Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => The Basics => Topic started by: diggerrick on June 17, 2011, 15:43:55
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hi, can anyone advise me on which is the best cordless strimmer to get ? don't want a petrol one if i can help it,i think a cordless one would be easier to maintain and to use also.would a 18 volt be ok or would i need a 24 volt? cheers rick.
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I use a proper mains voltage one, powered by a 800w petrol generator, which has lots of other uses.
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A neighbour bought a battery operated strimmer from homebase to help clear her very overgrown plot. She said she couldn't handle a petrol engine driven one but the one she got was not up to the job. Nowhere near.
OK that is just one case but even though battery technology is miles better than it used to be, the petrol option may be what you need.
JMO :-(
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I have a Bosch Acutrim 18v strimmer (with plastic cutters not line). Its fine for doing the edges of my plot and small areas of grass and light weeds, though I wouldnt try it on anything too tough. Its fairly light and very quiet, which suits me.
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We've got a petrol and the OH often takes over when a neighbours cordless gives up :)
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I have been considering a battery strimmer for a few weeks. I cannot handle a petrol one, it is not an option for me. So, it would seem I would be wasting my money if I invested in one.I have an area round the greenhouse and a patch of grass about 10 feet x 20 feet to try to keep tidy..would a battery one handle that please. I was hoping I could do this while John was doing the heavier stuff.
XX Jeannine
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I came to using a petrol powered strimmer by a rather indirect route: I have used a mains electric job for many years with complete satisfaction. Then my daughter told me that a person of my age should not be up a ladder to trim my hedge, so I went out and bought a Stihl pole cutter to keep my feet on the ground and save me from earache.
The pole cutter came with a strimmer (its a combi job). When I gave the strimmer attachment a try I found it heavier and more awkward to use than my old mains strimmer, so I carried on using the old strimmer while the new petrol one gathered dust in the back of the shed.
However I had also found the pole cutter heavy, and the harness provided was neither use nor ornament, so over the following winter I added about 3 minutes upper body strengthening exercises to my morning routine.
Next spring the pole cutter was more manageable, the petrol trimmer was magically light, and the harness was thrown to the back of the shed to gather dust along with the electric strimmer.
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What a motivating story, Russell! :)
I was looking into this as well. I think if it's the maintenance of grass paths, you might be alright with a good battery one - maybe have a look at the reviews or people complaining on online forums, before you choose which model. When I was looking, the cheapest ones I had my eye on got some complaints.
If you want to clear brambles and so on, I don't know whether a battery-powered one would cope.
Someone lent me a petrol one, but it was about 8 foot long and weighed a ton, and I couldn't carry that 15 mins walk to the plot, so it's never been used.
I am still toying with the idea of a scythe...
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What a motivating story, Russell! :)
I was looking into this as well. I think if it's the maintenance of grass paths, you might be alright with a good battery one - maybe have a look at the reviews or people complaining on online forums, before you choose which model. When I was looking, the cheapest ones I had my eye on got some complaints.
If you want to clear brambles and so on, I don't know whether a battery-powered one would cope.
Someone lent me a petrol one, but it was about 8 foot long and weighed a ton, and I couldn't carry that 15 mins walk to the plot, so it's never been used.
I am still toying with the idea of a scythe...
I came to the conclusion a long time ago you want the balls of a petrol engine on a garden tool, otherwise its just a toy. The only mains electric garden tools i have are the Bosc 300W strimmer (cos there very cheap and I already have a generator) and a JCB Shredder (which is 3500W and cant be driven with the generator). Otherwise i have a Pole Trimmer, Standard trimmer, lawn mower, rotavator, and Chain saw, all petrol.
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Lots of good info here about petrol strimmers and other things but... could we please get back to the original question if possible as I would really like to find out..
XX Jeannine
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I have recently bought a Qualcast 18 volt Lithium ion grass trimmer. It works well on grass and soft weeds. It also pays out the line well. It has a guard so you can strim up against raised beds, and the battery lasts a good length of time.
I tried other plotholders petrol and stihl one and realised I could not cope with either.
Hope this helps.
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Jeannine, the reps of the cordless strimmers are that they are weak, the Ad pictures usually show a woman strimming the edge of a well manicured lawn and when you look at the reviews on Amazon, they are stuffed with complaints about how ineffective and unreliable they are. If you have any serious strimming to do, you will probably be better off on your hands and knees with shears.
I have a mains 240V strimmer and even that isn't that great. So although I haven't used one ever, I wouldn't even bother with a cordless electric one.
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i have a 14.5 volt bosch strimmer which is ideal for me to keep the grassy bits down i find petrol ones are too heavy for me and we have no electric on our allotments i havnt tried on anything tougher than grass
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Tomatoda, Brownthumb, could you please tell me how long it would run on a full charge. The area I have is not heavy stuff and is not real big , it sounds positive from what you have told me and may be viable if it runs for a decent amount of time.It is my only option and if push come to shove I may even be able to do it from my scooter if need be.
