Consensus on battery powered OPE

[ssspencerjr]

It's been a few years since I've read much about this. What is everybody running nowadays? I'm ready to get out of 2-cycle equipment at the minimum. As a test I replaced my blower with an on-sale HF Bauer blower and I couldn't be happier, just looking to possibly replace the rest of my gear over time.

 

[cptbarkey]

Trimmer: Milwaukee Quik loc Trimmer, edger, and ankle slayer attachment. Loads of torque. 8Ah, 6Ah HO batteries. I borrowed a dewalt trimmer and its pretty good too.
Leaf Blower: Milwaukee and Ryobi blowers, both work great. I never really had a leaf blower before so its loads of fun either setting a large brush pile on fire or blasting chaff out of my yard while i stand there with little effort.
Chainsaws: Milwaukee, Dewalt and Ryobi Chainsaws, all are great in their own ways whether its taking down a tree, branches, or limbing a downed tree. I don't have any trees bigger then 2 feet diameter and all are softwood so I cant speak to other tree types.

Mowing: My riding mowers and self propelled are still gas. I would like a battery self propelled, but the entry price is too high to me and the benefit too low.
The only two cycle I have is a predator auger, it screams and has endured neglect. It has also drilled about 50 some odd holes so its paid for itself. I'm about to dig another 15 holes but it will be with a tractor backhoe due to known rocks in the area.

I dont miss 2 stroke stuff at all myself, but I am all for choice and against any short sighted corrupt government battery OPE mandates.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

I have a cheap Sun Joe electric mower, and there are no problems with it

 

[Lubener]

It's been a few years since I've read much about this. What is everybody running nowadays? I'm ready to get out of 2-cycle equipment at the minimum. As a test I replaced my blower with an on-sale HF Bauer blower and I couldn't be happier, just looking to possibly replace the rest of my gear over time.

For lighter duty residential use, the electric will be fine. For long, thick grass, a gas powered equipment is the way to go.

 

[Fordiesel69]

It's been a few years since I've read much about this. What is everybody running nowadays? I'm ready to get out of 2-cycle equipment at the minimum. As a test I replaced my blower with an on-sale HF Bauer blower and I couldn't be happier, just looking to possibly replace the rest of my gear over time.

I cannot partake in forced government programs to obsolete 2 stroke eqipment, however without knowing your use case it will be super tough to make a recommendation.

Echo / Husky / or Milwaukee would be my top three.

Stihl battery stuff seems ok too, I just hate their dealer model and price gouging.

You want to pick a brand that is not disposable. With an echo the gear box, head, motor, switches, circuit boards can all be replaced. Mass produced junk that you buy at lowes and HD is all throw away stuff. In 3-5 yrs the batteries will be bad and they will intentionally obsolete the battery or price it close to a whole unit.

Whatever you do, dont even think about a battery powered mower yet. They are not mature. String trimmers, blowers, edgers, small chainsaws are getting there.

 

[Cujet]

I have:

A Kobalt 80V blower, battery failed right away. The warranty replacement works fine.

An EGO 56V blower, 3 years old. Battery works, but now won't hold a charge while sitting on my office desk for a month. About 10 or 11 min on high/turbo, used to be 13.

A Slew of Dewalt 20V tools, blower and weed trimmer. All 4, 4AH 2014-2016 batteries are dying/done. The 6 month 10AH battery won't hold a charge more than 3 days, but works well if freshly charged, the older 6AH battery soldiers on. The 10AH battery is a known problem child, sorry I purchased that one.

A Toro 60V mower with 6AH battery. Battery works properly, but is too hot to charge immediately after use. It must cool for at least an hour before it will charge, and charge time is not 45 minutes, but about 3 hours. It is an epic good mower, and very light.


Bottom line, get all one brand, and use the battery(s) on every tool. That way the battery will age and cycle out normally, and the tools will only need a new battery (or two) instead of 4 different brand batteries, all failing at the 6-8 year mark.

EDIT: Just a note about power. None of the electric tools come close to matching the power and working time of professional gas equipment. All 3 electric blowers WILL NOT blow pebbles/gravel out of the hangars. Sure, they will move em, but just barely. The Stihl gas blower moves the gravel easily.

