It hasn't rained for two days in a row now so I need to think about the garden.
I have a 6' high fir or fern bush that needs trimming and some low bushy type plants that need keeping under control. A cordless trimmer will be more fun than shears, and may help to ensure I do it. What are the more reliable makes to consider please? The days of Black & Decker for cheap and Bosch for quality seem a long way in the past.
Many thanks :-)
The "blue" Bosch tools are still very good IME. The green stuff a bit more variable.
As with most cordless tool questions, you need to start with battery platform. If you are already invested in a platform, then that usually makes many of the decisions for you.
If not, then pick a brand that has a range of tools that meets your needs and go with that.
I have a few[1] Makita garden tools, which generally are pretty good. They have a pretty extensive range of garden tools on their 18V platform, including 36V (two battery) versions.
[1] 18V line trimmer - good range of adjustments for length an angle, head can be rotated. Single line with bump feed that works reliably. Cut performance is comparable to a traditional single line trimmer like the original "strimmer" tools - good for grass and edges etc but it is not going to clear heavy brush. (there are 36V versions if you need that). 18V hedge trimmer - generally very impressive with a substantial run time from a 5Ah battery (I can slay three large pampas grass on less than half a charge). Max cut on woody stuff is slightly under what you would get on a mains one. However the single batt keeps it light enough for extended use. 36V top handle chain saw, which is very very good - same power and cut speed as I can get from my 43cc 14" petrol saw. Good oil feed, easy blade change and adjustment, nicely balanced.
Do you have any other cordless power tools? Do those manufacturers sell the tool that you want? It is often cheaper to use the batteries from a tool system you already have, rather than buying new battery/ies and charger on top of the tool itself.
Although there are also adapters, so it is possible to use them unofficially on different systems - with some downsides.
OTTOMH the major power tool brands with a wider range of garden stuff: Bosch Makita Ryobi
Each of them have several battery platforms, so you need to confirm which platform(s) the tool works with.
There are other 'garden' specific brands that don't do DIY power tools. You would need to decide whether buying into their platform makes sense for whatever else you might use the battery for (other garden tools mainly)
Theo
As someone whose majority of power tools are mains powered with only 3 battery power tools (using two different battery systems) the batteries concerned are now overdue for replacement as they no longer fully charge or hold charge:
If one is starting out from scratch to build up a collection of battery powered tools using a single common battery platform, this then leads to the question of:
Which is the best battery platform to use?
Stephen.
The one that has the tools you want to use.
eg some of them like Makita and Ryobi have a lot of garden tools, while Milwaukee and Dewalt not as many. Meanwhile those two might be better for construction than say Ryobi or Greenworks.
Although sometimes individual tools aren't so good - for example I'm in the market for a multi tool, but Makita's aren't very good. So I'm looking at using a Makita battery in a Ryobi tool. Ryobi tools tend to have a mixed reputation (they are cheap and cheerful in the US, but not so cheap here) but in this instance the Ryobi looks better.
Theo
We have a mixture of Bosch blue and green. The blue would have the edge. We also have Husqvarna hedge trimmer, chain saw and strimmer. Batteries last well in these though recently one battery refused to take a charge (it was tested at having been charged a total of 7 times). It was replaced under warranty after a bit of faffing about
I'm very happy with Riobi, having adopted the make for a power drill some
15 years ago.
Many thanks for the replies :-)
My electric screwdriver is Ryobi (with a 1.5 A power pack) so i would seem sensible to go for one of those. BUT corded versions are half the price so I went for a £45 corded one, it's a small garden and I can get power everywhere in it so it seems a sensible choice.
In message snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net>, Jeff Gaines snipped-for-privacy@outlook.com writes
Hang the cord over your shoulder rather than trailed. Use a suitable circuit breaker.
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I don't know if they do a tool that suits your needs but i've been delighted with everything i've got from Aldi.
Milwaukee also have some garden tools like chainsaws etc - although newer to the UK market.
Just steer well clear of their petrol line trimmers - they are very very poor IME!
What voltage battery platform? For garden tools you are likely to want
18V as a minimum.
You'll probably also want a bigger number of Ah, not just for the extra runtime but larger Ah batteries are capable of higher currents which are necessary for more powerful tools. 3/4/5Ah may be necessary.
I like the theory of the Makita 2x18V system, where two LXT batteries powers a 36V tool. Other brands have 40 or 60v systems, but you can't as easily share those batteries with smaller tools.
Dewalt and Aldi (Ferrex) have switchable 20/40v systems where the cells can be in series or parallel depending on the tool. They get shorter runtime in
40V mode, whereas the dual battery systems are heavier but have more runtime.Theo
I have several 36V tools (chainsaw, brushcutter, SDS) and I'm grateful for not having to buy 40V batteries, though they do now make 2x40V tools for the heavier stuff ...
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