Morning all,

I would like to get a cordless strimmer and my thinking is to get one which can share the batteries from either my Bosch drill or Worx Hydroshot.  Is either one better than the other and given the variety for each brand, is there a weapon of choice as it were?

I only have experience of the Bosch stuff but I like it (strimmer, drill, hedge trimmer all share batteries and have been 100% reliable). I’m buying a long-reach trimmer to add to my collection this summer.

Both will have adaptors available so you can choose what you want. Tbh they will be much of muchness, just choose the one at the right price.

If going for a Bosch, as the drill is from the professional range would that dictate a strimmer from the same line or are batteries universal between the ranges?

I can’t comment on the Bosch but happy enough with hydroshot and strimmer from worx. I’m glad I’ve got 3 batteries though. Often need to swap over mid job,

This  Worx WG163E.9 seems quite sensible and I like that it has a telescopic neck as find most fixed ones to be quite short.

Any reasons why not?

The worx mower I have is crap in comparison to the previous Bosch mower. Both battery, the Bosch battery did give up in the end.

@stayhigh – I believe the professional range is different but not 100% sure. Mine uses the ‘Power4All’ batteries.

@johndoh I suspected that might be the case a while I have no doubt the Professional strimmer would be great, at £200+ its far too flash for my modest postage stamp lol

Both ok Bosch hedge trimmer cuts some very thick stuff. Work also good.

I run Dewalt for Drills diy tools etc worx for hydroshot and garden saw, bosch for chainsaw and hedge cutter.

They are all good

Just to say i use a petrol strimmer tried a battery one and it was notup to the job.

If you want a cheap petrol stimmer Mculloch are made by Husqvarna. Akso small Husqvarna petrol chainsaws are excellent

A petrol strimmer would be massively overkill for the size of my garden and while weedy, has nothing overly strenuous i.e. no brambles or anything particularly thick.  As much as anything its the convenience of a cordless strimmer that I’m attracted to save having to faff about with extension cables.

I have the Worx one linked to above. It came with two batteries and I have yet to use up both in strimming  the parts of the garden that we have which is quite a large area but not really tough going as we never let it get too overgrown. No it isn’t as good as the professional stuff but it has been entirely reliable in the two years that I have had it.

I am 6’2” and it is just about long enough at full extension for me to use comfortably, any taller and it would involve too much bending over for my liking.

Being able to shorten it and rotate the guard means it stores really easily in the shed hanging from a hook under a shelf

I’ve got access to a MacAllister cordless trimmer, seems to do fine. I’d see if you can get a battery adaptor for your pro batteries, maybe a Makita one and ask @northwind what Chinese clone copies he uses. That’s my plan.

Oh, Worx batteries are also cross compatible with Erbauer so maybe see what Screwfix have.

If going for a Bosch, as the drill is from the professional range would that dictate a strimmer from the same line or are batteries universal between the ranges

I’m fairly sure the Bosch pro batteries aren’t the power4all ones.   There are two versions of the Bosch strimmer which use 18 and 36v but even the 36v battery is different from the pro 36v battery.  The 36V strimmer works really well though, for a price

I have the Worx one linked to above

Same. I think it cost about £65 with 1 battery a few weeks back. It feels like a decent bit of kit. Only used it a couple of times, the battery is enough to do a small garden, just. Bought it because I already have a Hydroshot. It uses the same batteries.

Last summer I bought a 40V Worx strimmer, so two batteries required – it has been excellent, plenty of power, auto feed spool works well.

This one – https://www.screwfix.com/p/worx-wg183e-9-40v-lithium-powershare-cordless-grass-trimmer-bare/162ha

I’m using a Makita 36v trimmer, obviously not what you’re after but it’s a joy to use and silent. Unlike it’s Stihl predecessor

I have a posh makita brush cutter and a cheap worx one. The Worx one probably gets more use as I use it to trim little bits of grass – it’s great – hardly weighs anything and the 2ah battery last a decent time. It won’t get through anything thick tho – the makita smashes anything.

Thanks for the thoughts all, have ordered the one I linked above 🙂

I believe the professional range is different but not 100% sure. Mine uses the ‘Power4All’ batteries.

Yep the batteries are not compatible between the two ranges – which is just daft IMO.

I think it cost about £65 with 1 battery a few weeks back.

I told a lie, mine was £80 with battery and (minimal) charger.

Bosch garden stuff uses their crappy power4all batteries which are utterly useless.  My Bosch strimmer would run out of juice about 3/4 the way around my pretty small garden. Thankfully though clever people on Amazon produce adapters that allowed me to bin the power4all pack and instead use my Bosch Pro coolpack batteries.  The 4ah and 6ah packs don’t just seem to deliver better longevity, but also greater overall power from the motor despite being the same voltage.  Utterly transformed what was perviously a loathsome device.

The pro batteries do the same thing, some of the heavier duty tools spec a minimum battery size.

