cordless weedeater

[Chet]

Looking into a cordless weedeater, I am down to two of them, any users here have any experience with either the B&D NST 2018 or the Worx GT model with the lithium battery

thanks Chet

[Jeff Thies]

All my experiences with B&D products seem to be bad, I haven't tried that one though. Caveat Emptor.

Jeff

NST 2018 or the Worx GT

[Pat Kiewicz]

I've got the B&D and really like it. Especially appreciate being able to flip the working end around to do some edging.

I've no experience with the Worx weedeater, but I've the other Worx products I've bought (leaf shredder, lawn mower) have impressed me with their design and attention to detail.

[brooklyn1]

It appears all the weight of that B&D is in the business end, not at all ergonomic

The only cordless tool I've had luck with is the B&D Dust Buster, still going strong after 10 years. With all other cordless tools (any brand) I've found them under powered, charge lasts too short a duration, and battery packs last at best about a year or two even when not used.

My yard is much to big for a cordless, I'd need at least two on charge. String trimming is my least favorite chore, those things get heavy carrying them around in the hot sun and they're very hard on the back. I can't imagine using a string trimmer that is only suitable for very light trimming and a charge lasting no more than a half hour being of any use to me. I'm very happy with my little Echo gas trimmer... been using it regularly for seven years with no problems... and compared to the cost of that Toys R Us B&D it's a steal. The Echo is very ergonomic, is extremely easy starting, and uses very little fuel... I mix up 1 gallon and it's more than enough for the entire season for my Echo trimmer and my Echo blower... people forget that charging cordless battery packs ain't free, and when they no longer hold a charge (less than 2 years) they can cost almost as much as the tool to replace, and some are not replaceable.

This is direct from Echo, they can be found for like $40 less elsewhere... 7 years ago I paid $109 from my local authorized dealer:

[Frank]

Cannot comment on either but my concern would be cost and availibility of replacement batteries. I had a nice combo Homelite? set of hedge clipper and weed eater for $100 which is what it would have cost to replace batteries from some obscure internet source. I reluctantly threw out the set.

[brooklyn1]

Same here with a cordless Sears Craftsman 3/8" drill and also a cordless B&D upright vacuum. The Craftsman drill was a gift I had never used, never even tried it out. At the Sears store I discovered that motorized Craftsman tools do not have the life time warranty of hand tools. It would have cost more to buy two new battery packs than to buy a whole new drill set, I left it on the counter. The B&D people told me their 1 year warranty had expired 1 month ago, I was a month too late... and the battery pack was not replaceable... I tossed it in the trash. That's when I made up my mind to never again buy anything cordless... outdoor extention cords are not very expensive.

The next tool I'm looking to buy is a 1/2" impact wrench (to remove mower blades), it wont be cordless, and I don't feel like investing in an air compressor so it will be 110v plug-in. I do have a Craftsman tankless inflator/air compressor; works great for pumping tires, and says it will operate a paint sprayer... I need to check if it will operate a 1/2" impact wrench, but doubt it. When the Tractor dealer services my machines they put the new blades on with an impact wrench, I can't get them off with a hand wrench... I'd like to sharpen them myself, I do have a really nice B&D bench grinder.

My inflator/compressor is about 15 years old, is similar to this new model, but mine is even less powerful; 0.3 horsepower, and 2.2 Amps. Even though it'll inflate a tire to 100psi I doubt it will operate an impact wrench.

mower blades are held with a 27mm bolt.

I've tried to break it free with a cheater pipe and even beating the wrench with a big hammer, but was only able to break one free once with the hammer. And it's not easy laying on the ground on ones back working on a mower deck, can't get much leverage without ones legs on the ground. I'm sure I need an impact wrench.

I looked at this one:

these go up to 27mm:

[Paul M. Cook]

When it comes to power tools I always choose ones with easily available batteries. Ideally one that has a common battery across the whole product line. I've retired a few cordless tools when I could no longer get replacement batteries for them.

Paul

[Tony]

That day always comes eventually, yeah :>) Best way to get long life from any cordless tool is to fully charge it, and if you don't use it for about 4-5 months, run it out completely (wire the trigger back; takes about 40 minutes) and then recharge it fully. I have a cordless drill in it's 10th year of service, and I attribute it to that. But NiCad batteries - all NiCads - eventually form an internal crystalline latticework called "dendrites", and after that, they can't be recharged worth a damn anymore. They "get old and die". I also have several tools with Lithium Ion batteries, but there is a scarcity of data yet as to how long those will last.

Tony M.