I used to call the big heavy gas trimmers, "workmans comp devices". Freaking back killers if you put a man on one for an 8 hour day. But the light electric ones kick ass. If you have really heavy trimming to do, I need to teach you about Roundup. Trim it, then 1 week later hit the new regrowth with roundup. Saves man weeks on a big place.
I used the better grade of B&D weed whackers for a large condo complex for about 3 years now. A big place, It was quite possible to wear out one of them per year, and a couple of the 24v NiCad batteries it ran on. But even if they wore out in less than two years, it beat losing a worker to the back killing big trimmer. ( old farts on the crew btw).
One that wore out the bearing on the motor, and wasn't easily fixable has still handled my 1/3 acre place fine for 2 years now. But I use enough round up to make it a very small job at the house.
One thing I learned was not to run them too very long continuously, like for 2-3 hours. A 10 ah lipo battery was how I fried the bearing on that one. Ran it non stop for hours. But if you just take 5 min break between stock batteries they seem to last quite well. One broke a switch, so the switch from the bad bearing one fixed it.
House use, the B&D ones should last you for quite a few years, unless you have acres, and a 3-4 hours a week trimming job.
But if you have industrial needs, the Sthil might be the one. That was going to be my next choice at the job when the current B&D's wore out. Quit working there now though.
:lol:
