Battery powered yard tools

[RSKY]

Anybody using battery powered leaf blowers, chainsaw, trimmers, etc. Looking for brands to purchase or ignore.

RSKY

 

[oosik]

Yes, for about two months I had a really cute string trimmer. It was an 18 V, Li, Ryobi. It worked just great but I soon found that I needed something much bigger, more power & with longer run time. I ended up with a Stihl FS350 trimmer.

 

[k0ua]

Yes, for about two months I had a really cute string trimmer. It was an 18 V, Li, Ryobi. It worked just great but I soon found that I needed something much bigger, more power & with longer run time. I ended up with a Stihl FS350 trimmer.

I have that 18v LIon Ryobi, and with the 4 amp battery, I find I am "done" trimming before the battery runs out. I am old and fat though. It doesn't have the power that my gas trimmer does but it has a lot more than the corded trimmer my wife bought and a whole lot more convenience. All in all it is my go to trimmer. I also have the ryobi chainsaw type limb trimmer. I really like it too and you can reach up there and trim off limbs. Every tractor owner should have one. Ryobi is a "budget" brand, but they are not bad for the money. I have a lot of tools that use that 18 volt LiOn pack so I always have fresh batteries and rotate them thru the charger.

 

[oosik]

Ha,ha - I'm old & fat also. And right at this moment, I'm glad its RAINING AGAIN because otherwise I would be out chipping thinned pine trees again. I've thinned about 750-800 small pines and now its time to start chipping and these 'ol bones are still sore from yesterdays chipping activities. Want to know how a donkey must feel - start dragging 30 foot long x 4" diameter pine trees up to your chipper for half a day.

Anyhow, the Ryobi was a good little unit - gave it to my son and he still uses it around his house in town. I just trim a lot of small shrubs, thick weeds and heavy grass that work better with a bigger trimmer.

 

[k0ua]

Ha,ha - I'm old & fat also. And right at this moment, I'm glad its RAINING AGAIN because otherwise I would be out chipping thinned pine trees again. I've thinned about 750-800 small pines and now its time to start chipping and these 'ol bones are still sore from yesterdays chipping activities. Want to know how a donkey must feel - start dragging 30 foot long x 4" diameter pine trees up to your chipper for half a day.

Anyhow, the Ryobi was a good little unit - gave it to my son and he still uses it around his house in town. I just trim a lot of small shrubs, thick weeds and heavy grass that work better with a bigger trimmer.

Yep, if I am going after the brush or even heavy weeds it is time to break out the big gas trimmer. But for everyday trimming I sure appreciate the Ryobi 18volt. But my big gas trimmer weighs a ton (4 cycle) and wears me out after a while toting it up and down these hills.

 

[dirtyb115]

I bought an 18V hedge trimmer a month ago because i have ryobi tools. I was skeptical but i love it. I cut about 3.5 acres and the honeysuckle/woods ect is always growing out into the yard making me duck when mowing. It does a great job on everything up to 1/2 or so. Battery life is impressive.

 

[k0ua]

I bought an 18V hedge trimmer a month ago because i have ryobi tools. I was skeptical but i love it. I cut about 3.5 acres and the honeysuckle/woods ect is always growing out into the yard making me duck when mowing. It does a great job on everything up to 1/2 or so. Battery life is impressive.

One of the things I like about my Ryobi setup is that you can continue to buy tools without the batteries and chargers. I only have 3 batteries for about a dozen tools. I do have 2 chargers, but only use one. I like the idea of rotating batteries thru many different tools. Of course Lithium batteries are so much better than the old NiCads in longevity and shelf life.

 

[check]

One of the things I like about my Ryobi setup is that you can continue to buy tools without the batteries and chargers. I only have 3 batteries for about a dozen tools. I do have 2 chargers, but only use one. I like the idea of rotating batteries thru many different tools. Of course Lithium batteries are so much better than the old NiCads in longevity and shelf life.

Very true, James. All of my old Ryobi NiCad batteries are dead, and all of the new lithium ion batteries are In great shape.

 

[Zick]

I picked up some 24v greenworks hedge trimmer, string trimmer, blower, and pole saw for fairly cheap.

I was pleasantly surprised on the pole saw. It needs a better chain and tensioner but it works pretty well and last a long while.
The hedge trimmer also works pretty good too.
The string trimmer and blower are ok but a little weak and the blower chews through the batteries like there's no tomorrow.

