Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Okay, so here goes on my review. I hardly ever review on any site. But this one I felt was needed. I have now tested multiple cordless line trimmers, because the reviews and features available didn't answer all of my questions. So I did a sort of mini-Consumer Reports comparison of my top contenders. (I rate it 4 out of 5 because it doesn't have perfectly all of my desires. Amazon doesn't allow a 4.5 rating from an individual, otherwise I would've given it that.) In my mind, the perfect cordless line trimmer would have these features: 1) 40V-ish gas-like power; 2) be lightweight; 3) have a wheel on the trimmer guard for easy edging; 4) have a great price/value; 5) have a great warranty; 6) feel solid in construction; 7) have good 1 hour -ish of battery life on typical use (subjective); 8) highly reviewed by users like you; 9) once I'm done with my trimming job, would automatically pat me on the back. (Just joking on the last... or am I?) So, no trimmer quite fits the bill. My top contenders were this 40V Max Black & Decker (Model # LST136W) and the Ryobi 40V (Model # RY40210A) sold "exclusively" at the Home Depot (it's available in some other after market places). I bought and tested both, and here are my impressions, one at a time, based on the above criteria (1-8 anyway). 1) Power: the power of the Ryobi exceeds that of the Black & Decker (B&D), and it's VERY noticeable. I'd say the 40V Ryobi has true gas-like power (while the B&D is almost-like-gas power). So if power is all you care about, and intend to keep it full speed, then Ryobi is the clear winner. BUT: there's an important nuance to this: while I liked the Ryobi's power (I felt like Tim Allen in his original Home Improvement TV show), you have no control. It has a safety trigger and a power trigger, and you press both to start trimming, but while the power trimmer can be squeezed more or less for varied power levels, the sensitivity is such that you are not able to consistently or easily control the varied power, and will invariably end up being full power or off, and no in between. When I used it to edge, I found that, given the weight (see below) and the overpower for the precision edging I was attempting, I was taking gashes out of the edging, because one wrong angle with full power means massive cuts beyond the grass's edge. So, the Ryobi is not easily controlled for edging when you have all that power that you cannot really vary. (I'm sure you would get used to controlling it though.) What it needs is a power control dial: which is exactly what the B&D has, in 6 distinct settings. With the B&D, you have this plus the safety switch and the power trigger. The power trigger on the B&D is not variable: it's all or none, but with the 6 settings, you get true control. As a result, while I like the power of the Ryobi, I like being able to harness and control that power, and only the B&D allows this. Plus, at lower settings for lighter jobs, your battery will last longer. So the winner here depends on what you want. If you will only use your trimmer as a trimmer and want full power for lots of growth, the Ryobi is the winner for you. But the power of the B&D at level 6 is very near that of the Ryobi, and if you want control or intend to edge with your trimmer (as I do), the B&D is the winner (even without the wheel I love of the Ryobi... see below). 2) Lightweight: unfortunately for Ryobi, its weight also approaches that of a gas trimmer (not quite). It is far heavier than the B&D, though I didn't bother to weigh them (Home Depot says the weight is 9lbs for the Ryobi, 7lbs for the B&D...it seems much heavier, perhaps due to balancing... maybe 9lbs is w/o the battery, which is a good several pounds itself). The Ryobi battery seems to be the main culprit in extra weight, but I suspect you get longer use from it too. I believe the Ryobi might have a greater Ahr (Amp hour) rating, but I've found reports that they both are 2.0 Ahr, so if so, I'm not sure why Ryobi is so heavy. (Even the B&D charger is much smaller.) The Ryobi also does NOT extend longer, so you cannot adjust the balance.* Bottom line: I can handle the heavier Ryobi, but think my wife will find it too heavy after much use: leaving the job always to me in the end. As I'm not always home, this is not good. So B&D is the winner here. 3) Wheel for edging: the Ryobi also has a nice wheel on the trimmer guard for edging, and also the best feature I've seen to convert it from a trimmer to an edger: you simply use your foot to tap a pedal and it nearly rotates into position on its own (slightly kick it the rest of the way). The B&D 40V has no wheel, which I find annoying, as their 20V Performance model (LST400 or LST420, same model, different battery capacities) and many other lower end models have one. Why B&D doesn't consider the higher-end consumer worthy of a wheel when we are willing to pay more, I cannot understand. Undoubtedly, B&D will come along with a "Performance" 40V in a few months that does have a wheel, a few months too late for my purchase plans (of course, right?). Now, here's an option though: the B&D 20V Max Performance has a wheel, and I found that it nearly fit on the 40V, the only flaw being there are no screw holes on the 40V by which to attach it. But I have little doubt I could find a way to securely attach it. The distance between the string feeder outer diameter and the tip of the wheel on the 20V is just 1/8 inch or so less than that of the 40V when this same wheel is placed on it, so it should work. The trouble is that the guard on the 40V is 13", while the 20V is 12", meaning that if you put the wheel on the 40V but keep the same guard, your line will be slightly longer than it should be, and will like waste line as it smashes against concrete with