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Keen to be ahead of the gardening game this year I am window shopping in preparation for buying a cordless strimmer. Now, I am lucky to be endowed with a plethora of Makita 18v batteries through my work, so it's going to be a Makita, this much I know.
I have my eye on the twin 18v (36v) models and am firstly wondering if anyone has any experience of run times (my garden is a mix of grass banking, rough edges and steps), Reviews seem positive from what I have seen so far
Secondly I am swithering over whether to get a hoop handle or cow horns. The hoop looks better for technical bits, the horns better for banking and for comfort - downside is i'll need to put the harness on to use it . There is no price difference
Oooh the agony of choice!
Can’t help with the battery side. I would go for the ‘cow horns’ much more comfortable for prolonged use and more control. Harness is essential no matter the style and is only an upside, the Oregon 539172 Professional Harness is the best bet. I use strimmers a lot (avg 10 hrs a week) and these harnesses last me about 18 months
if i needed a new strimmer i would get the makita cordless after my experiance with the 36v makita hedge cutter. that works well and a couple of 4ah batteries last ages. not sure how much harder on batteries a strimmer is than a hedge cutter though.
if you have access to plenty of batteries does it matter that much though, although a twin charger would be handy.
I have a ryobi 18v. Nice and light which is good for some quick and easy strimming. For more heavy duty I use the mains one we have.
I like the lightweight portability of the 18v. Obviously not for your use case but thought I throw it out there.
Can't comment on the 36v one but I have the 18v one here.
It's really good. Powerful enough and I pretty much do my allotment on one 5ah battery. Sometimes 2 if I've left it a bit long.
I imagine the 36v will be brilliant.
I have the the Ryobi 36v, it’ll do ~45mins non stop on a charge which is enough to cut all I need. Most of the time now I don’t bother with the mower and just strim the lot.
light enough don’t need cow horns or even a harness.