Any recommendations for a cordless trimmer ?

[Willl]

Moms almost 80 and still insists on doing her own yard work.

She has a very nice Stihl assist start but even so, not enough arm strength.

Thought about a corded, but the amount of cord she would need defeats that.

So I'm shopping for a cordless. Alot out there.

Any recommendations ?

 

[edlegault]

I have a Toro cordless trimmer I bought about 3 months ago at one of the big box stores. I love it. I sometimes use it to "mow" my front lawn if I am too lazy to get the gas push mower out.

 

[94BULLITT]

Stihl makes a cordless trimmer. You have to buy the battery and charger separate. I think it should be better what you buy in a box store.

 

[hawkeye08]

My wife bought me the Ryobi with Lithium Ion battery so she could do the trimming. It is pretty light and works well. The battery charge lasts as long as the wife does so that works well. I have allergies so doing the trimming always seemed to really get me, she volunteered to do it with the new trimmer. It is working well for both of us. Just got it last year, but so far so good.

 

[jinman]

I have a Toro Amazon.com: Toro 51487 24-Volt Lithium-Ion Cordless String Trimmer,12-Inch: Patio, Lawn & Gardenand love it. The battery lasts a long-long time and the trimmer is great for my wife and grandson. Get an extra spool for quick replacement when the string runs out. The nice thing about these trimmers is that the motor stops when you release the trigger. You don't waste fuel idling like a gasoline trimmer. They are also quiet and lightweight. The Li-ion batteries run strong and long.

 

[BillG_in_TX]

I recently purchased the Amazon.com: Black & Decker LST136 13-Inch 36-Volt Lithium Ion Cordless High Performance String Trimmer: Patio, Lawn & Garden (also available at Lowe's) and have been very pleased with it. It has a 1-6 power dial that controls the RPMs - the slower the RPMs, the longer the battery lasts. I normally use it on 2-3, but will kick it up to 4-5 for edging the driveway.

I don't think you can get a more powerful Lithium battery unit (but I could be wrong). Sometimes I have to recharge to finish the yard, but it only takes about 30 minutes to fully recharge. The battery will usually last longer than I want to trim. I have purchased some 5-edge bulk line to rewind the spools, but haven't used up my second spool yet after several hours of trimming.

 

[Willl]

Well we decided on the BD Ni-Cad 18 volt. But it wasn't our first choice.

The first one we tried was the Lithium-Ion Ryobi Hybrid. It's AC-DC, didn't even dawn on me that would even have been an option. The 60 minute charge time was a big plus along with the newer battery technology.

Got it to her place and setup the charger and drug out the cord to try that portion of it while we waited on the battery. It's a single string and operated like one would expect from a battery powered unit. To me it felt slightly anemic but worked well and she liked it and that's all that matters.

Once the battery was done she gave that a run. I didn't try the battery myself but she said it was the same as being on the cord.

So we thought we had a winner. Right up till she tried to remove the battery herself. She couldn't do it. Didn't have enough strength in her hands to squeeze both tabs at the same time and pull. We both agreed this was just not going to work. To bad too, it was the only fault we could find with it. Boxed it up and back to HD.

At HD I noticed all the Ryobi's were the same as to how the battery attached so the whole brand was out of the running. That left only BD and their only model in the same weight class was the Ni-Cad 18V. Older technology and a 9hr charge time, but came with 2 battery's.

And it was cheaper, so much so I also bought their lowest priced standard corded trimmer (30 bucks) and still left with change in my pocket.

Should of seen her face when I walked in with 2 trimmers on my shoulder. And also her face when she tried and succeeded in removing the battery on her own.
Losing ones interdependency has gota suck, I know I'm not going to deal with it well when my time comes.

This all went down last weekend and I talked to her yesterday. She loves it. Says battery's last about as long as she can go anyway. Alls good, everybody happy happy happy.

Thanks guys.