every rotation as you edge. The solution to this then is to put the 12" guard on the 40V as well. Then, while you lose an inch of swath in your cutting, you've effectively built yourself a 40V Performance series. As far as getting the 12" guard and wheel, you'll likely have to find those by contacting B&D and buying them separately as parts**. Maybe if enough of us do this, they will get a clue and build a 40V Performance model, and offer a retrofit kit for those that already invested but didn't put together a hack system like I'm proposing. But all of this finagling is troublesome, so in my mind, the Ryobi is a clear winner. (Except, as mentioned above, the uncontrollable power of the Ryobi makes it hard to use accurately, trimmer wheel or not.) 4) Price/Value: As of this writing, the two trimmers by themselves are within $1 of each other (Home Depot's price for the Ryobi vs Amazon's and Walmart's price for the B&D). However, you can save 5% at Home Depot w/ their credit card, though you may save on sales tax from Amazon depending on your state. Now, for about (presently) $14, Amazon also offers the LSW36B blower packaged with the trimmer. It's rated pretty high on Amazon, and it uses the same battery as the B&D trimmer, but after having tested it, I find it only so so. But my goal here is not to rate the blower, so let me just say, it's presently priced at about $75 on Amazon (though WITHOUT another battery/charger... it's $125 otherwise), but in my mind, the blower is not worth that. However, for $14 more with this trimmer package deal, yeah, it's definitely worth that. All in all, I'm trying to buy the best electric cordless trimmer, so the blower is irrelevant in this decision (but worth $14 if I go with the B&D), and the price is otherwise essentially the same. (I will say: long term: the trimmer line price is about the same too, but the battery, if it needs replaced, is about $15 cheaper for the B&D. And w/ B&D, you can shop around. With Ryobi, you are essentially stuck with Home Depot, and this makes them a monopoly and allows them to price fix.) For this, in my mind, they are essentially equal. 5) Warranty: On the surface, both Ryobi and B&D's 40V have a 3 year warranty. (Yes, this is accurate: some sites say B&D's warranty is only 2 years: it's not for the 40V line, it's 3 years, as written in the documents included in the box, as well as on their site.) However, Ryobi gives you an extra 2 years if you register your product on their website. Don't forget, with either one, if you use a Platinum Mastercard or equivalent, many premium cards give you an extra 1 year warranty beyond the above. However, it's also worth noting that, based on reviews, people have had trouble with warranty coverage with both companies, but it seems worse with Ryobi. Maybe they give you that extra 2 years because that's what it'll take to get your device repaired? I do like the idea of the longer warranty though, so for this, Ryobi is the winner in my mind. 6) Solid Construction: both the Ryobi and the B&D 40V have lots of plastic and lightweight (probably aluminum) shafts. The Ryobi weighs more, which might make it feel more solid, and I liked the grip a bit more on the Ryobi, but all in all they are about equal. Here I judge there is no winner: a tie. 7) Battery Life: I touched on batteries in #2 above, but simply put: I have a small yard, and whatever my decision here between these two, the trimmer I stick with probably won't last until I can afford a new house with a bigger yard, so if the battery can last 45 minutes or so, that seems fine for me. I typically will use it less than 30 minutes, and in testing both, they were half charged and lasted 20 minutes without dying. So for my purposes, they are equivalent. As mentioned in #2 above, the Ahr ratings are supposedly both 2.0. And reviews from people that have used both said they can get 1hr plus out of them. Keep in mind the B&D with its controllable power will likely give you more trimming longer, but also keep in mind if you just have the one battery and purchase the trimmer/blower combo, you'll want some of that juice for the blower too. Yet, with about a 1hr recharge time, maybe it doesn't matter too much, unless you have a big yard. For me and my needs, I decided Ryobi and B&D ties. 8) Highly Reviewed: Currently, the non-bundled version of the B&D 40V is the #1 best seller in line trimmers on Amazon, with 4.5 stars based on 1200 reviews. But to compare apples to apples, let's look at Home Depot, which sells both. Currently at Home Depot, the Ryobi has 460 reviews and 4 stars, while the B&D has 437 reviews at 4.5 stars. So, Home Depot customers overall prefer the B&D. Though there are always some 1-star rating by irate people that had duds, what concerns me most of the negative reviews on Ryobi is that there were many that complained that the engine burned out. Maybe it's power (see #1 above) is too strong for the parts inside. One person even said the internal parts were only rated for 36V, but I doubt that matters really. But there were quite a few people that complained about blown out motors on the Ryobi, plus complaints on the line trimmer extension feature not working well. In both cases, people also complained about the battery life. One said the B&D battery is not covered by the warranty: the warranty from the box says nothing on the battery, but does say that the warranty does not cover accessories. However, the battery is not an accessory in my mind: it's a fundamental component. A quick google search rendered no clear results. This may be also be a concern with the B&D, though someone on the Q&A on Amazon said they contacted B&D and was told the 3yr warranty does indeed cover the battery. (Also note, I think taking the battery off the charger once it's fully charged is probably wise to keep