However, I would not recommend them for one reason. They are constantly changing their battery style on newer models and they are not interchangeable.
I ended up buying some bare tools w/out batteries because I thought my other one would work but found it did not. After researching I discovered there are quite a few different batteries that they made over the years that are different.

 

[Bird]

I have the Ego 56V self-propelled 21" mower, the string trimmer, and the leaf blower. I really like all 3, plenty of power and battery capacity.

EGO Power+ - Power Beyond Belief

 

[WM75Guy]

I recommend the 40V Oregon tools. I have the 40V chainsaw and trimmer. The chainsaw has a built in blade sharpener. The trimmer with battery is less than 10 pounds which helps with a bad back. Next purchase will be the blower. I recommend the 4.0 Ah battery over the 2.4 Ah battery. I have 2 standard chargers instead of the rapid charger. You cannot leave the battery on the rapid charger.

We tried the 18V route with a Dewalt trimmer, was not impressed. I do use a 18V Black & Decker blower in the barn. I keep it as I also have a 18V B&D drill.

 

[k0ua]

Very true, James. All of my old Ryobi NiCad batteries are dead, and all of the new lithium ion batteries are In great shape.

Yeah, I keep looking at the old dead Ryobi NiCad's as I pass by the workbench, and wonder "should I rebuild them?" You still can you know.. and then I think Nah, the money would be better spent in buying new LiOn batteries when the time comes. I ought to just dispose of them.

 

[4570Man]

The only thing I would consider is an electronic chainsaw. My buddy has an electric weed eater and blower. I've never used the weed eater, but the terrible balance was enough for me. Hand held blowers suck imo. This one was no exception.

 

[spursjingles]

No! We have muscular builds.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using TractorByNet mobile app

 

[Tjdux]

Ive had good and bad experience with battery yard tools. I began with a 18v nicad black and decker weed trimmer. It destroyed batteries. Its bad to run any battery totally dead and nicad is just not up to snuff for yard tools.

I hate mixing 2 stoke fuel and maintenance on a bunch of little engines so i went 120v corded for a long time and that did well here in town for the last few years.

Then my Dad suprised me by purchasing a 40 volt Greenworks brand pole saw and string trimmer for his farm yard.

He loaned me the pole saw to trim some trees at my house and I was amazed at the power amd battery run time. That saw will cut 5-6 inch limbs no problem with an 8 inch bar. I used it for 4-5 hours cleaning trees and lithium battery still going great.

I never ran his string trimmer but he did tell me it works great for maintaining the farm yard. Now that doesnt include clearing heavy brush but he has many buildings and uses it to keep everything trimmed. Its much more convenient and quiet.

That pole saw inspired me to begin shopping for a new battery powered solution. I started with greenworks brand since my Dads stuff worked great. First thing i learn is they have a new 80 volt lithium battery powered line of tools. 80 volt lithium ion brushless battery poweres tools man. The 40volt stuff works great, im thinking, imagine 80 volts.

So i start reading the amazon reviews. And they are pretty positive. In fact I reccomend you go read some as well if you're seriously shopping for battery tools.

The big downfall for me was price. They are a bit expensive but no worse than their gasoline powered counterparts. I did pit them in my watch lists on amazon and was altered when they went on sale. Got the trimmer almost half off and the 21 inch mower about 200 off. So if you can wait to buy it may be worth it to watch their prices a while.

Finally the tools. They are amazing. Growing up on the farm using gas trimmers, this 80v has all the power most anyone would ever need. Now on the farm we did have a couple oversized trimmers for brush clearing and 1 with a circular chainsaw blade for cutting small pine trees. This 80v probably wouldn't hold up to much of that but i doubt that's what your needing. It will cut small trees (3/8 inch or less) and big weeds (mows down 1/2 trunked thistles all day and i use it to clear my peonies in the fall). Verdict, it's as powerful as a small gas trimmer and will trim both yards (ones a single lot and the other 1.5 lot with lots of kid junk to trim around) on a single 2 amp hour battery.

The mower is great also. Super quiet. Cuts and bags grass nicely. I got the version with the 4 amp hour batt and it will do both yards with charge to spare.

