I've had three in the last 10 years: Black & Decker, Ryobi, and EGO

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Posted by Dave_K on July 20, 2020 at 06:24:27

In Reply to: Best battery weed eater?? posted by suekraft on July 19, 2020 at 15:53:48:

The Black & Decker was just a weed eater, with the motor in the cutting head and the non-removable battery built into the handle. I think it was 18V. It was all plastic and relatively lightweight and inexpensive. It was a bit weak on power and short on runtime. The string head was auto feed and I had to mess with it a lot. After a few years, a full charge would only last 10 minutes at most.

Next up was the Ryobi. I opted for a modular unit with the motor up in the handle, interchangeable tool heads, and 40V detachable battery. I got the string trimmer, brush cutter, and hedge trimmer attachments. It was somewhat heavy, but well balanced because most of the weight was close to your body not out on the cutting head. It had plenty of power, similar to a gasoline unit, and I could do up to an hour of work on a full charge. The string head was bump-feed and it didn't always work, but fortunately the string was very durable so it didn't need constant feeding.

Overall, I'd say the Ryobi worked very well functionally, but the battery system just wasn't reliable. When I purchased it, the charger failed after the very first charge, so I took it back. The second one lasted one season before the charger stopped working. I had to buy a replacement charger. Then after a couple years, one of my two batteries died.

That brings me to the EGO. My first EGO product was a chainsaw. I almost went with Ryobi for the chainsaw because the EGO looked kind of like a Fisher-Price toy, and I could interchange batteries. But I decided to try something else because of the battery charger issues. The EGO turned out to be a great product, smartly designed, the best small chainsaw I've used. The next EGO product I got was the backpack blower, which also turned out to be a great product. So this year, I decided to buy the EGO equivalent of my Ryobi, the multi-head with string trimmer attachment. Functionally, it does the job just as well as the Ryobi, but it's better designed and the battery system is better.

HTH

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Best battery weed eater?? - suekraft 15:53:48 07/19/20 (9)

you'll get a good Summer or two out of those batteries - Green Lantern 03:28:30 07/21/20 (0)

RE: Best battery weed eater?? - pictureguy 11:45:33 07/20/20 (0)

I've had three in the last 10 years: Black & Decker, Ryobi, and EGO - Dave_K 07/20/2006:24:27 07/20/20 (2)

RE: I've had three in the last 10 years: Black & Decker, Ryobi, and EGO - AbeCollins 06:41:03 07/20/20 (1)

RE: I've had three in the last 10 years: Black & Decker, Ryobi, and EGO - Dave_K 14:07:00 07/20/20 (0)

RE: Best battery weed eater?? - suekraft 20:12:09 07/19/20 (3)

RE: Best battery weed eater?? - AbeCollins 06:07:57 07/20/20 (0)

You do realize... - dark_dave56 04:09:32 07/20/20 (1)

RE: You do realize... - suekraft 07:22:04 07/20/20 (0)

Follow Ups

I've had three in the last 10 years: Black & Decker, Ryobi, and EGO - Dave_K 07/20/2006:24:27 07/20/20 (2)

RE: I've had three in the last 10 years: Black & Decker, Ryobi, and EGO - AbeCollins 06:41:03 07/20/20 (1)

RE: I've had three in the last 10 years: Black & Decker, Ryobi, and EGO - Dave_K 14:07:00 07/20/20 (0)

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