Electric Weed Wacker...

[Greg Cuetara]

I am in need of a new weed wacker for my house. Not much to clean up but some around the playset and around the house etc. I had a gas one and every few weeks I would spend 10-15 min running around the house to clean things up. I broke the primer bulb and the engine never ran quite right on the old weed wacker so looking to get a new one.

Would really like an electric so that I don't have to deal with gas etc. I was actually looking at a ryobi li-ion one that I can use the same batteries for my drill in it.

Anyone use an electric one or a battery powered one? Comments or things to stay away from.

thanks,
Greg

[Bruce Page]

I'm not a fan of Black & Decker in general but I have been very pleased with their 110v electric Brush Hog weed whacker. It has lasted several years longer than I expected it to.

[Greg R Bradley]

I would agree with Bruce about Black & Decker. Just like their other brand Dewalt, it is a horrible company that makes a few items that work well. I have one of their 110v edgers that I bought to get me by one year until I found something better. It is still working OK after 5 years.

Their 18v cordless yard tools are complete crap. I have one of their new 36v cordless blowers and it seems to be a good one - not quite the power of a gas one but enough to be useful for small jobs. They make a 36v string trimmer, which would have enough power to be useful, but it appears to have the same string mechanism as their 18v line, which lasted less than 10 uses before failing. I still use the 18v blower, which will blow out a 10x25' entryway at a business after charging the battery over night. After about 50 uses, the motor sounds like it will self destruct at any moment.

If you want a gas one, buy the Makita 4 cycle trimmer. It is worth the money. In a climate where you only need it in the summer, you will still need to drain the gas each fall. I have a friend that bought the Stihl Cordless one. If you have serious need of weed wacking, it might be worth the shocking price.

[Charles Wiggins]

I bought the Ryobi One 18v blue and yellow version several years ago. I love it. With the larger Lithium battery (there are two sizes, compact & "high capacity") I get 20-30 minutes of constant run time, depending on the density of the weeds (I have used it to mow a small yard). I have several other Ryobi One tools, so it was a no-brainer for me. It is definitely only for light work. It does not do well on woody stems and the like, but if all you're doing is grass and the like in hard to mow areas, it's great. If you get a battery operated one you definitely want Lithium batteries.

They don't make the blue and yellow anymore, but it was the precursor to this model (http://www.lowes.com/pd_1517-77248-ZSW2000L_0__?productId=3400550), which looks virtually the same. It also comes with a battery & charger (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-One-18-Volt-Lithium-ion-Cordless-String-Trimmer-Edger-P2060/203223058#product_description).

[David Weaver]

I used a cordless one for a year when I bought my house. It was underpowered and sometimes I'd have to charge it a second time to get it through the job. I have a fair amount of fence, though, and running the thing into a fence just seems to take the stuffing right out of the battery. I bought an 18V B&D hedge trimmer to go along with it, too, and that also turned out to be worthless. It would get stopped on small stuff, and it wouldn't do the whole job on a charge. Eventually replaced it with a stihl s45 gas trimmer, which is fantastic as long as you remember to keep both hands on it since the gaps on the knives are big enough to remove fingers.

Unless you have only very short distances to go, I wouldn't want to deal with cords. My neighbor had an electric weedwacker and he gave up hauling cords around.

I eventually had to get a gas trimmer to make up for the fact that a little more stuff was getting too big for the cordless trimmer to tackle each time. I've put stabil in my gas and never drained my trimmer, and we're on year #7 now and it's been a tank (a Shindaiwa T231 - not a real big trimmer, but a very durable and reliable one). FWIW, I thought it was more of a nuisance to deal with the battery of the cordless trimmer than it is to deal with the gas of the shindaiwa trimmer.

Never drained the gas on the S45 hedge trimmer, either. Starts every time and puts holly trees in their place.

[Jerome Stanek]

My daughter bought a Greenworks trimmer and I tried it and thought it was really nice. She had a gas one but always had trouble with keeping it running. She has just a large city lot with a fenced in yard so she trims quite a bit with it. My son had a ryobi gas trimmer and he used my daughters one time and went out and bought one for himself.

[Gary Hodgin]

I have a Black and Decker 18v grass trimmer. Does a good job on grass and weeds but nowhere near as powerful as my old gas trimmer. I bought it from HD a couple of years ago. Came with 2 batteries. Battery life is pretty short, about 15-20 minutes. Very light weight. Wife wouldn't get near the gas trimmer but doesn't mind this one at all.

[David Weaver]

I think the inexpensive gas trimmers must be about the worst thing you can buy unless you work on small engines all the time.

I see them in the garbage here left and right, and sometimes my dad will have a streak where he goes cheap and gets something like that, and inevitably the fuel lines are cracked the next year, some of the knobs or plastic fixtures break off, etc.

My dad and FIL both have 30 year-old echo trimmers, and my shindaiwa has been bullet proof for the time I've had it. None of the good ones are cheap, but I think the solution to trouble is sometimes getting a better unit of the same type, especially if you have areas that really suck the wind out of a battery unit.

So if it's the gas trimmer not running that bothers you, then it comes down to price. A good gas trimmer with a straight shaft and made in the western world is probably about $250-$300. My battery unit was something like $80 back when I got it. I definitely would deal with it rather than buying one of the $70 gas trimmers.

