Posts: 13,410
Threads: 4
Joined: Jun 2007
Location: New Jersey
I looked into Stihl battery tools about 6 months ago, reviews on battery life were not great. I stuck with gas. That's all I got....
Credo Elvem ipsum etiam vivere
Non impediti ratione cogitationis
Posts: 311
Threads: 0
Joined: May 2012
About 4 years ago I stopped at our local Stihl dealer where the owner is a friend of mine of 42 years .
I was interested in the string trimmer for our yard of basic easy trimming, he did let me know the battery lasted only about 12-14 minutes and I once again surely appreciated his honesty.
I bought the Husquvarna battery powered string trimmer and am 100% satisfied with it .
What the Heck, Give it a Try
Posts: 18,871
Threads: 0
Joined: Jul 2002
Location: Ohio
Husqvarna seems to have a better battery reputation than Stihl.
I'm not sure for blower/weed eater and the like you aren't better off using what you have for cordless tools if you have a good brand like Milwaukee, DeWalt, Makita, etc...
Posts: 22,684
Threads: 0
Joined: Feb 2005
Location: Regina Saskatchewan Canada
I have the Milwaukee M18 leaf blower and the older single function trimmer, as well as about 20 other tools and lights on that battery platform. I use the blower a couple hours a week blowing dust and dirt out of equipment at work. In 5 or 6 years, I’ve had one battery fail and that was fairly recently. I do use the bigger 8 and 9 Ah batteries on those tools mostly. No complaints about run time or performance.
Blackhat
Bad experiences come from poor decisions. So do good stories.
Posts: 2,488
Threads: 0
Joined: Aug 2004
Thanks everyone. A lot of useful information here.
Jim
Jim
Posts: 15,421
Threads: 0
Joined: Feb 2002
Location: Northeastern MA
I'm in pretty deep on the Makita 18v platform. Trimmer, blower, sawzalll, drill, driver, worklight, grinder. Probably a chainsaw coming soon.
I like it a lot. Some tools take a pair of 18v batteries to provide 36 volts, some are content with one. But I always have some on the chargers ready to go to power whatever tool I need.
My suggestion is to pick a brand you like for your most used tools, and stick with it.
You are frequently puzzled by things you tell us you fully understand. - Bob10 to EH 9/22/16
Too much has been made out of my mostly idle comments - Cletus 12/9/15
You sound like one of those survivalist, hoarder, tin foil hat, militia, clinger, wackjobs. - Fear Monger 1/30/13