Battery powered weedeaters

aczlan · Jun 28, 2017

ArlyA said:
Could you try a quality built, 2 stroke whacker?? The good ones are not that heavy, got power and don't vibrate much. My spouse runs one lots! We also have a Honda model she'll not use. Says its to heavy so its FS.

My father in law has a Stihl FS110 and a Kobalt 80V electric.
The Kobalt will keep up with the Stihl as long as the battery holds out.

Aaron Z

ArlyA · Jun 28, 2017

That Kobalt 80V electric whacker wouldn't "cut it" for us since we work for hours and hours and at high HP levels. But it might work for the original poster...

aczlan said:
My father in law has a Stihl FS110 and a Kobalt 80V electric.
The Kobalt will keep up with the Stihl as long as the battery holds out.

tcreeley · Jun 28, 2017

My wife has a 40v Ryobi and 40v Ryobi chainsaw (she just got).

She loves the weed wacker. Lasts about an hour for her. Cuts everything- goldenrod to tall grass.

They offer a large battery - 95 wh and a smaller battery 55 wh. The weed wacker came with the larger battery and the chainsaw with the smaller.

The batteries are interchangeable within their 40 v group.

My wife is 65, 5'3. The Ryobi is a good match.

RoyJackson · Jun 28, 2017

ArlyA said:
That Kobalt 80V electric whacker wouldn't "cut it" for us since we work for hours and hours and at high HP levels. But it might work for the original poster...

Battery powered units aren't for everybody...depends on the work. I have two batteries charged, so if one runs down, I've got the other handy.
If one is doing typical trimming around the house, a battery unit works great...but if one is working a field, or distance from home, maybe a gas unit would be the better choice.
For example, I also have an EGO battery powered chainsaw. It's very handy for yard clean up, trimming branches, etc. But I wouldn't want to drop a 24" diameter tree with it.

k0ua · Jun 28, 2017

RoyJackson said:
Battery powered units aren't for everybody...depends on the work. I have two batteries charged, so if one runs down, I've got the other handy.
If one is doing typical trimming around the house, a battery unit works great...but if one is working a field, or distance from home, maybe a gas unit would be the better choice.
For example, I also have an EGO battery powered chainsaw. It's very handy for yard clean up, trimming branches, etc. But I wouldn't want to drop a 24" diameter tree with it.

I think you have hit upon it there Roy. We all have different needs when it comes to weed wacking. For those of us that a small corded weed wacker would do what we need to do, the battery powered ones are much more convenient not having to drag a cord around, and in some cases they are even more powerful. But to those that do commercial work, no way are these battery powered units are going to "cut it". And for some homeowners that cut a lot of tough weeds or cut for a long time they are not going to be the best choice for them either. But truthfully, I think I started my big gas powered "eater" maybe once last year, and haven't so far this season. The little battery powered one is just way more convenient. Pull the trigger and go.

aczlan · Jun 28, 2017

ArlyA said:
That Kobalt 80V electric whacker wouldn't "cut it" for us since we work for hours and hours and at high HP levels. But it might work for the original poster...

I agree, that's why we have the FS 110 to work on fence lines and other places where we will be running it for a while.
He likes the Kobalt for when he's working on little projects or just weed eating around the house.
I actually picked up a Ryobi weedeater today that came with a weed blade and a chainsaw for a whole $7.
It turns out that those attachments also fit on the Kobalt so we can now use the weed blade or the mini chainsaw on either weedeater. The seller said that the Ryobi would start but not idle or stay running long, so I'm going to start with a $10 carburator from Amazon to see if that fixes its problems.

Aaron Z

widefat · Jun 29, 2017

We have a 40v Kobalt.
Hate it. It runs ok, but the ergonomics stink, and after a few minutes your 'trigger' hand is hurting due to the position required to hold the button down.

Welshman · Jun 29, 2017

When I first started reading this thread, I didn't think I would be posting to it. Yesterday my Craftsman C3 19.2 volt trimmer gave it up. I really liked it and because I've got a bunch of C3 tools, I've got several batteries. It's demise was hastened by my wife - for some reason, this year (after 5 previous years), she got it into her head that it was "bump feed" (it's not). I saw her out in the garden a couple of weeks ago banging the heck out of it. I stopped her and she said she couldn't get it to feed. I corrected her, but she apparently had a relapse a couple of days ago. I was using it yesterday along my fence lines when it started making noise. The power head is loose inside and I can see a small screw floating around in there. Long story short, it doesn't come apart. Oh well.

Turns out Lowe's has the 40v on sale for $149.00 with 2.5 a/h battery and charger, plus a free 2.5 a/h battery. I bought it. I used it today and here are my thoughts: Plenty of power. My 14' diam. fire pit had overgrown with thick weeds to about 30". The trimmer is 2-speed so I started on the high speed, but after about 3/4 of the way through, I switched to the slower speed, and it still worked fine. After I finished that I did some trees and flower beds. After about 45 min. the battery gave out, so I put in the second one and finished what I had to do.

What I don't like about it is that it's heavier than my Craftsman at 7.1 lbs. (doesn't sound like much) plus the battery, and the balance could be better - which means that my wife probably won't like it - which means I'll be doing more trimming, although my sister just bought a lightweight Works, so hopefully she will use that. It's definitely longer and as a result I can get farther under my decks. So far I haven't noticed any issue with my trigger hand (it's palm activated).

To the OP's original question, there is no discernable vibration. Also, the "new" version of the 40v. uses .080 line where the older version uses .065. It seems to hold up better.

Obviously, I can't speak to durability or longevity yet, but it seems pretty solid.

So far, I like it for the money.