trimmer. The gas trimmer is waayyyy better. Never any issues with it.
worked for Ryobi in product development, a gas trimmer should be the only option you're looking for.
I tested so many battery trimmers, whether they were Ryobi or a competitor and they all die quickly, either from batteries going dead or just failing. Meanwhile, I have 2 weed whackers still hanging on my garage wall - both gas string trimmers from 2004 that I use each week.
Any cordless outdoor implement is designed for a short use time and it is designed for the casual user that will have to replace it in 5-7 years, or pump more money into batteries.
Ding, Ding, Ding - we have a winner. The last sentence especially. The manufacturers count on the additional cost of batteries/chargers to increase their profits. Once a customer is tied into their product line (grass trimmer, blower, hedge trimmer, pole saw, etc.), the customer will likely stay with the product line when they need to replace a unit.
Keeping a gas unit properly serviced is cheaper. Most who have problems starting a gas unit is due to fouled spark plug, bad fuel mix (need to use a fuel stabilizer and no ethanol), air filter. The 2-stroke engine isn't rocket science.
if you take a Ryobi or Black and Decker to a small-engine repair shop, they'll likely tell you to go-screw. Took me a while to figure that out. Bought a nice Stihl gas trimmer about 8 years ago. So much better than the other shlock I was dealing with previously. I'd advise going gas and paying a bit more. You'll have it for a long time.
Ding, Ding, Ding - we have a winner. The last sentence especially. The manufacturers count on the additional cost of batteries/chargers to increase their profits. Once a customer is tied into their product line (grass trimmer, blower, hedge trimmer, pole saw, etc.), the customer will likely stay with the product line when they need to replace a unit.
What we were trying to provide was a product of convenience for homeowners that was a way to leverage our rechargeable battery system. But when we'd do side by side comparisons with gas trimmers, it wasn't even close. The two gas trimmers I have were from the development of cordless trimmers. One was a prototype (Ryobi has gas trimmers as well), and the other was a Toro.
When I was doing market research on trimmers, I talked to commercial lawn guys who will run a trimmer 250-300 days out of the year, and while they often have several on their truck, those units still last them a few years. Apples to oranges, but the battery ones often die or get to the point where they might as well be dead quickly. 5 years for a battery trimmer is a good run.
In addition, I typically would have to charge 2 batteries to do the trimming that was necessary. I would have to plan ahead as the batteries required a charge cycle overnight. It was nice not to bother with the gas, but as soon as the batteries wouldn't hold a charge, I ditched it to go back to gas.
Ha, this post could have been written by me -- I've got the exact same lineup.
They all work really well, but we did have to replace the battery about 2 weeks after its warranty expired. Their batteries ain't cheap either.
I originally bought a Worx edger that came with 2 batteries and cost about $165. It was a piece of crap so I returned it and got the B & D.
My experience was with the 18 volt B/D trimmer. I ended up buying a Ryobi gas in Jan. that cost $89. Seemed to be a lot cheaper than the Lithium series.
I was going to go with the 40V model, but then wondered if other brands (like B&D, or Echo) are just better.
BTW - thanks for the feedback so far
Their 18v stuff is a bit underpowered, but I've been happy with all the 40v tools.
I had gas models and they were all a pain in the ass to start and keep running. I switched to a battery and it didn't have a whole lot of power and died too soon. So, I've gone with corded electric and it's the best of the three for me.
Yep, me too. I know I do, in fact -- just yesterday I looked up the model number so I could download the manual and read the section about manually replacing the wire.
link - ( New Window )
So, stuff breaks, I'm not gonna kill Ego on this, but their customer service wasn't good and their warranty process has left me without a trimmer for at least a month. If you get the Ego, I'd go ahead and buy it at Home Depot and not buy it at Amazon.
Also, understand that the high cost of batteries means you're probably committing to a single company for all your cordless yard tools. I'm probably going to buy an Ego blower, from HD, so I can use my trimmer and blower with the same battery.
That said, I went with the Ryobi because I have several other Ryobi cordless tools and probably have at least 4-5 batteries that I could easily swap in if needed. I would recommend doing something similar (i.e. if you have B&D cordless tools already, stick with them so you have extra batteries). Also, the 4-Ah Ryobi batteries make a huge difference. The older Ryobi 18V ones were significantly less capacity.
I had gas models and they were all a pain in the ass to start and keep running. I switched to a battery and it didn't have a whole lot of power and died too soon. So, I've gone with corded electric and it's the best of the three for me.
Sure a corded trimmer is more powerful, and it always works. But my experience is it extends the time to trim the yard by a factor of 4.
The battery has more than enough juice for basic yard trimming, and is sufficiently powerful to do the job. The battery goes right in the charger when I'm done, so I never have an issue of a dead battery.
I believe the Ryobi's are hybrids. You slide up a little door in the battery compartment and you can plug in. I have a Ryobi blower that I use more or less just to blow clean out my garage/shop and it's a hybrid - the power increase from plugging straight in is staggering. The batteries suck balls. I can't even blow out the beds around my house before is taps out so I don't use it in the yard anymore.
The blower isn't the greatest, but I would not say it has underachieved since I had little expectations for it. It works well enough cleaning off the patio and driveway of clipping and debris, I've also found its lower power works well in getting things out from underneath shrubs and such without also blowing the mulch. I have a corded blower that I have to use often enough.
EGO trimmer - ( New Window )
when I had one battery I'd get slightly more than halfway through and the battery would die.
I eventually went back to a Stihl gas powered. Just seems like eventually your yard grows out of battery powered lawn tools.
I tested so many battery trimmers, whether they were Ryobi or a competitor and they all die quickly, either from batteries going dead or just failing. Meanwhile, I have 2 weed whackers still hanging on my garage wall - both gas string trimmers from 2004 that I use each week.
Any cordless outdoor implement is designed for a short use time and it is designed for the casual user that will have to replace it in 5-7 years, or pump more money into batteries.
I tested so many battery trimmers, whether they were Ryobi or a competitor and they all die quickly, either from batteries going dead or just failing. Meanwhile, I have 2 weed whackers still hanging on my garage wall - both gas string trimmers from 2004 that I use each week.
Any cordless outdoor implement is designed for a short use time and it is designed for the casual user that will have to replace it in 5-7 years, or pump more money into batteries.
Ding, Ding, Ding - we have a winner. The last sentence especially. The manufacturers count on the additional cost of batteries/chargers to increase their profits. Once a customer is tied into their product line (grass trimmer, blower, hedge trimmer, pole saw, etc.), the customer will likely stay with the product line when they need to replace a unit.
Keeping a gas unit properly serviced is cheaper. Most who have problems starting a gas unit is due to fouled spark plug, bad fuel mix (need to use a fuel stabilizer and no ethanol), air filter. The 2-stroke engine isn't rocket science.
What we were trying to provide was a product of convenience for homeowners that was a way to leverage our rechargeable battery system. But when we'd do side by side comparisons with gas trimmers, it wasn't even close. The two gas trimmers I have were from the development of cordless trimmers. One was a prototype (Ryobi has gas trimmers as well), and the other was a Toro.
When I was doing market research on trimmers, I talked to commercial lawn guys who will run a trimmer 250-300 days out of the year, and while they often have several on their truck, those units still last them a few years. Apples to oranges, but the battery ones often die or get to the point where they might as well be dead quickly. 5 years for a battery trimmer is a good run.