I'm convinced the new (and somewhat newish) battery trimmers and blowers are powerful enoguh for followup grass cuts. I'll still keep my gastrimmer and backpack as back up though, and my main mower will still be ~15HP. I'm glad to see there is quite a bit of info on here now but I'm looking for lower-end suggestions that will accept Ryobi type attachments which I think are the more common types but possibly not the husqvarana or echo attachments.
I use Ryobi 4 stroke powerheads and have almost all of the attachments. It's heavier and less comfortable than my 2 strokes but it's cleaner burning, no bothering with oil, and they sound much less annoying than a 2 stroke trimmer.
Maybe it's because it's not a 2 stroke and thus when it's tilted to edge and hedge clip etc possibly the 4 stroke oil mixes where it shouldn't and/or because of ethanol in fuel, but my 4 strokes only last me about a year before it starts having problems I can't figure out, and I consider myself a good 7.5 outa 10 for small engine repair. There's no L H adjustment on these carbs and the carb costs like $30 and I clean it pristine when there's a problem but maybe the diaphragm gets ruined from ethanol, but either way I've learned to not spend all day trying to fix them and ordering parts, and I just buy a 'returned' as-is 4 stroke Ryobi off ebay for like $30 shipped and 6 outa 6 have been some simple fix like connecting an on/off wire or a carb cleaning. By the way, I have a Ryobi 2 stroke I beat the shjt outa for over 3 years, tilled entire front yards with it etc and it never had a single problem. I am a strong believer in Ryobi tools. I have husqvarana etc also but ryobis and the parts are so cheap and easy to find (except the 4 stroke powerhead carb is like $30 instead of like $12 and I never chance that it's what will fix them and I just buy the returned ones for $30 shipped).
anyway, so a battery operated trimmer and powerhead sounds nice but I'm not sure what to get. I basically want it for the ease of use, no engine problems, light, quiet, should eventually pay for itself vs gas costs. I'm looking at the Ryobi 40 volt one. Whatever I buy, I'm trying to get the powerhead and the charger used but I want a new battery because with lithium ion batteries, there's ways the previous user can drastically reduce the lifespan of it by draining it to 0 (should not let go below like %40 or something, some cell phone articles say it's good to drain the battery all the way to 0 at the beginning but there's conflicting info, I'm not sure exactly the best way to take care of them but I will do more research later but I know I want a new battery and just get a cheap used charger and power head).
how do you charge these in the truck between jobs? I tried searching for 'car charger' but found nothing, so you need one of those power inverters to plug a regular outlet in the 12V cigarette lighter? How easy is it to suck too much power from the battery and cause the truck not to start?
kobalt has an 80V that will accept Ryobi attachments but I'm not sure it's really worth it because even though it's 80V, it might have enough amps. I think it's brushless though. I definitely want brushless? I can probably find the used 40V Ryobi head with charger for only like $40 and a pair of new batteries for like $140. I can probably find the Ryobi hand held blower for like $50 used (I know the mini blower powerhead attachemnt isn't really strong enough even for regular follow up grass cuts although I did use one of those for a season after upgrading from a broom lol). I don't want to spend like $400 for a stihl or echo or something or anyhing I can't attach my Ryobi attachments to or anything with a backpack battery. I'm kind of just testing the waters also, in a year, they'll probably make these better amps and volts and brushless etc.
kobalt 80V
http://www.lowes.com/pd_623439-53393-KST+140XB-06_0__?productId=50394838#img
the ryobis I'm considering but not sure if they're brushless if it matters much but I know the mower and chainsaw and snow blower they have are brushless so maybe the powerhead and blower are?
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-40...0-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Cordless-Attachment-Capable-String-Trimmer-RY40220/204589659
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-15...i-155-mph-300-CFM-40-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Cordless-Jet-Fan-Blower-RY40411/204589655
I use Ryobi 4 stroke powerheads and have almost all of the attachments. It's heavier and less comfortable than my 2 strokes but it's cleaner burning, no bothering with oil, and they sound much less annoying than a 2 stroke trimmer.
Maybe it's because it's not a 2 stroke and thus when it's tilted to edge and hedge clip etc possibly the 4 stroke oil mixes where it shouldn't and/or because of ethanol in fuel, but my 4 strokes only last me about a year before it starts having problems I can't figure out, and I consider myself a good 7.5 outa 10 for small engine repair. There's no L H adjustment on these carbs and the carb costs like $30 and I clean it pristine when there's a problem but maybe the diaphragm gets ruined from ethanol, but either way I've learned to not spend all day trying to fix them and ordering parts, and I just buy a 'returned' as-is 4 stroke Ryobi off ebay for like $30 shipped and 6 outa 6 have been some simple fix like connecting an on/off wire or a carb cleaning. By the way, I have a Ryobi 2 stroke I beat the shjt outa for over 3 years, tilled entire front yards with it etc and it never had a single problem. I am a strong believer in Ryobi tools. I have husqvarana etc also but ryobis and the parts are so cheap and easy to find (except the 4 stroke powerhead carb is like $30 instead of like $12 and I never chance that it's what will fix them and I just buy the returned ones for $30 shipped).
anyway, so a battery operated trimmer and powerhead sounds nice but I'm not sure what to get. I basically want it for the ease of use, no engine problems, light, quiet, should eventually pay for itself vs gas costs. I'm looking at the Ryobi 40 volt one. Whatever I buy, I'm trying to get the powerhead and the charger used but I want a new battery because with lithium ion batteries, there's ways the previous user can drastically reduce the lifespan of it by draining it to 0 (should not let go below like %40 or something, some cell phone articles say it's good to drain the battery all the way to 0 at the beginning but there's conflicting info, I'm not sure exactly the best way to take care of them but I will do more research later but I know I want a new battery and just get a cheap used charger and power head).
how do you charge these in the truck between jobs? I tried searching for 'car charger' but found nothing, so you need one of those power inverters to plug a regular outlet in the 12V cigarette lighter? How easy is it to suck too much power from the battery and cause the truck not to start?
kobalt has an 80V that will accept Ryobi attachments but I'm not sure it's really worth it because even though it's 80V, it might have enough amps. I think it's brushless though. I definitely want brushless? I can probably find the used 40V Ryobi head with charger for only like $40 and a pair of new batteries for like $140. I can probably find the Ryobi hand held blower for like $50 used (I know the mini blower powerhead attachemnt isn't really strong enough even for regular follow up grass cuts although I did use one of those for a season after upgrading from a broom lol). I don't want to spend like $400 for a stihl or echo or something or anyhing I can't attach my Ryobi attachments to or anything with a backpack battery. I'm kind of just testing the waters also, in a year, they'll probably make these better amps and volts and brushless etc.
kobalt 80V
http://www.lowes.com/pd_623439-53393-KST+140XB-06_0__?productId=50394838#img
the ryobis I'm considering but not sure if they're brushless if it matters much but I know the mower and chainsaw and snow blower they have are brushless so maybe the powerhead and blower are?
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-40...0-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Cordless-Attachment-Capable-String-Trimmer-RY40220/204589659
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-15...i-155-mph-300-CFM-40-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Cordless-Jet-Fan-Blower-RY40411/204589655