Thank you XX Jeannine
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Two years ago I bought a Bosch Accutrim, because it had the best reputation of the battery strimmers. It was really quite ineffective for the allotment. Battery endurance was around 20 minutes before it lost sufficient torque.
We now have a Stihl petrol strimmer, bought secondhand, which does a proper job. The Accutrim was given away. I couldn't bring myself to charge money for such a useless thing.
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Have you thought about the getting a push lawnmower that just has a blades on wheels?? If it is just grass that you are cutting i recon this will do the job, you can probably get these cheaper than a cordless strimmer & they are very light.
Just a thought :)
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The instructions say 20 mins, but I have used it for over 30 mins.. It may depend on how easy the grass is to cut. I use my strimmer on narrow paths between my veg. and along the dividing path between plots. The battery charges in 2-3 hours.
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I had a petrol strimmer...still have but I am going to sell it as it is too damaging for my lower back problem. Someone on here recommended the ryobi one plus with Li ion battery. It's not cheap but I got it and I am very impressed.
When I first got it it lasted just over 20 mins ...the grass longer then. Last use I had over 30 mins and had strimmed most of the grass on my plot.
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OH bought me a Bosch battery powered strimmer about 3 years ago, specifically for the allotment.
On the plus side - it's light, does a good job on the grass paths and edges and lasts for a good 30 mins even though the instructions say 20 min. You can adjust the angle of the cutting head to do the edges and it's easy peasy to operate.
On the down side, I've tried several types of cheapo blades ... all failed so have resorted to buying proper Bosch ones.
The electric strimmer hasn't seen the light of day in the back yard either since the cordless one arrived! ;D
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PS to above. It pays the line out with no trouble.
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I have an area round the greenhouse and a patch of grass about 10 feet x 20 feet to try to keep tidy..would a battery one handle that please
I think my battery strimmer would cope with this easily, but I'd charge it each time just in case. However the problem I find with grass is that to get it neat you have to hold the strimmer a few inches off the ground and even small areas are rather knackering on the back (as opposed to a lawnmower which you just push)
Really must do some upper body strength exercises!
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The consensus of opinion seems to be that battery strimmers will run for about 15-20 mins, which may well not be long enough to do the job. Petrol strimmers are the ultimate, they have plenty of balls, but might be too heavy. The middle ground is a mains electric strimmer, light and man enough for the job, but you need a generator.
Cordless strimmers seem to be in the range £50-£120
Petrol Strimmers £80 - £200
Electric Strimmer £25-£100 + 800w petrol generator £50-£100
You always have the option of having several batteries , or two or three battery strimmers.
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re bosch easy trim 14.4 volt charging time from empty 250 mins cuts grass up to15 cm.[ taller grass cut instages ]light conditions up tp500 metres med 300mts tough 50 metres plastic blades[just read brocture] its nice and light for me and non of this pulling to get it started my petrol ones been retired to the back of the shed i suppose it wont be any good for brambles and very tough stuff but to keep grass edges and paths tidy i find it to be ideal for me
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plus i should have said it folds in half so i can carry on my scooter if i need to do any strimming at home
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My ryobi on.e plus charges from flat to fully charged in 30 mins. I highly recommend it.
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My ryobi on.e plus charges from flat to fully charged in 30 mins. I highly recommend it.
Ditto, it's not up to the big stuff that I do with a petrol job but it doesn't weigh like it either adn you can get it into tight spaces easier, worth it for me cos I ahve a lot of One-PLus stuff....
chrisc
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I have a Bosch ART 23li which does the job; it's still running after half an hour, and I'm not likely to strim for longer than that. It would be better with an 18 volt battery rather than 14.4 volt, but it copes with grass and most weeds quite happily, and I like the blades it uses rather than line. They work out about 30p each on eBay, so it's not expensive to run. It won't do hard stuff like old dock stems, but it will cut nettles.
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My ryobi on.e plus charges from flat to fully charged in 30 mins. I highly recommend it.
Ditto, it's not up to the big stuff that I do with a petrol job but it doesn't weigh like it either adn you can get it into tight spaces easier, worth it for me cos I ahve a lot of One-PLus stuff....
chrisc
Thanks Chris it was you I think that recommended it to me. Getting rid of my petrol strimmer the one plus is so good. I agree about the tight spaces, I lost a lot of things with the petrol strimmer...kept chopping them off!
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This post was so useful to me when I was working out what to buy. I've ended up buying a Qualcast, and although the battery doesn't last long, it does cut very tough stuff (even brambles).
I have to say, it's actually quite hard work strimming grass though, it's not actually that much easier than cutting with shears! Which was a disappointment to me ;D But it still makes a big difference in keeping up with cutting the paths. Plus it cuts that awful shiny grass that shears bounce off.
So I'm glad I got it. Thanks to everyone for their advice. :)