There are a lot of good reasons to ditch my gas powered yard tools, chief among them noise, pollution, and general unreliability, especially for the tiny-displacement 2-stroke stuff. I buy 89 octane, add Sta-Bil to every can, and use premix oil that is specifically designed for Ethanol gas, so it's not like I'm just having problems with old gas either.
But my string trimmer and my leaf blower both seem to be fighting each other to get to the point where I'm sick of trying to keep them running and replace them. The leaf blower has already been replaced once under warranty (failed in under 2 years) though this replacement one is on its 6th year, and I haven't started to diagnose why it just quit and decided it didn't want to restart after running for 2 full tanks of gas yesterday. Both are at the point where they won't run without partial choke, meaning the carburetors are getting marginal, and while it is frequently possible to find a cheap replacement carb (they're basically disposable, you don't rebuild them), there's no Zen in the Art of Small Engine Maintenance.
Part of the benefit of the modern battery-powered tool set enabled by the significant performance improvement of Lithium-Ion batteries is that most manufacturers have a whole line of various tools that extend far beyond the typical handheld drills and saws and such that all use the same battery and charger, which means that you typically have more batteries to swap for longer runtimes, and generally a better investment. But after looking at options for a bit this fall, I'm starting to think we're not quite there yet on the larger battery yard tools, at least for my use case.
I have a string trimmer that is one of those power heads with a bunch of attachments, including a brush cutter, a pole saw, a hedge clipper, etc. Rather than start over buying a new set of discrete tools that use the same battery, I'd like to keep using those bits, though the string trimmer attachment is due for replacement. So this narrows down the set of available battery string trimmer power heads to the ones that support the "universal" attachments, which fortunately do exist.
I have a backpack leaf blower, because I have almost an acre, and between my neighbors and me, we have a loooootttttt of trees. Even with a tractor and bag or mulcher to handle some of it, there's a lot of leaves to deal with in areas they can't get to. Also, I need the airflow and the form factor of a backpack model because after using my wired electric one for a good portion of yesterday after the gas one decided it didn't want to run (again! still!) my arms and shoulders have made it clear to me that I don't want to be carrying something handheld around all day like that, especially given the weight in battery any reasonable runtime requires.
Speaking of runtime, there is definitely a need for some regulations/standardization as to how manufacturers talk about their electric tool runtime. Seems like they spend a lot of time touting huge CFM/MPH numbers on their blowers (or cutting speed/power on their trimmers) using the highest speed, but then quoting the reasonable-sounding runtimes based on lowest speed, so it requires research to find third-party reviews.
Until the leaf blower got sick yesterday, I was thinking the string trimmer was going to be my entry point and that I could wait until next fall for the blower. So I'd found a couple of models that support universal attachments and was just starting to look at blower options to decide which one made the most sense.
- Dewalt 60v system - nice trimmer, but Dewalt doesn't have a backpack leaf blower, and at $350, pricey.
- Ryobi 40v system - more reasonable, and has a backpack blower but I suspect the lower voltage means it will require additional batteries to get decent runtime. It's kind of telling that Ryobi doesn't even list a runtime estimate for their blower, and Home Depot only sells the package with the second battery that is pushing $500.
- Greenworks 80v system - same price point as the Dewalt, and the backpack blower is shockingly (pun intended) expensive ($700!). They have a more reasonably priced 60v system but it doesn't do universal attachments.
- EGo doesn't have a power head that supports universal attachments.
- Husqvarna might have an option but it's hard to verify whether their power head supports universal attachments or just their own, and their 40v system is pretty expensive for what it is.
- Milwaukee doesn't have any backpack options and I haven't confirmed whether they have a universal trimmer head. Same deal with Makita.
