Petrol vs Battery Garden Tools?

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tdgeek

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#236151 20-May-2018 11:01

I have a petrol hedge trimmer Stihl HS 45, and wired electric line trimmer. The hedge trimmer works well, but do I need petrol? The convenience of just grabbing it and using it appeals. The line trimmer, I need to feed out the cable then add the extension so more of a PITB. The ease of battery seems very appealing. Plus the hedge trimmer while it works well doesnt cut as clean as I see neighbours wired or battery ones, they seem to do a finer cut.

Thoughts?

Plus if I do the battery upgrade, it seems common to have kits, where same battery can be used across all manner of tools

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#2019290 20-May-2018 11:08

Does your just need to be sharpened? Can make the world of difference in performance.

tdgeek

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#2019292 20-May-2018 11:16

RunningMan:

Does your just need to be sharpened? Can make the world of difference in performance.

No, its quite new, used maybe 4 times. It cuts fine

wombus

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#2019325 20-May-2018 12:39

Im very happy with my Black & Decker battery line trimmer, I’ve used it maybe 10 times now and never had to do anything regards spooling the line, it just keeps going and feeds it as needed. I brought a matching cordless drill so have 2 batteries just in case one runs out of juice but thats not happened. Personally Im glad i never went 2 stoke, hopefully youll have a similar experience with a hedge trimmer.

richms

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#2019327 20-May-2018 12:43

IME the older 18v ryobis are a bit useless, had a play on a friends new 18v brushless trimmer and it was way better. Not sure I will get a new one untill my old one dies but when it does I will get the brushless 18v rather than moving to a higher voltage option.

Richard rich.ms

beddy

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#2019408 20-May-2018 16:46

I replaced my petrol lawn mower and weed eater with EGO battery powdered ones around 18 months ago, and prefer them to the petrol ones.

I actually get the lawns mowed quicker with the battery powered mower than I did with my Masport petrol one, largely due to it having a wider cut.

Also replaced my corded hedge trimmer with an EGO battery one at the same time, and a few weeks ago got a battery powered Ozito pole saw.

I can't see any reason why I'd ever go back to using petrol tools.

frankv

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#2019421 20-May-2018 17:17

Borrow your neighbour's tools and see whether you like them.

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#2019436 20-May-2018 18:34

richms:

IME the older 18v ryobis are a bit useless, had a play on a friends new 18v brushless trimmer and it was way better. Not sure I will get a new one untill my old one dies but when it does I will get the brushless 18v rather than moving to a higher voltage option.

Agree that the new brushless designs seem better than older systems. It will be a while before we need to replace our old trimmer (or the rest of the gear here) though as the old one still ticks along nicely. The new brushless chainsaw is brilliant for heavier trimming and I reckon it'll be just fine when it comes to knocking down the trees we have here. Heaps of juice in the 5Ah batteries. No intention of moving away from the ONE+ system, at this stage anyway. The stuff is good value, in my view anyway.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

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#2019510 20-May-2018 20:21

tdgeek:

I have a petrol hedge trimmer Stihl HS 45, and wired electric line trimmer. The hedge trimmer works well, but do I need petrol?

I have the Stihl HSA66 Pro battery hedge trimmer, the MSA 200 Pro chainsaw and the FSA Pro Linetrimmer.

Much as I like the line trimmer, I am about to sell it as a single battery is not enough to cope with the entire back garden, which is uneven and sloping to the point where I prefer to use the trimmer over a lawnmower...so I now have a Stihl Petrol trimmer for that.

The hedge-trimmer and chainsaw are brilliant - plenty tough enough for my needs...the chainsaw surprisingly so for its size.

I have two batteries - AP180 and AP300 and a rapid charger and that is more than enough for the jobs I am doing - line trimmer not withstanding

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#2019581 21-May-2018 04:13

richms:

IME the older 18v ryobis are a bit useless, had a play on a friends new 18v brushless trimmer and it was way better. Not sure I will get a new one untill my old one dies but when it does I will get the brushless 18v rather than moving to a higher voltage option.

When you refer to the older 18v Ryobis, are you talking about the One+ system?

Jase2985

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#2019582 21-May-2018 05:20

im guessing the non brushless ones. they are still one+ though

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#2019600 21-May-2018 08:46

I have a lot of ryobi 18v tools, but decided to go with makita for outdoor tools and moving to getting makita over ryobi now.

One issue with ryobi is their outdoor range of 36v have a completely different battery and you cant use the 18v batteries. With makita the 36v tools simple take 2x 18v batteries.

So I purchased a battery makita lawn mower that came with 2x 18v 5ah batteries. I then got a skin only makita line trimmer.

My lawn is pretty big and it takes 2 charges, sometimes 2 and a bit. But the batteries charge fast and now I bought a drill/impact driver combo which came with 2x 3ah 18v batteries. So now I use the 3ah batteries while the 5ah are charging, and when the 3ah goes flat, the 5ah have enough power to finish mowing the lawns.

Yeah this is kinda annoying compared to a petrol lawn mower, but i found it way more annoying starting a petrol lawn mower and having to get gas (I ran out of gas mid lawn too many times).

So for me, batteries all the way.

Next on my list is a hedge trimmer and maybe a chainsaw.

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#2019613 21-May-2018 09:20

Nothing like the smell of 2 stroke oil in the morning. I don't think the battery gear is quite there yet - perhaps for a small city section, but not anything bigger IMO.

I like Stihl gear - So far have a FS 45 weed eater, SH 56 C - E Blower/shredder vac (that is a weapon) and a MS181 for small firewood etc. They all go mint - and all have a 4 year warranty, as long as you use the right oil and get them serviced once a year.

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#2019617 21-May-2018 09:31

We use mains powered tools where ever possible. We installed several outside power outlets around our home when we had our Spa installed. I prefer mains tools over battery with the exception of things like electric screw drivers and some drills.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

rphenix

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#2019662 21-May-2018 10:31

Previously I always purchased petrol over any kind of battery or mains powered there never was any competition.

Now however there is some very good battery contenders one of my favourite is probably Dewalt - the 54V FlexVolt is great - you can use the batteries in 18V tools so I will probably phase out petrol tools in favour of the FlexVolt range over time.

1101

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#2019687 21-May-2018 11:25

Factor in the cost of replacement batts : lithium batts dont have a infinite life, even if unused .
Also, consider what happens when the manufacturer decides to no longer supply replacement batts , as will eventually happen.

My 17 year old mower is still going strong & will last another 17 years. Cant say that for batt powered .

I do hate the noise & fumes of petrol powered mowers & trimmers though. Especially 2 stroke line trimmers

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