[Andy Haney]

I have the Ryobi 15 amp plug-in model. Beats the heck out of fighting the gasoline models, in my opinion. The universal attachments also work well, for instance the edger has plenty of power. 100 ft cord gets my whole yard.

Andy

[Greg Cuetara]

Thanks for al the input. Charles that is exactly what I was looking for to make sure the ryobi isn't junk. I just bought the li ion ryobi drill so it would work great to have multiple batteries and what I am trying to do is just a little grass around a playset etc not trying to take down 3 ft of weeds

[Frank Trinkle]

You will love the Ryobi. I've had that trimmer for a few years and have used it regularly without issue. The other benefit is if you have other One+ tools that use the same batteries. I have a bunch!. My single favorite Ryobi tool for outdoor (and garage) work is their battery powered leaf blower. I use it so much that I bought a second one, just in case Ryobi stops offering them.

Great, innovative tools, and have never had a problem with any of my 15+, 18V Ryobi tools.

[Chris Damm]

I usually have no use for B7D products but my wife bought a 18v trimmer 5 years ago. It works much better than the Echo gas powered it replaced. I bought a blower to go with it a couple of years ago. It works well for small jobs on our .4 acre lot. I get out the big blower for big jobs.

[Myk Rian]

I bought a Ryobi 18v. The L-ion battery also fits my drill.
The trimmer does a good job, but will bog down if you hit the ground too hard with it.
It came with a great charger that is mounted on the garage wall.

[Ben Hatcher]

HD also sells higher capacity batteries for the Ryobi one+ that claims to give 4x longer run time over the base battery.

[Phil Thien]

I have the Ryobi because I have several of the 18V larger LI batteries already, so it was a no-brainer.

I have a small lot, but I also use the Ryobi turned on side to edge the lawn. This is asking a lot of a cordless trimmer. I've gotten pretty good at it. I consume about an entire battery each time I edge the grass, so it runs quite a bit (25 minutes?).

It absolutely is less powerful than a plug-in electric, but it suits my purposes perfectly.

I also have the cordless blower at work that I use for cleaning-out dusty computers. Probably not powerful enough to clean a driveway, but it is great for blowing-out a dusty PC.

[Brent Ring]

I'm not a fan of Black & Decker in general but I have been very pleased with their 110v electric Brush Hog weed whacker. It has lasted several years longer than I expected it to.


I have the same one - although mine is a 2nd - the first only lasted 1 year = on my 3rd year with this one - it eats line, but otherwise does a great job. I did not want to spend a ton for a good gas one, and all the gas ones I had previously quit starting consistently after 18 months. I hate dragging a cord - but oh well - it works!

[Charles Wiggins]

HD also sells higher capacity batteries for the Ryobi one+ that claims to give 4x longer run time over the base battery.

In my anecdotal experience, it depends on the task. I used to get AT LEAST twice the run time out of the Lithium over the NiCd battery that came with the my tools (which is now dead). Maybe more. I never made the effort to time it on anything but weed wackin'. As I mentioned, I have used my string trimmer to mow, and I would get about 12-15 minutes of constant run time out of the NiCd and 25-30 minutes out of the Lithium. My sense is that in start and stop tasks like drilling and sawing the Lithium lasts much longer than twice the NiCd. I rarely have to swap batteries during an outdoor project.

The Lithium batteries have other benefits including:


They hold a charge much longer. I don't get into the shop every week, so I love knowing that I won't have to wait for my batteries to charge before I can use my drill.
They have a flatter discharge curve. With lead acid batteries, they start strong but gradually get weaker and weaker. Lithium batteries stay strong from the beginning with only a slight drop-off in power just before they have to be recharged.
They charge faster. My old NiCd had a charge time of around an hour whereas they Lithium was about 45 minutes.
They're lighter. More power with less weight.

[Curt Harms]

I have the same one - although mine is a 2nd - the first only lasted 1 year = on my 3rd year with this one - it eats line, but otherwise does a great job. I did not want to spend a ton for a good gas one, and all the gas ones I had previously quit starting consistently after 18 months. I hate dragging a cord - but oh well - it works!

We've had a B&D corded string trimmer for years. B&D's electric lawn tools seem decent, we also have a corded electric mower for a townhouse lot. The only maintenance has been to replace the brushes occasionally. The trick with corded lawn tools is to start at the outlet and work out. The only issue I have with the string trimmer is it uses about the smallest diameter line available. It's prone to breaking when cutting woody weeds or sometimes when trimming around fences.

[Greg Cuetara]

I was able to find a $5 off coupon for HD online and purchased the cordless ryobi li-ion trimmer online with free shipping. It came this week and I went out last night for the first time. Went through a battery and a half to do the whole yard but that may be because the grass is so high right now. Hoping that if I just keep up with it every week I can get through with one battery. Overall i was very impressed and loved the fact that it is so light and easy to carry around. As of right now I would definately recommend to anyone.

[Charles Wiggins]

I was able to find a $5 off coupon for HD online and purchased the cordless ryobi li-ion trimmer online with free shipping. It came this week and I went out last night for the first time. Went through a battery and a half to do the whole yard but that may be because the grass is so high right now. Hoping that if I just keep up with it every week I can get through with one battery. Overall i was very impressed and loved the fact that it is so light and easy to carry around. As of right now I would definately recommend to anyone.

Glad you're pleased. I hope it serves you for a long time.