Before Easter i noticed this mini hand strimmer (battery powered) and I thought how useful for doing small areas where i would be in danger of cutting off something i don't want to cut and where I use hand shears now. It was £29 so i didn't get it, thought I'd pop back for another look today and it was reduced to £14-95 so I got one. Anyone else used one and have an opinion....obviously I haven't tried it out as the initial charge time is 16 hours! After that it is 8 hours charge not great but it claims 40 mins use on the box.
http://www.greytechnology.co.uk/ST02.php
I don't think I would have bought it for the full price though.
Hi Kea I bought a similar one a couple of years ago and I never got more than 20 mins the first few times then ten mins the next 6 goes then I dropped it and it wouldn't recharge, tell us how you get on and I might give another one a try at that price. Kea it's telling me it's still £29.95 ??? ;D ;D ;D
We got one even cheaper, on free cycle. However, it never seems to charge up enough to give sufficient power to cut much. It may be why it was being given away. I think we should let it run down completely then give it a fresh charge.
One chap on our allotment site has one and uses it every weekend to cut his grass area and it seems to work fine.
I got it from my local garden centre not that site that I put up. I looked at the one in store before picking up one in a sealed box. Then when I got it home I read the instructions and it appears you have to push two buttons and hold them down to operate it and I'm a bit concerned that that is going to be too difficult for my small hands and Rheumatoid arthritis plagued fingers! I haven't charged it yet but it says the initial charge is 16 hours and if you're not using it for several weeks you need to run down the battery.
It's certainly not worth the full price but I'm trying to decide whether to try it or return it. i guess i can try it then if it's no good still have a go at returning it.
I want to use it in places my petrol strimmer is too big to go and at home where I normally use hand shears.
Depends how much strimming you want to do with it. I tried a cordless one a few years ago and it wasn't up to the job. But then I do have a very big plot. If you only want to do awkward corners it might be what you need. One problem I found was that the chargers tended to burn out.
Quote from: Kea on April 29, 2009, 09:17:56
I got it from my local garden centre not that site that I put up. I looked at the one in store before picking up one in a sealed box. Then when I got it home I read the instructions and it appears you have to push two buttons and hold them down to operate it and I'm a bit concerned that that is going to be too difficult for my small hands and Rheumatoid arthritis plagued fingers! I haven't charged it yet but it says the initial charge is 16 hours and if you're not using it for several weeks you need to run down the battery.
....
Of the two buttons, one is the actual stop/go control, the other is a "safety" switch. Although the Elfin Safety people would go mad, you can hold down the "safety" button with duct tape, leaving you with only one button to push.
I'm not much of an enthusiast for battery powered shears or strimmers for the allotment. They generally don't have the endurance or power for serious work. We tried one, but passed it on after a few trial runs. But I can imagine it being useful for close work round fruit bushes, for example.
Kea, I haven't tried 1 of these but I think some of the problems that people experience is because the batteries aren't charged properly, basically a battery has a memory and you need to create the memory (sorry I'm not an electrician so trying to explain is a bit hard). Basically you need to fully charge it, then completely use up its battery, then fully charge, then fully empty. Keep doing this and it may help in giving the strimmer a longer battery life. Its the same for mobile phones.
Hope you can understand what I'm rambling on about and hope it helps.
1066
Much to the amusment of my OH workmats he got me a battery strimmer as part of my Xmas present. I've used it twice in the last few weeks and had no problem with it. I have however let it run down each time then charged it up fully overnight. It's not a mini one but i think the same might apply. Once i have finished doing my beds i'll have less grass and it should do the lot on one charge i hope. :-\
Yes 1066 I understand all that memory stuff which is why i always used to run my old phone down by letting it play snake or something. My new phone has a type of battery that doesn't need that done all the time. However this is cheap so the battery will need running right down as you say....of course that is going to mean holding both the buttons down till my hand aches ::)!
Quote from: Kea on April 29, 2009, 16:28:56
of course that is going to mean holding both the buttons down till my hand aches ::)!
Either that or attach one of your kids to it :D
Quote from: Kea on April 29, 2009, 16:28:56
Yes 1066 I understand all that memory stuff which is why i always used to run my old phone down by letting it play snake or something. My new phone has a type of battery that doesn't need that done all the time. However this is cheap so the battery will need running right down as you say....of course that is going to mean holding both the buttons down till my hand aches ::)!
Cant you fasten the buttons down with cable ties then cut them off when the battery is flat?
Or as Melbourne suggests use duck tape.
Yes and that might be easier to do than to persuade the kids to get involved :P
Quote from: 1066 on April 29, 2009, 09:47:53
Kea, I haven't tried 1 of these but I think some of the problems that people experience is because the batteries aren't charged properly, basically a battery has a memory and you need to create the memory (sorry I'm not an electrician so trying to explain is a bit hard). Basically you need to fully charge it, then completely use up its battery, then fully charge, then fully empty. Keep doing this and it may help in giving the strimmer a longer battery life. Its the same for mobile phones.
Hope you can understand what I'm rambling on about and hope it helps.
1066
That's certainly an issue with NiCd batteries not a problem with Ni-MH or Li-ion though, but I expect for twenty odd quid it is likely to be a NiCd battery you get and you really need to condition those to get the most out of the appliance.
Just a thought for the Switches being a problem, perhaps give it to someone to replace/bypass the switches for a dashboard type toggle switch from halfords.