Black & Decker 18-Volt Cordless Electric 12-Inch Grass Hog String Trimmer/Edger #NST2018

Still looking
This worked okay the first year, for light duty. It charged out after about 45 minutes. The second year sometimes it would give the same charge(always charging up overnight),and sometimes it would give less. This year it did not charge at all, no matter how long I let it. Felt this was rather expensive if it truly is kaput. I have yet to find a reliable trimmer and I have tried corded, gas, and now this one. Maybe it's just me.

good, but there are trade offs compared to a gas powered trimmer
I bought this item to replace an old, but reliable gas powered trimmer that finally broke. Since I am trying to go all cordless and gas free I bought this model. I have other firestorm tools that take the same battery so this was a good buy for me. If I didn't have anything else that uses the same batteries, I may not have bought it. If you have plenty of batteries and do your yard work only when fully charged, it's not bad. As a point of reference, I do a three-quarter acre yard with about twenty trees and bushes, about seventy feet of edging along a drive way, and about fifty feet on both sides of a chain link fence. It takes me two to three fully charged batteries to do that. It comes with two batteries, so if you have as much or more yard than I described, you may want to buy an additional battery if you don't already own other firestorm tools.

Pros:

-It is light weight and easy to use for those of us with bad backs.
-The twist to edge is well designed and easy to work.
-No mixing oil and gas so you don't have to worry about running out of gas in the middle of your yard work.
-No fighting with starting a two stroke motor and having to goose the trigger to keep it running. Just pull the trigger and go.
-Quiet, no noisy two stroke motor.

Cons:
-Weak compared to a gas powered trimmer. It's fine for regular yard trimming but you trade off being able to cut heavy brush or an overgrown ditch. It might cut fairly thick weeds and grass if the brush doesn't have woody stalks and if you have plenty of fresh batteries.
-It is no good unless the batteries are completely charged. Unlike a cordless screwdriver or a flashlight that are still usable until the batteries are almost dead, once the batteries are about half drained, it doesn't have the speed or torque to cut anything.
-I've found using a different type of string makes a world of difference with string trimmers. Unfortunately, this model only takes only a prestrung black and decker spool.

pain in the a**
the product itself works decently for the 10 minutes that it lasts. the result can be neater but it does cut the grass- most of it anyway. However, even with my small yard, it took me exactly 2 weeeks to complete. A reviewer wondered why the manufacturer gave no indication of the length of time it takes to fully charge the battery. there's a reason for that dear reviewer, they are afraid no one will buy the product if u knew it takes about 18 hours for maximum charge, after which, u only get ten minutes of power. Exactly 10 and no more. Therefore i had to use the trimmer every morning, then charge it all day and night so that it would be available for my 10 minutes next morning. As you can imagine, that's really a large pain in the butt! I bought the product despite warnings from some of the reviewers because i have a small yard (2000 sq. ft) but trust me, do not buy it, its not worth the stress.

something should really be done about the battery, it should last about an hour each because left as is, it makes the product itself useless. i think buyers are really misled. even some of the reviews i have to wonder about, because i can't imagine people saying they got 1 hour or even 20 minutes of power. i have been timing myself for 2 weeks and i get exactly 10 minutes.

Very Nice for a Small Yard
This Trimmer is perfect for a small yard. Nice to not have to have a cord and gas cans oil etc. The battery snaps right into place and you have two of them so you never run out of power.
I highly recommend this Black and Decker Trimmer.

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