it living longer, for any brand battery.) Regardless, it seems neither is perfect, and I think it is telling that B&D is 4.5 stars and the clear winner in overall reviews on both Home Depot and Amazon. As noted, I also tested the 20V Max Performance model (I tested the LST400 with one 4 Ahr 20V battery, but the LST420 is the exact same device yet with 2 separate batteries, each 2 Ahr 20V; there's also a bundle pack with the same blower basically that comes with the 40V pack reviewed above). What attracted me to it was price and the trimmer wheel, plus it can be used with the mower conversion extra by B&D (the MTD100 3-in-1 Removable Mower Deck, at approximately $45). But while the price of this trimmer is $30-$40 less than either of the two 40V models I compared above, and while the idea of longer battery life is great (either w/ the 4.0 Ahr or 2x 2.0 Ahr set, which it turns out is probably more than I need and so shouldn't be a factor for me), when I tested this devices power (and it has just two power level settings, so tested at the highest power), it's night and day compared to the power of the 40V B&D (and even more so against the still more powerful Ryobi 40V). Since this 20V weighs about as much as the 40V B&D, unless price or the wheel are deal breakers, or you really need that extra battery time and don't want to buy another battery, then I'd stick to the 40V. Note too, all B&D models below the 40V only comes with a 2yr warranty. That should be factored into your calculus too. I tested this, but then returned it. However, it was by having it that I was able to toy with my hack jobs of putting the smaller trimmer guard and the wheel on the 40V, as explained in #3 above. Finally, the B&D MTD100 3-in-1 Removable Mower Deck: can it be used with the 40V B&D model? Of course the official answer is no, but I wanted to know the real answer. So I bought and tested it. The 20V model noted above fit perfectly into it, but the 40V's trimmer guard (13", with +/- ½" adjustment on the blade) is too big to fit into it. Now, if you replace the 40V trimmer guard with the 20V's guard (a 12" variety, and they are entirely perfectly exactly interchangeable), and rotate up out of the way the 40V's edger guard bracket, then the 40V B&D essentially fits into the Mower Deck. It's not perfect because the motor housing on the 40V is slightly bigger, and the hole for it on the Mower Deck bends ever so slightly when you jam into place the 40V with the smaller 12" trim guard. However, you don't have to struggle to insert the 40V in this configuration either, and it does snap in and you can then pick up the entire contraption and see that the Mower Deck does not come off, and that it is firmly in place. I imagine you could shave a little plastic off of the Mower Deck around where the 40V trimmer's motor housing inserts for a better fit. Bottom line: if you want the Mower Deck, you can use it w/ your 40V so long as you get the smaller trim guard, which you will likely have to go to B&D to obtain for a small fee. Or maybe they'll be nice enough to just give you one. It should be a cheap part, it's only plastic, with a little metal blade and the two screws to hold it in.** 9) It pats me on the back when I'm done with my job: well, none did this, so a tie I guess! So my score, based on my needs: Power: B&D Lightweight: B&D Edging Wheel: Ryobi (but you can buy the parts to make your 40V basically have the same features as their 20V w/ the wheel--still a hassle and extra cost**) Price/Value: Tie Warranty: Ryobi Solid Construction: Tie Battery Life: Tie Highly Reviewed: B&D Other: with a few tweaks, the B&D can be converted to a mower, though you'll need some new parts to make this work. So, the two are really close, and you need to determine which features are more important to you, but I guess I lean towards the B&D 40V. If you do the hack job I suggest, comment back here and let us know how it goes! Congrats if you got to the bottom of this review! * Note the Ryobi 40V-X Xpandit (RY40220) is heavier still: it has the engine and battery on one side, and a true mechanical drive shaft like a gas trimmer down the center to the trimmer attachment, thus allowing you to put any attachment on it. But in my estimation, unless you already have a bunch of attachments and are transitioning to electric, you shouldn't invest in that model, as it forces you to replace it with the same thing once it dies, being the only electric head that accepts universal gas attachments. If you are starting out like me, best to just buy independent pieces, so if one breaks/dies, you aren't stuck maintaining the brand for your other attachments. For some tools, like hedge clippers, most people have hedges near their house alone, and only trim them periodically, so a corded one would be the better option, as you never need to be dependent on a battery brand, and corded equipment tends to last longer and have more power than battery operated equipment. ** If you want to add the wheel, it's just $3.50, and the trimmer guard is just $4.00, all plus shipping/handling. The blade on the trimmer guard is not the same in the 40V as the 20V, but they are included in the guard assembly so you don't need to buy separate ones. You won't need a screw for the guard, just use the one you have, and you won't need them for the wheel since it won't quite fit anyhow and you're going to have to finagle a way to attach it. You could call B&D and beg for a free one, or buy from [...] Note that if you decide to switch back and forth on the trimmer guards, that little black tab will undoubtedly break off at some point, since they weren't meant to be taken off repeatedly. But if it does, it is of little consequence, as the whole guard fits snuggly, and that single screw is what really holds it from coming off, not the tab.