cordless weed wacker?

[Rob Stanhope]

Ryobi has an 18 v lithium ion powered string trimmer,about one hundred bucks,wondering if anyone has used one,and if so ,regrets

[David Weaver]

Ryobi has an 18 v lithium ion powered string trimmer,about one hundred bucks,wondering if anyone has used one,and if so ,regrets

Didn't use that one, but did use another one for a while and eventually got a gas trimmer. Can't do cords on my yard, thought that the string trimmer advertised as being able to do 45 minutes of trimming on a charge would get the job done.

My experience wasn't 45 minutes, though, because a lot of the trimming was along fences, and inevitably, that pulls down the trimmer some when it gets into the fence, and so does the heavy stuff that grows along it.

If you're just doing light grass along bricks or concrete and you keep after it, it should work fine. If you're doing infrequent trimming in grass allowed to grow long and thick, or you're trimming against something that grabs the line, then cordless trimmers don't have enough in their pants to get it done.

[Prashun Patel]

Do you have any cordless garden tools? If you do, then your experience trumps mine. But here's my 2 cents from having experimented myself with a cordless trimmer.

They stink.

They work well for a few charges, but then they start to need constant recharging and they just don't have the umph to do what needs to be done.

Get a gas one. If you really don't want to mess with the gas and don't use it often, then get a corded one with a proper extension cord.

[Jeff Monson]

I couldnt agree more that the battery life quickly decreases, I've had a couple rechargable weedeaters in the past. Well, this summer, after my wife has cut 2 extension cords on our hedge trimmer, I decided to buy a lithium ion hedge trimmer, I have been pleasantly suprised so far, the lithium batterys seem to hold better......like I said....so far.

[Mike Minto]

Rob, I know it's not what you asked, but I have a B&D cordless 18v. Have used it only a little, but find it works well for light work, grass & not too thick weeds - only about 3" of string protrudes to cut with. My gas one is recalcitrant and my shoulder won't take much pulling before it starts to hurt. Takes about 6 hours to fully charge, and they have a family of tools that use the same batteries. Not a bad machine for a C-note, I guess.

[David Weaver]

I have a "hedgehog" trimmer, have had it for a couple of years, and it works fine for light stuff, but will not touch a large holly tree that I have. I think when I got it, I thought I would get off cheaply and not have to deal with dodging the cord.

It does work better than the cordless trimmer did, i think they consume a lot less when they're running - not under as much load as the string trimmers.

Since got a gas trimmer to deal with the holly tree since you can fit much bigger stuff between the cutters on it, and it has a lot more power, so don't use the battery powered one much - but it is more useful to my mind than is the trimmer. I still hate coming in and then having to fart around charging the battery.

For all of the poo poo they give to gas trimmers, I'd much rather mix gas once a year and fill the tank every 3 times I use the thing than chase around the stupid batteries.

[Dan Hintz]

We use mostly cordless stuff in this household... not because it's better, but because the missus finds anything powered by gas and a pull-string to be hard to start.

During our last trip to the outlet mall last year, we stopped by the Black & Decker store where refurbs are sold... picked up a cordless weedwhacker. It included two rechargables (refurbs, as well, big mistake)... it does okay for the typical weeds, but I wouldn't count on it for anything heavy, and the batteries don't hold a charge for very long (mostly due to them being refurbs).

[Lance Norris]

Rob... I have the older blue Ryobi 18 volt trimmer, and I power it with the new Li-ion battery, so it is essentially the same tool as the newer green one. I like it. It has plenty of power to get the job done, and feeds line automatically with each release of the trigger. I dont have a big yard, (55x155) so if you are trying to trim alot of area, it might need a battery change at some point, but I can trim for 20-30 minutes and still have enough battery to use the blower (Ryobi 18v) and blow the clippings off the cement. I would recommend it. I have a large Craftsman gas trimmer that is a monster... sure it blows away the Ryobi as far as performance, but it now hangs in the back of the shed, because the Ryobi is the one I reach for all the time. Seriously.

[Matt Meiser]

My brother uses a cordless B&D for his small city lot and it workable for him. I can go through a tank ad gas in mine so I'm guessing it couldn't do my yard.

[Chris Damm]

I bought a B&D 18v last year to replace a 20 year old gas powered one. It works very well for my .4 acre lot. We'll see how well it lasts. I paid about $50 on sale for it.

[Jason Roehl]

Since you're going to go the gas trimmer route ... I have a Troy-Bilt gas trimmer that has a "spring-assist" pull cord on it. It's very easy to start, and doesn't take a lot of yanking on the pull cord. The spring assist makes the pulls very easy, too.

The only downside I've had it that it took me several tries to get one that worked--on the first one, the drive shaft at the quick connect on the attachment end wasn't long enough, so it got eaten by the square drive on the motor end. So I exchanged just the attachment end, but it turns out the motor end was also chewed up enough to cause problems, so I had to exchange that, too. It works just fine now. I went through all that because I had an old Ryobi gas trimmer with a bunch of attachments, but the power head bit the dust, and this Troy-Bilt fit those attachments.