Battery strimmers

[Penny Whistle]

I already have a "proper" brushcutter (Stihl), but it's too cumbersome for Mrs W to use. I am considering getting a relatively light weight battery strimmer, probably Einhell as I already have a lot of their kit. I see that many of their smaller ones have blades instead of (or as well as) line heads. Any experience of using blades ? I imagine they could be ok for neat lawn edges, but would soon wear if subjected to anything more meaty. Am I right ?

[zb]

In my experience blades are rubbish, wasn't too hard to reverse engineer it to take line.

[normalbloke]

I’ve got a Milwaukee strimmer, with a line head. It’s very good, and so lightweight. It was the first bit of MW garden kit I bought,after having loads of MW garage tools, and it’s surpassed expectations. In fact, I have two now.

[Bluevanman]

I have an Einhell with a wire and it's fine

[TheDrownedApe]

Yeah i have a greenworks 24v strimmer. It's not great but good enough for the garden edging and no cables or fuel make it child's play......however we help out clearing local dog walking trials and it struggles with undergrowth. However im not sure if its the strimmer or the cable; I've wanted to try the blades but CBA buying them

[BertB]

TheDrownedApe said:

Yeah i have a greenworks 24v strimmer. It's not great but good enough for the garden edging and no cables or fuel make it child's play......however we help out clearing local dog walking trials and it struggles with undergrowth. However im not sure if its the strimmer or the cable; I've wanted to try the blades but CBA buying them

I've the 24v from greenworks, after I swapped the line out to an oregon branded one it was better, still not great but better than the provided line.

[Portofino]

40v Greenworks here no issues with it & the wife can easily use it.

[OutInTheShed]

I've used a cheap battery strimmer with a blade.
It is generally very good.
I think it would particularly excel at taking your toes off if you're not careful.

Seriously, it depends on the vegetation in question. Sometimes the battery thing with a blade is better than my little petrol one with a line.
It's good on twiggy stuff which gets through a lot of line.
Certain sorts of grass seem to tangle around the blade though.

[Getragdogleg]

I have a Stihl battery line strimmer, its been really good for the edges of the garden and weeds at the edge of the lane.

Hasn't been too greedy on line either, its quiet and the battery lasts ages but after a while It gets heavy and would benefit from a harness.

[TheDrownedApe]

BertB said:

I've the 24v from greenworks, after I swapped the line out to an oregon branded one it was better, still not great but better than the provided line.

Does yours auto-dispense? I find it a pain having to pop the reel out everytime to lengthen it.

[Junglebert]

I’ve got a big petrol Stihl strimmer that a few years ago I put a metal blade on, it’s brilliant for whacking heavy duty stuff, but a bit much for lighter work, and it’s heavy and tiring to use, so a few months ago I bought the smallest Milwaukee line trimmer, it’s brilliant, much more capable than I was expecting, much easier to use than the Stihl, and as a result gets used more. I wouldn’t be without one now, there’s a redemption scheme on at the moment to get a free battery if you buy a trimmer.

[Sporky]

I got the Toro free with a Hayter battery mower. It's not hugely light, but it bakances well on the strap do is much less unwieldy than the tiny Black and Decker one I had ages ago.

I'd venture that balance is more important than weight.

[Byker28i]

I've bought a ryobi, £70 on the current offer, because we only need to do a little and it's so lightweight. Suitable for garden use only, wouldn't like to hack down wilderness with it, but the little battery lasts ages. I also bought one of their fans, handy at car shows this summer

[Penny Whistle]

The blades I'm referring to are little plastic ones, not the metal saw disks which I do occasionally mount on the Stihl. I suspect they wear down very quickly and will not touch bramble for example.

Junglebert said:

I ve got a big petrol Stihl strimmer that a few years ago I put a metal blade on, it s brilliant for whacking heavy duty stuff, but a bit much for lighter work, and it s heavy and tiring to use, so a few months ago I bought the smallest Milwaukee line trimmer, it s brilliant, much more capable than I was expecting, much easier to use than the Stihl, and as a result gets used more. I wouldn t be without one now, there s a redemption scheme on at the moment to get a free battery if you buy a trimmer.

That's interesting as I do have some Milwaukee kit, which is of course far better than Einhell, but their strimmer is twice the weight - though as has been said, balance is more important. And the free battery brings the man-maths price down significantly. Hmm.

[TwistingMyMelon]

Ive got an ancient Titian battery strimmer with cord from screwfix.

Its the only strimmer Ive never been able to kill and does the job well in a basic no nonsnese way

[rossub]

They’re so easy to change though and cheap.

They don’t last if you hit walls and other edging like I do, but on just grass and weeds they last long enough.

Brambles - well no, not enormous bushes, but they’ll take out individual stems.

[OutInTheShed]

Penny Whistle said:

That's interesting as I do have some Milwaukee kit, which is of course far better than Einhell, but their strimmer is twice the weight - though as has been said, balance is more important. And the free battery brings the man-maths price down significantly. Hmm.

There are other blades, ranging from circular saw to a straight thin metal blade.
The one I have used has a thin metal straight blade.
You can also get wire flails and various plastic blades.


I think it's a balance, some people want to cut substantial brambles, other people want to trim around their shrubs.
No single tool does everything!

If you want neat and precise, sometimes hand tools are the best.
I have a pair of old hedge shears, I can do a lot of damage quite quickly with those!

[Junglebert]

Penny Whistle said:

That's interesting as I do have some Milwaukee kit, which is of course far better than Einhell, but their strimmer is twice the weight - though as has been said, balance is more important. And the free battery brings the man-maths price down significantly. Hmm.

It is heavy, heavier than I was expecting, but well balanced and easy to use. The free battery is a decent size high output M18 one.

[Anglia1]

Another vote for 40v Greenworks. We have been using ours for the last three years. It’s powerful enough for established undergrowth, lightweight, and has maintained good battery life.

[darreni]

I bought a Sthil long reach battery hedge trimmer last year and it’s been brilliant. I’m now thinking of buying a Stihl battery strimmer, the fsa 70.
Anyone else bought one?