milwaukee yard tools

[bobg03]

I currently have a Stihl blower and cheap electric trimmer (small yard) the blower has an internal battery that is getting tired, it's 6 years old.

Does anyone have any experience with milwaukees outdoor battery powered tools, specifically a leaf blower and edgetrimmer? Or a recommendation towards another brand?

 

[rlitman]

I currently have a Stihl blower and cheap electric trimmer (small yard) the blower has an internal battery that is getting tired, it's 6 years old.

Does anyone have any experience with milwaukees outdoor battery powered tools, specifically a leaf blower and edgetrimmer? Or a recommendation towards another brand?

I've got a lot of M18 batteries, so I have that tipping the scales.
Regardless, yesterday, I picked up a Ryobi 40V brushless string trimmer. The first Ryobi tool I've ever owned.

I've had a gas Stihl Kombi (with LOTS of attachments) since 2006, but my wife won't touch it (except sometimes the hedge trimmer). The top of the line Ryobi RY40290VNM with charger and battery was the same price as the Milwaukee 2825-20ST bare tool, and the Ryobi has a carbon fiber shaft. I just didn't see ANY advantage to the Milwaukee.

The Ryobi I bought takes all of their standard ExpandIt attachments (I don't own any, but if you do...) from their age old gas engine lineup. Milwaukee has a new and totally proprietary attachment point, using a star shaft, so you're stuck with Milwaukee attachments. However, I've known for some time that ExpandIt attachments have a square shaft end that will fit into Stihl equipment (imperfectly, but it works). So, I tried the opposite. It turns out that if I remove the end of shaft sleeve that fits the keyway in my Stihl Kombi clamp, my Stihl Kombi attachments fit into the Ryobi and work.

The first thing I tried was my pole pruner. I did get the motor to stop dead when I really hogged into the cut (my gas engine would have plowed through it), and I think it's got a battery overload safety cutoff. But so long as I took it easy and let the chain do the work, it sawed great.

Oh, and I pulled out the screw in the gearbox at the head, and replaced it with a grease zerk. It's a totally standard thread (unlike my Stihl).

As for leaf blowers, some people like them, but they're serious battery hogs. Don't expect too much.

 

[bobg03]

Thanks the Stihl has been excellent I use it til dead 2 or 3 times a week to clean driveway, patio and walkways. No leaves, I have a lawn guy. It blows full force til it dies, when it was new 6 years ago it lasted about 45 minutes, only good for about 25 now.

 

[Showkey]

I have the M18 blower and chain saw. Both are great and have their place.
I live on several acres completely wooded. So have tons of leave, sticks and debris. So I also have gas versions.

M18 blower for lighter duty, roof work, garage and patio.
I do have 12.0 AH battery which lasts a very long time in the blower. 12.0 for the chain saw is almost a must for serious work. Trimming a 8.0 works but less run time.
Same for the chain saw, 24” oak logs gas is the choice......trim, ladder work, 6” and down M18 is perfect and quiet.

Urban subdivision lot......M18 should work.
Don’t own but used the M18 string trimmer worked as well as a gas unit.

Once your married to a battery Eco system..........there’s no real reason own multiple battery systems.

 

[bbrins]

I have the M18 blower, trimmer, pole saw and hedge trimmer(the one that goes on the shaft of the lawn trimmer). I'm actually kind of impressed with how well they work. I use them both at home and at work. If you have large jobs, the trimmer probably won't quite take the place of a gas unit. The blower is great for clearing lighter stuff like grass or some leaves, but gas would still be better for fall cleaning. The hedge trimmer cut my fairly large hedge clipping jobs to about a third of the time it takes with a heavy handheld gas unit. The pole saw works well.

One nice thing about all of this is that I can break all of it down and cram it in the passenger seat of my regular cab Ford Ranger if I need to.

Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk

 

[oldwino]

I’m pretty happy with my 18v blower. Battery life decent with 9ah battery and will do some heavy blowing if you pick atit

 

[DeeKay]

I bought the M18 blower last year and I like it a lot, great for the roof, sidewalks and patio. Doesn't quite have enough balls to be super effective in the grass but I usually just end up using a rake for that since we get a ton of pine needles.
I am using old XC5.0 batteries so that might be limiting performance too, probably switching to an HO battery would help.