battery powered strimmer

km79

has anyone any experience with using a battery powered strimmer? i have half acre site garden fron back and side. i have no shed or garage so cant store a petrol one have just been borrowing a friends but he lives twenty miles away. i noticed in b&q that there are battery powered one . the two most expensive were a Workx 18v one which had twin line bump and feed 80 euro. the other was Bosch also 18 v but it did not use line it used plastic things that clipped on.

The Sweeper

In my personal experience, the battery ones are only good for doing edges on established and well manicured lawns. If you're fighting long grass and weeds, you need the petrol one. The battery ones run out quickly and aren't as heavy duty - I have one in my garage and bought my mother in law one for her garden, and to be honest I can barely remember the brands because they get so little use. Think her one's a Black n Decker and mine's something like an Ozito or Ryobi or somesuch.

fryup

ya, i have one its an xtreme (argos brand) its ok for light work - long grass etc.

You get about 10-15mins out of them, i think seeing you have a large site you should go for the worx lithum battery strimmer wee bit expensive but you get 30+ mins from them.

Ryobi have easy start petrol models that are worth investigating.

km79

thanks for the replies its mainly long grass along wall and fence . but if im only going to get half hour out of them its a waste of time

Discodog

24 volt Toro here. Have no idea if it's any good. The one huge advantage with B&Q is you can take it home, try it & then bring it back if you are not happy.

km79

really b&q let ya do that?
where u get the 24 volt and how much

Discodog

B&Q will accept returns if the product does not live up to the claims on the packaging etc. So if you buy a strimmer & you are not happy with it, you could return it with an excuse like the battery does not last as long as it says etc.

I have no idea where you would get the Toro but I assume that a Toro dealer would be able to get it.

mrblack

km79 wrote: »

thanks for the replies its mainly long grass along wall and fence . but if im only going to get half hour out of them its a waste of time

Last year I bought a mains powered 700watt Black & Decker strimmer for E80. I also bought a 50m extension lead to use it around the garden. I have found it to be easier to operate than petrol and no need to remember to charge the battery either. It has cut everything in its stride so far & I would recommend this setup over a battery powered strimmer every time. A 50m + 30m electric extension cable should reach around your half acre easily, especially if your house is centred in the site.

mrblack

Discodog

Why not get a cheap shed or storage bin ?.

fryup

mrblack wrote: »

Last year I bought a mains powered 700watt Black & Decker strimmer for E80.

I have one of those as well, amazing power off them as good as a petrol one and without the hassle of starting them, but the cable can be a pain in the arse.

Cordless are fine for quick easy jobs arond the place.

Burgess5

Another idea. I don't like strimmers and haven't used one in years. It is called weedkiller. Get a knapsack sprayer and carefully spray round the base of trees, bottom of fences, between shrubs etc. As long as it is done carefully - choose a fine warm day - you will keep on top of most weeds. Strimmers can cause a lot of damage to trees and shrubs.
I use weedol or round-up on beds etc. I also use it to keep a 6 inch wide strip free of grass at the base of my garden wall. I use hytrol on a strip of land between my garden and some adjoining waste ground.
I generally spray once in April and repeat in mid-summer.

km79

thanks for the reply but i HATE spraying weeds. have had to spray the back half twice year for 4 yrs till i got aroubnd to doing the lawn so ive had my fill of round up:eek: regarding the electric i would be worried about safety of extension lead ?

Burgess5

I know of a case some years ago as follows. A guy had installed an electric pump in a garden pond. Some time later he was clipping some bushes and nicked the cable.
He was found dead in his garden by his wife.
A circuit breaker (ELCB) might have saved him.
I don't think long cables and gardens are a great idea.

secman

Hi Km,

As it happens I bought the Bosch one at the weekend. Ideally it is more suited to a small urban garden. I was using it to trim edges on a .63 acre site. Had to re charge it 3 times. But it is much more accurate than the petrol one, I,ve lost many a shrub whilst trying to trim grass in between shrubs when using the heavy duty petrol one. Another thing is that it weighs about 1/4 of the weight of the petrol one, if even that. I was going to bring it back to Dublin ,but have decided that I can live with it and the recharging !

