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anyone know about battery powered string trimmers?

W

wpeng

Senior member
I just got a Ryobi, and the battery lasts like 30 minutes tops. Is that normal? Is it worth it at all to get an electric trimmer when you can't even do your whole yard in one battery charge?
 
I have a black and decker I got from Walmart. It only goes about 30 minutes on a charge too, but it came with two batteries. Its plenty for my yard. In fact, I used it Sunday and didn't even need the second battery.

My suggestion: If you're not getting enough use time out of a charge, look into getting a spare battery.
 
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If you're taking up to 30 minutes to use a trimmer than you are either REALLY slow or you have too much property and need a gas powered unit. I don't think I've even spent 30 minutes weed whacking 3 acres of lawn before. Hurry it up sugar pants!
 
I have a 36V Lithium B&D that has an adjustable power level. It's possible, with light work, to get an hour out of a battery.
 
I've got an 18v Black and Decker that I paid $100 for. It came with two batteries. Each gets me about 20 minutes. It's not very powerful, but its enough to trim the lawn. It gets bogged down pretty easily when doing anything lack hacking down weeds or cutting tall grass.

I also have the corded version of the same trimmer which costs $40 and its much more powerful. It'll power through tall grass and weeds no problem.
 
SampSon said:
If you're taking up to 30 minutes to use a trimmer than you are either REALLY slow or you have too much property and need a gas powered unit. I don't think I've even spent 30 minutes weed whacking 3 acres of lawn before. Hurry it up sugar pants!
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That really depends on what you have in your lawn. I have 1.9 acres, and close to 100 trees. Many too close together to mow around. Likewise, landscaping, swing sets, trailers....

Takes me 45 minutes to weed whack. I do it 4 or 5 times a summer.

But I wouldn't go out in public and admit I used a battery powered weed whacker.
 
Leros said:
I've got an 18v Black and Decker that I paid $100 for. It came with two batteries. Each gets me about 20 minutes. It's not very powerful, but its enough to trim the lawn. It gets bogged down pretty easily when doing anything lack hacking down weeds or cutting tall grass.

I also have the corded version of the same trimmer which costs $40 and its much more powerful. It'll power through tall grass and weeds no problem.
Click to expand...

I have the same, along with a blower that uses the same battery. Not nearly enough for a small half-acre.

Already tried a gas trimmer, too hard to start. Considering a corded trimmer, but not happy about it.
 
LTC8K6 said:
I have a 36V Lithium B&D that has an adjustable power level. It's possible, with light work, to get an hour out of a battery.
Click to expand...

Same here, I like it quite a bit. Works well even on thicker weeds.

I can do ~300' of sidewalk, another 50' of driveway, and around the front of my landscaping as well as curbs without a problem.

Got mine refurb'd (2yr warranty) for $90, just ordered the blower/vacuum for $85 with another battery.
 
Lol, thanks for the advice. I've never owned a string trimmer before, so I had no idea what to expect.
 
SlitheryDee said:
I have a black and decker I got from Walmart. It only goes about 30 minutes on a charge too, but it came with two batteries. Its plenty for my yard. In fact, I used it Sunday and didn't even need the second battery.

My suggestion: If you're not getting enough use time out of a charge, look into getting a spare battery.
Click to expand...

I've got the same one, came with a blower too, battery life is fine for average yards ans gets a little better as you use 'em. fairly durable too boot, mines 2yrs old, no problems.
 
If you have a Batteries Plus store in your area, they will rebuild the Black & Decker battery packs with better batteries. B&D used niCD batteries of 1500 mAh. which after 3-4 years will seriously drop their charge. After 5 years I was getting less than 5 minutes from mine.

Batteries Plus will replace the entire niCD packs with niMH 1800mAh or even 2100 mAh batteries that will conceivably run longer than the original B&D batteries. I'm on year 2 of these 1800 batteries and they do a great job. I paid $100 for all 3 of my batteries to be done.

They will only rebuild the packs if they have removable tops with screws on them. If its a sealed unit, they will not attempt the rebuild unless you open them yourself.

The 'new' stock batteries sold by B&D cost anywhere from $50-60 a pop, so for the price of two stock ones I got three that essentially are better than new ones.
 
I got the Ryobi weed whacker and blower combo two years ago. is perfect for me. The blower is a bit underpowered but it works fine for blowing out the garage of pine needles and leaves that have been tracked in. The weed whacker is perfect for me. Charged battery last plenty long enough for me. Since i have Ryobi drills already the battery is a nice addition as was the extra battery charger. It does get bogged down though.

Really its all about what you need ot get the job done. A gas trimmer is no faster in my case (ive used my neighbors) and i have such a small area a even half empty battery does fine. Much easier to use than gas and since i has 300 feet or so between places i trim a corded would have been annoying.
 
ANYTHING Battery = crap to me, I never even consider buying it. HOWEVER, if you use it daily battery powered drills/impacts are pretty good.

sixone said:
Already tried a gas trimmer, too hard to start.
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What kind did you get?

My Echo starts pretty easily, but I don't leave same gas in it for more than 2-3 months and empty it completely for the winter. So far, it starts just fine.
 
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I have the black and decker and the battery lasts only 10-15minutes. I have to use two battery packs to barely get the job done
 
sixone said:
I have the same, along with a blower that uses the same battery. Not nearly enough for a small half-acre.

Already tried a gas trimmer, too hard to start. Considering a corded trimmer, but not happy about it.
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We have a Husqvarna 2 stroke at the shop. It starts like it has EFI. 😀
 
Yes, electric trimmers suck. Mine only lasts like 15 minutes.

Will be getting a gas powered trimmer next year to replace it.
 
I have a 36v trimmer that's awesome. It has adjustable speed so I can increase battery life if I don't need to crank it up. I usually can do the whole yard on a single battery, but I have another one that I got with the blower/sweeper. The sweeper is terrible, but I wanted another battery anyway and it wasn't that much more than buying a battery by itself.
 
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