Compared to pull starting my old gas mower which i had to restart everytime i needes to empty the bag this 80v all i do is hit a button. Its so easy. I can't say how well it does in crazy overgrown grass but i can say i planted some new grass in part of my yard and let the old grass around it grow about 8 inches tall and it didnt mow it perfectly even but neither would my gas one.

 

[California]

Ditto on all the Ryobi li-Ion tools mentioned above. I also have the impact driver (deck screws etc) not the impact wrench (automotive).

Their 18 volt chainsaw is ideal for my use in this apple orchard. I no longer own a 2-cycle saw, don't need it. Most anything I want to cut up is dead, fallen, punky, and it goes through that like butter. Last summer I had to deal with a dead and leaning Eucalyptus, it did ok in that hard dried wood. And I cut up a fallen fresh Eucalyptus that was blocking a lane, as far as I could go with the 10 inch bar. That one worked the saw as hard as I think it can take without hurting it. A neighbor with a commercial size saw and splitter cut up the rest of it down to the 36" base, to take home for firewood. I would never use a 2-cycle saw like that in a decade, it would be cheaper to rent one if I ever needed it - and no fuel mix to store here.

I'm sold on Ryobi for my intermittent farm projects.

One tip, batteries and chargers are less expensive if you get them in a kit with the impact wrench or something. And Homelite gear uses the same battery, I have two of their hedge trimmers that I found in a thrift store @ $5 each.

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Added: Since the OP asked about yard tools I should add some emphasis to that. I use the Ryobi 18v string trimmer frequently. Just grab a battery and go, no 2-cycle fuel to fuss with. It's easier to keep up with minor spots since there's no overhead to get gas, blend it, refuel, storage, all that.

I also like the Homelite/Ryobi (maroon color) hedge trimmer. It's not quite a powerful as my corded one but it's a lot quicker to set up and go.

If you wouldn't use a chain saw enough to justify buying it, the recripro saw in Ryobi's combo kit sure beats a handheld pruning saw for occasionally cutting back limbs. Or even the little circular saw, if your branches are straight so you can get the saw in there. It cuts well, and faster, but the recipro saw fits into more places.

 

[hawkeye08]

An advertisement for Rigid tools keeps popping up on my Facebook. Lifetime battery replacement catches my eye..

 

[Gunny]

I've got darned near everything Ryobi makes in their 18V series (once the family found out I liked their tools, they started buying me the different items for Christmas, etc). The string trimmer is a treat to use after lugging around my 4 cycle gas trimmer. I've got 200' of chain link fence and 120' of board fence around my back yard. I slap a 4AH battery in the trimmer and trim along the fences, around the swimming pool, the decks and around the house on that one battery. If the battery is fully charged, I still have two out of the four charge indicators left when I'm done trimming. It's not good for heavy brush, but it will trim grass and small weeds with no problem.

On a side note, I recently had a battery go bad on me, less than an year after I'd bought it, so luckily I still had the receipt for it. I called up Ryobi support, went through their rigamarole with the battery, tool and charger, then sent them a copy of the receipt. After a couple of weeks, I got an email with their warranty replacement documentation and they signed off the letter with this:
Thank you for allowing us to assist with your service needs!
RIDGID Warranty Service

I don't know what the relationship is between Ryobi and Rigid, but as long as the send me the correct battery, I'm OK with it.

And as far as battery life, I've still got two Ryobi P103 Lithium batteries that I bought in June 2010, still going strong.

 

[coachgrd]

I got an 18v Ryobi weed wacker last spring. Got tired of fighting gas powered ones, and the ratings on this one were great. I also got it at a time when there was a rebate for an additional battery, which I have not even opened yet. This unit has proved to be very good. I have to run it on the higher of the two power settings, but even at that, I've never come close to running it down where I need to re-charge. There are three lights on it, indicating the power remaining, and I have got down to 1 while doing my 15-20 min of trimming but that's as close as I've come to running it down.

I also needed to replace the trimmer line for the first time recently and boy was an engineer thinking when he designed this. VERY slick. Took a pain in the rear procedure and turned it into a 2 minute job.

 

[RSKY]

I got the KOBALT 40-v blower for my wife to use. She likes it. Not quite as strong as the gas powered Echo but much more powerful than the 19.2-v Craftsman it replaced. Hmmm,,,they also sell a chainsaw, hedge trimmer, weed eater, and a couple other things that use the same battery. Those would be handy.

RSKY