It’s all to do with the available volts as it discharges, they don’t remain constant so a smaller battery (as you would find on power4all) will struggle whilst a bigger one won’t. You’d have the same problem if you stuck the smallest 1.5Ah or 2Ah pro batteries on.

Any reasons why not?

Possibly too late for the OP, but on the Worx site it’s £80 with a battery and fast charger and maybe 10% off if you sign up for their newsletter. Or oddly on the Amazon link £72 with no battery, £110 with one battery or £108 with 2 batteries.

The 4ah and 6ah packs don’t just seem to deliver better longevity, but also greater overall power from the motor despite being the same voltage.

More cells in parallel, the 4Ah one can deliver twice the current of the 2Ah and the 6Ah can deliver 3x.

You see the same thing with the pro batteries, I have to use a 4Ah for some drilling as the 2Ah can’t deliver the necessary current.

I have the worx cordless strimmer with the automatic line feed. Really handy bit of kit, battery last long enough too, struggles a bit with really long thick stuff but you just have to start higher up and work your way down – fnar fnar. Recommended it to a mate who’s a joiner/ has lots of proper power tools in daily use, he also rates it.

@Rio As it happens it was somewhat of a pre-emptive “have ordered” and then got distracted so this works out quite nicely.  Not as nicely as the additional 10% off  as its not applicable to the offer but an extra battery and charger for £8 is all good 🙂

I am looking to get a strimmer for a pal.  Issue is she is a fairly slight woman with a shoulder injury and is concerned about the weight of them.  I looked at posh bosch ones but very spendy – is that worx one OK? – she has a fair bit of land and some thick scrub to clear.  2Ah batteries enough?  I was looking at 4Ahr ones for the bosch

I thought one with a harness / shoulder strap would be better for her.but the worx one does not seem have a harness option.

Would I be better with a petrol driven one?  Am I looking for too much?  Powerful, lightweight, harness?

I have the Worx or a very similar predecessor. It’s not noticeably heavy and the second handle is big and has plenty of adjustment. Should be easy to make it comfortable to use. Plenty of universal aftermarket harnesses she could use with it.

However, it is pretty much a tool for maintaining an established garden rather than clearing scrub, brambles and overgrown land. It has a thin line and not masses of torque. I bought a separate corded bosch that takes thick metal wire when I had an abandoned garden to clear. Maybe a good case for hiring a pro petrol tool for occasional jobs like this.

@tj – it sounds like your friend needs a brush cutter, not a battery-powered strimmer which is really just for edging lawns and removing light weeds.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-afs-23-37-950w-230v-corded-brushcutter/8263P?tc=HT8&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwgJyyBhCGARIsAK8LVLNsP23e2Lk17cG2eDHFZxl_hza7AjYWcUlY2VktUycNJEs1kcFhNrAaAsX5EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

corded is no good as she would need hundreds of m of cord.  Its not as bad as it sounds in terms of brush ie mainly ordinary weeds but it does sound like the cordless may not be powerful enough

Ta

Lidl are doing one for 30 quid and 23 quid for battery/charger..
https://www.lidl.co.uk/p/parkside-20v-cordless-grass-trimmer-bare-unit/p10014253
https://www.lidl.co.uk/p/parkside-20v-2ah-rechargeable-battery-and-2-4a-charger/p10014262

I’ve got one for the garden, seems to work fine for lawns/weeds and things.

I just bought the Worx one for £139.099

Product Quantity Price
40V 33cm Cordless Grass Line Trimmer with x2 2.0Ah Batteries and Charger 1 £139.99

It works fine and strims like a strimmer. The batteries last about 20 minutes of continuous use when cutting long grass and weeds. This took 2 sessions of fully charged batteries.

Ta again – at that the the worx one will not do as it needs to have greater battery life than that  20 mins is just not enough I don’t think and it will get a fair amount of use.

Another vote for the telescopic Worx one – battery life is fine and you can always swap them out or buy the option with the bigger / multiple batteries.

They Worx tools also crop up quite regularly in eBay discount promotions so can work out very economical (especially if you already have batteries from other tools) – I bought the one with 2 batteries and charger which I then sold on, making the tool itself only about £15.

johndoh

Free Member

@tj – it sounds like your friend needs a brush cutter, not a battery-powered strimmer which is really just for edging lawns and removing light weeds.

We got the posh 36v Bosch one to do weeds but even that won’t cope with thicker stemmed stuff such as thistles.  In the end I got a scythe that, well,just scythes through them.  The Bosch was great for regular level weeds though

it needs to have greater battery life than that 20 mins

You can get bigger batteries I believe, the ones that came with it are to hit the price point I think.

+

20 minutes is not too big a problem as it gets a bit boring and tedious after that. Take a break and do the rest tomorrow.

I can defo confirm the domestic ‘power4all’ are different to the professional batteries and aren’t interchangeable (unless you get a 3rd party adaptor.

Annoying- I’ve got a mix of domestic and pro.

Ta folks but I am really confused as to what to do now.   If I am not careful I will be called in to do the work as well.  tends to happen anyway 🙂