I also have a bunch of C3 Craftsman tools, and the hedge trimmer is one of my favorites! It was the second C3 tool I purchased after buying my C3 drill that also came with the C3 radio.
I bought the hedge trimmer because my wife cut the power cord off of the electric trimmer we had! After that, I bought the Craftsman C3 trimmer. That, and the fact that I wanted a portable trimmer so that we could take it, and use it, anywhere on the property.
With an XCP C3 battery on it, it will run for over an hour and cut thru stuff that the electric one never could. I even use it for pruning small branches on trees and our honeysuckle on the trellis near our back door.
I agree with the posters who asked why get rid of your functioning C3 tools when you can still buy the batteries from Sears and you can also get the generic ones too.
As long as all of my C3 tools still work I'm not going to replace them until they totally **** out. To replace them now, with the exact same tools from a different manufacture, when my tools still work, is like throwing money out the window.
Jim
For the record, the hedge trimmer truly is awesome. It really does cut through branches it shouldn't. Great tool.
Anyway... I hear everything thing you guys are saying, believe me, but my concern is over the options available for a possibly (and probably) dead-end product line. If I wanted to get a miter saw, a 6.5" circular saw, a band saw, a mister (neat Ryobi gadget), a small pancake air compressor - anything beyond the basics that I have right now, I can forget it. I either have to resort to ebay for a few of the items or mostly just go without. It's not that my current tools don't work (other than my drill with the shot variable speed), it's that any future options don't exist. What I have is pretty much what I have and even if I picked up the two or three additional tools on ebay, that's really just about the end. If I want any new, cool stuff, I'm out of luck. When I bought into the C3 product line, I bought into what I thought was an expanding line. Unfortunately, it was a shrinking line. As much as I like the tools I have, I'd like to know that go to the store and be able to get something new once in awhile.
As for tossing money away, I could sell my current tools and that would get me much of the way into another product (other than Ryobi - can't stand the green). A couple of the C3 tools I have are rare and are fetching pretty good prices right now. Combo kits by other manufactures are priced nicely.
In the end, I'll probably shell out 80 bucks and get a C3 heavy duty drill to replace my defective one and wait awhile to see what SBD does with the line. We really should know in the next couple of years. For the time being, what I have will have to do.