The best elec blower is the EGO. But it's run time is too short to finish the job in the 50x60 hangar. It will do a "T" hangar easily. It could not do the yard and driveway at my PA home as the run time of 13 minutes is 3x too short. So I used an ECHO 21cc gas blower which runs for 45 minutes per tank, enough to finish everything and then some.

 

[Astro_Guy]

I bought an EGO weed whacker last lear to replace a failed Stihl 2-cycle unit. Couldn't be happier with it!

 

[SHOZ]

I have a EGO 18" chain saw and Greenworks pole saw/trimmer, 24" hand hedge trimmer and light duty leaf blower. On my third pole saw. I use that a lot.

 

[walterjay]

I bought a Stihl battery weed whacker last year. Very happy with it. Everything else is still gas.

 

[AandPDan]

Had a gas powered leaf blower and string trimmer for years. But, now using a battery powered string trimmer (18v) and leaf blower (36v), Makita. They use the same batteries, the leaf blower just takes two. It is VERY powerful and will easily clear my garage, driveway, and other areas.

I've never been one to use the leaf blower to clear the entire yard, I'll rake thank you very much.

Battery powered is just so much easier for my uses. Instead of letting it idle as I move around the yard, it's just on and off as I need it.

 

[Cujet]

I thought for sure someone would like my 2 stroke generator, charging the mower's battery....

 

[Leo99]

My son just bought this first house with a small yard and I'd definitely advise him to go battery powered OPE. The house came with a manual push mower. LOL

 

[jkasch]

Ego leaf blower, string trimmer, chain saw and hedge trimmer. 3 batteries. Still mow and blow snow with gas. Happy with all of it.

 

[ssspencerjr]

I thought for sure someone would like my 2 stroke generator, charging the mower's battery....

I did get a chuckle out of it.

 

[ssspencerjr]

Had a gas powered leaf blower and string trimmer for years. But, now using a battery powered string trimmer (18v) and leaf blower (36v), Makita. They use the same batteries, the leaf blower just takes two. It is VERY powerful and will easily clear my garage, driveway, and other areas.

I've never been one to use the leaf blower to clear the entire yard, I'll rake thank you very much.

Battery powered is just so much easier for my uses. Instead of letting it idle as I move around the yard, it's just on and off as I need it.

I feel the same way. I bought the battery powered blower b/c Iit was on a sale buy the tool get a free battery from HF. The sheer convince of it is very eye opening, no more going to buy pre mix (I don't use a lot of 2 cycle). Just grab the blower and a battery and have at it. It's also a lot quieter, and lighter weight.

 

[dlundblad]

I’ve replaced my gas blower with cordless and couldn’t be happier. I didn’t use it like I thought I would so I sold it last year. Wasn’t too impressed with the model either. My parents have its predecessor and live in a woods so I figured it’d be good. Nope. Cordless is also nice to use it for a few seconds without having to turn an engine on IMO.

I also use a cordless trimmer for trimming around the few trees by the house, but use a gasser when I do the ~1-2 hour task of going around the whole property.

A cordless push mower would be nice and in theory work well, but no more than I push mow, I might as well stick with gas. The push mower was free and it runs very well.

 

[Astro_Guy]

I thought for sure someone would like my 2 stroke generator, charging the mower's battery....

How about solar powered charging? It never needs refueling.

 

[repairman54]

Spent the winter clearing snowmobile trails of blow down with Milwaukee E saws. Good for small stuff, limbing but don't be in a hurry.
Since the E saw has no clutch to slip like a gas saw they kick off the chain really easy if you're in a hurry, even with a sharp chain trying to cut up 6+ in. frozen stuff.
No where near the power of gas but as said handy for quick small stuff especially in cold weather.
More dangerous for homeowners / casual users though, they will cut through safety chaps as no clutch to slip like a gas saw has when chain gets caught in the chap's fibers. Learnt that in a chainsaw safety class.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I can’t believe how time flies. I’ve been reporting yearly on this Dewalt trimmer with a 5 AH battery. I’m about to start year 7 with it. I also purchased a Waitley knock off as a spare battery. I always start with the Dewalt battery and run it until it’s done, then hook up the Waitley. The original battery is still fine. These aren’t “new things” anymore. Here’s the pic of my Dewalt next to my gas powered unit taken in 2018. I gave the gas powered one away. No regrets.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Some old men were complaining that “ the replacement battery costs more than the tool”. Here is a Waitley battery for $28 USD from Amazon. ( CDN dollars show.)