Battery weed eater

[Tony in SD]

im thinking buying a battery powered weed eater. What experience do you have with DeWalt, Milwaukee, Ryobi etc?

 

[Swittig]

I have a Milwaukee, like it. The nice part is the other attachments you can get for it. The rubber paddle broom is great for getting rock out of the yard. The trimmer keeps up with my 122 Husqvarna gas. 8.0 battery will go around 250 to 300 ft on my cattle fence. This is around 2 ft wide and around a foot high. Main reason for Milwaukee is battery compatibility with other tools that I have.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

im thinking buying a battery powered weed eater. What experience do you have with DeWalt, Milwaukee, Ryobi etc?

About 20 years ago, I bought a 12v B&D string trimmer. When the string hit a wire fence, it would strip the plastic gears inside.

That was my first and last battery string trimmer.

I bought a very powerful 4 cycle Husqvarna commerical trimmer that will last me a lifetime.

The engine is made by Honda.

It starts easy. I can't start a 2 cycle trimmer, bad shoulder.

 

[MarkB_MI]

My wife has a Ryobi that she bought about ten years ago. It works well enough for light work around the house, but I have my Stihl FS85 for the serious stuff. The batteries are a major expense since you need a couple of the larger batteries to do much work.

 

[Vince/PA]

I bought the Milwaukee because I already had the drill driver set that way batteries interchange. I have the string trimmer head, pole saw, and edger. It works fine but you can go through the batteries if you have a big job. Overall I like it.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

My wife has a Ryobi that she bought about ten years ago. It works well enough for light work around the house, but I have my Stihl FS85 for the serious stuff. The batteries are a major expense since you need a couple of the larger batteries to do much work.

Mark,
I have a 20v Ryobi to 20 v Dewalt adapter I no longer use. Do you have 20v dewalt batteries?

 

[GChief]

We switched to 40v Roybi 3 yrs ago when we movws to this property and have not looked back. Weekeaters with attachments, chainsaw, hedge trimmer and push mower. We have been using the cultivator attachment

Haven't touched my Stihl chainsaws or weekeaters since.

Same can be said of our ICE push mower.

Edit: with the 3 yr old 40v Royobi batteries I can do our 2100 ft of fence and around the house with one 4 hr battery. The push mower will do 1/4 -3/4 of an acre depending on grass height, it will also power through tall grass just like our ICE. Kill the battery, do a swap and keep rolling.

 

[timcasbolt]

I have a 20 volt Dewalt trimmer. It works well enough. A 6 amp battery is enough to do the basic trimming after mowing the lawn. When I want to do the driveway edges (300 feet) that will use up a battery, and when I want to do along the fence (230 feet) that will use up a battery. I'm satisfied with it because I run everything off the same batteries, hedge trimmer leaf blower, power tools, etc. I have 5 batteries and 3 chargers.

 

[RCP]

We have been using Stihl battery operated lawn tools and have been happy with them. They are not cheap but seem to be well made. I keep batteries on three chargers and change batteries as needed.

 

[J Hamilton]

We have a couple Stihl battery weed eaters at work. One is the FSA 90R with the drive motor on top of the string head and it doesn't feel very well balanced when using it even though the battery is supposed to counter balance it, you really feel it in your forearms after about 15 minutes of use. The other one is a FSA135R with the drive motor where the common gas engine is. This model feels much better balanced and easier to use, but has a higher price tag. On a fully charged battery, they will run approximately the same amount of time as a full tank of gas on similar gas model. This is the second year for them, and they perform as well as they did when new.

 

[John T]

Tony, I have a green works battery weed eater with. 40 volt lithium battery (it’s outside I’d have to look but think that’s it lol) that works perfect no problems. I love it and won’t go back to a gas powered. That’s MY experience I’m well satisfied and with all the brands out there I’m sure others have different experiences and opinions but I’m happy never going back. Someone could google it and find pro or con reviews and opinions on about any brands.
John T

 

[wp6529]

The 20V Ryobi I got the wife a few years ago is still doing well using my 18V Makita LXT batteries with an adapter.

 

[showcrop]

I have a Ryobi with a fairly large battery. I usually run it only half way down with my normal trim job.

 

[M-MAN]

I have a MILWAUKEE. It came with 9 ah batteries. Works great. Two speeds. One for light use and one for heavy. Most of the time I use a 5 ah battery because I prefer less weight.

 

[860dually]

I have a milwaukee and am using milwaukee line and it doesn't want to feed. It goes through batteries pretty quick.

 

[Texasmark]

im thinking buying a battery powered weed eater. What experience do you have with DeWalt, Milwaukee, Ryobi etc?

I use a Ryobi which comes with a double sized battery as compared to the ones in their regular tools. Batteries last a reasonable amount of time and I have half a dozen in other tools so I just take some spares with me on big jobs. It does a good job on grass but if I am in heavy stuff, or things with thick stems, my gas Stihl comes out.

 

[chuckthin]

I have a milwaukee and am using milwaukee line and it doesn't want to feed. It goes through batteries pretty quick.

I found a roll of line I bought 35 yrs ago and thought it would be bad. As it turns out it much better than the Milwaukee line.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

If you're going to buy new batteries go for a 40V trimmer. They'll handle much larger stuff and run longer if you're just trimming grass.

Otherwise go with the brand that matches the rest of the tools in your toolbox.

 

[moresmoke]

I have an Ego battery trimmer, works great for most trimming duties, battery lasts about as long as you want to carry it in one shot. Starts every time the wife uses it. No complaints about it, or the push mower.

Still drag out the commercial Echo a couple times a year to do the big cutting around the bins and old tractors and such.

 

[Keith True]

They have their place,but their place seems to be getting bigger.I bought a cheapo B&D trimmer for a 95 year old lady my wife takes care of.Batteries were supposed to last X amount of minutes,much longer than she figured she could work.She called to tell me the batteries were wearing out too quick.Turns out that the trimmer is so light that she was actually working well beyond the batteries estimated time,without getting tired.I cured the problem by getting her two more batteries.I have a 4 stroke gas trimmer for real work,but use a 20 volt DeWalt for 90% of my home work.I won't go out and kill trees or work up firewood with a battery chainsaw,but I won't take a gas saw up in the manlift to trim a couple of trees either.