Cordless Outdoor Power Equipment

[jeh]

I have the Milwaukee M18 blower*, Quik-lock (weed eater, brush cutter, pole saw, and hedge trimmer), and chainsaw. I also have M12 hand held chainsaw for small limbs. This thing can be used with one hand so it is more dangerous than a chainsaw that requires two hands with the exception of Hercules to use it. Satisfied with all of them and would buy again. The tools are what got me into the Milwaukee M18 and M12 tool system and I'm effectively all in on both battery platforms with a wide assortment of tools. They are a case of give the tool away but get them on batteries , but if you watch for battery sales at HD  they frequently have buy a two-pack of batteries and get a free tool or buy a tool and get a free battery. Don't cheap out on the batteries in terms of capacity...get the big ones. None of these are Festool or Mafell level tools, but they are perfect when you don't want to use the good stuff and for me perfect if you have a tool borrower on the job or in the neighborhood.

My Dad and father-in-law have the Dewalt Flexvolt blowers and weed eaters and I see them as equals to the Milwaukee.

*I bought the Quick-lock with a few attachments as a package deal with the blower. I think it only came with one battery, so I bought two more on the spot. Don't cheap out on the batteries in terms of capacity...get the big ones for the outdoor stuff.

 

[Cheese]

The thing that surprises me the most about battery mowers is how much noise the blades themselves can still produce, even with a whisper-quiet motor.

What sort of area did the mower cover, and did it require a charge in the middle?  If not, how low was the battery at the end?  We moved from a .1 acre lot to a .3 acre lot a few years ago and even though our new ranch takes up a lot more space than our old bungalow, the front and back are each about the size of the old lot.

Sorry [member=75217]squall_line[/member] for the delayed reply...just saw this last night.

On the Stihl mower, if you flip the mower over there is an impeller wheel that attaches the blade to the motor. That combination lifts the grass blades a lot more than just using the blade alone, I found this out the hard way. It also becomes an additional noise source.

I replaced the gutter extensions 20 years ago with these rain pop-ups.  Over that time, they've been run over hundreds of times with a Lawn-Boy or Toro mower. However, the first time I used the Stihl...KLUNK...chopped it off clean.  [mad]

[attachimg=1]

[attachimg=2]

As far as mower coverage goes, I can cut the entire yard, in the self-propelled mode, with a single charge and there is still 1 LED lit, that's usually 25%. The lot is a typical city lot 50' wide by 200' deep.

I purchased the KombiMotor about 15 years ago. It's a gas powerhead with interchangeable attachments of your choice. For a typical "lawn mowing" session, I'll use the lawn edger and lawn trimmer attachments along with a blower to clean things up. I recently purchased the battery powered KombiMotor and a battery powered blower. 

So after purchasing 2 batteries, I can now mow the entire yard on one battery charge and edge, trim & clean the entire yard on another battery charge. I could use just one battery but this is so much faster, it's the same work flow as using gas powered tools. Pretty slick, I'll not be going back to gas powered lawn tools anytime soon. Waiting for the battery powered back-pack blower...  [cool]

Here's a photo of the KMA 135 R KombiMotor and the BGA 86 blower.

[attachimg=3]

[attachimg=4]

[attachimg=5]

 

[Cheese]

The thing that surprises me the most about battery mowers is how much noise the blades themselves can still produce, even with a whisper-quiet motor.

On the Stihl mower, if you flip the mower over there is an impeller wheel that attaches the blade to the motor. That combination lifts the grass blades a lot more than just using the blade alone, I found this out the hard way. It also becomes an additional noise source.

Here's a photo of the impeller wheel I mentioned earlier.

[attachimg=1]

 

[Crazyraceguy]

The thing that surprises me the most about battery mowers is how much noise the blades themselves can still produce, even with a whisper-quiet motor.

That said, it's still enough of a difference to improve quality of life in many ways.

I was so tired of fighting with a gas trimmer that I finally got a Makita 18V trimmer last year and I dare say I somewhat enjoy trimming now.

What sort of area did the mower cover, and did it require a charge in the middle?  If not, how low was the battery at the end?  We moved from a .1 acre lot to a .3 acre lot a few years ago and even though our new ranch takes up a lot more space than our old bungalow, the front and back are each about the size of the old lot.

Many years ago (15?.) I had a battery powered mower. It was from a brand called Neuton, and that wasn't my experience at all. The thing was very quiet, but it was very small in comparison to the typical 20" gas mower, at only 14".  It was fine for my very small area of grass. It's real problem was the batteries. I un-knowingly got one just one year too soon. The following model had Lithium Ion batteries and 2" more blade.
Mine started taking a noticeably less charge after about the 3rd year. I gave  up on it after 6 or so.
I bought the Makita string trimmer 2 years ago on a 4 battery set at a great price, mostly because I'm already in that platform. It works great, but I have one issue with it, rotation direction. As a person who has always used gas trimmers, I expected clockwise rotation. This thing is CCW? It is "temporarily" reversable, but only for a few minutes. It wants to default back to CW. It's not a huge problem, but takes some getting used to.