Secman

km79

secman wrote: »

Hi Km,

As it happens I bought the Bosch one at the weekend. Ideally it is more suited to a small urban garden. I was using it to trim edges on a .63 acre site. Had to re charge it 3 times. But it is much more accurate than the petrol one, I,ve lost many a shrub whilst trying to trim grass in between shrubs when using the heavy duty petrol one. Another thing is that it weighs about 1/4 of the weight of the petrol one, if even that. I was going to bring it back to Dublin ,but have decided that I can live with it and the recharging !

Secman

how about the plastic things instead of the line??? how many did you use that was one of the main things that put me off . i had never seen them before

dxhound2005

http://www.aldi.ie/ie/html/offers/special_buys3_12674.htm

I bought one of these in Aldi a couple of years ago and I sent off for a second battery and 100 blades, cant remember how much but not very expensive. It worked great until the metal stud where you attach the blades wore away and now the blades just fly off. My own fault I think for using it to strim grass/weeds in cracks on concrete paths. If you were only using it for grass the blades lasted a long time.

I could never get any line strimmer to feed out the line properly.

The Sweeper

dxhound2005 wrote: »

I could never get any line strimmer to feed out the line properly.

LOL, I have three line timmers in my garage at the moment - I hate using them, the petrol ones are heavy and I lose the sensation in my arms after 15 minutes, and the battery ones which are light enough for me are just crap - but yes, whichever one I'm using, on a bad day I'll spend more time with the frickin thing upended trying to fix the line feed mechanism, and turning the air blue as I do it...

Discodog

Lidl Strimmer available Monday 18 volt

http://www.lidl.ie/IE/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20100510.p.18V_Cordless_Grass_Trimmer

fryup

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

no memory effect?? in laymans terms what does that mean?

km79

i think what it means is that you dont have to let it fully run down and then charge it up fully each time like u are supposed to with phone batteries etc???
i might chance one of them and buy a second battery on e bay . it does not say how long the battery life is though?
would ye think they will sell out quick?

Discodog

They might. Remember that you can also return items to Lidl if it is no good. Have you found batteries of ebay ?. If so can you give the link ?.

fryup

Think i might be in Q on monday morning, the hedge trimmer seems good value too - one hour charging seems seems very good.

Whats the story with the blades how durable are they??

Discodog

I don't think it's good value because it is not Lithium. There are loads of cheap drill etc at the moment because Li ion is taking over. There is a Bosch one here for a similar price.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Bosch-AHS-41-Accu-Cordless-Hedgecutter-/290423281372?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Home_Garden_GardenPowerTools_CA&hash=item439e9396dc#ht_1033wt_941

I would recommend looking out for an "anti stall system". I have a Stihl petrol cutter but I also have a little 3.6 volt Bosch trimmer. The previous Bosch model was useless as the blade would stall if it could not cut through. The new models are clever in that they will not stop but keep cutting until they cut the stem. That one change has turned into a very useful tool - I used it today to tidy a big Pampas !

km79

got the lidl one this morning and have to say im delighted with it . got the whole lot i wanted done in one go. the battery lasted forty five minutes and changed the blades three times which makes a change from adjusting the line every couple of minutes. also a lot lighter

fryup

km79 wrote: »

the battery lasted forty five minutes

45 mins:eek: on one charge??, are you serious??

and how about spare blades where can they be purchased??

btw - grass strimmer sold out in my local lidl

km79

yeah could not believe it forty five minutes. i seen the blades in b and q

roy16_1977

can anyone recommend good cordless grass strimmers, last bout 45 mins to 1 hours before needs charging, ones in lidl sold out on day.
Thanks.

pavb2

I know it's an old thread maybe products have improved but can anyone recommend a decent battery strimmer

Thanks

fryup

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

well i can recommend one NOT to get

the work lithium strimmer useless!