Going cordless - the way to go.

[Miss Mousetrousers]

OK - cordless DIY tools have been in use for ages, but cordless lawn mowers must be better than trying to untangle the inevitable curling of wires around every little obstacle available. Even better than that is my new cordless vacuum cleaner which my OH persuaded me to get and I've never regretted it - in fact, it has made hoovering an actual pleasure! These things are also so much better if you have any disabilities which makes some jobs hard to do. Anyone else found this?

[seasprout]

I have a cordless Gtech mower, and it's been a revelation.
I'm loving the freedom of mowing around obstacles without stopping to re-feed the power lead around behind me.

I do have to plan a head a bit to make sure the battery is fully charged before I set off.

[happyhumph]

My friend (I do have more than one!) recently mowed over a cable & sheared it off - useful for anyone I think!

I know a few older gardeners who love those small battery powered hedge trimmers - v lightweight & great for a quick trim

[Baldy]

Our allotment site is contemplating the purchase of cordless mower and hedgetrimmer - so I'll be interested in comments on this thread (well done MM )

A friend who is a sometime professional "in the field" (literally), poo-pooed them for use on a plot but its one thing we're considering as a number of our plotholders find the petrol tools too heavy / unwieldy.

[Alison]

I find them annoying as they never seem to last long enough and were not very good at keeping charged anyway.

[lottie dolly]

I have just today got my new mountfield 45v battery strimmer/freedom 45,got to try it out yet,just a bit off advice to concider when looking at these things is this,it says 45v on the battery but you also need to look at whether it runs for 20 mins or 40 mins aprox,it will have on the battery 20ap or 40 ap,also they are more often sold as separate items,i chose the normal charger as opposed to the more expensive quick one,also the larger battery because it's a bit dearer and you get twice the time out off it,i want mine for mainly down the lottie,so suits me better,i have spent hours going boggle eyed looking at the things,so do your home work first,and look up reviews,another thing is,if you plan on getting more than 1 battery item,you can save cost by getting the same brand that uses the 1 battery and charger,as my battery was a lot dearer than the machine it's self,so please think careful before going ahead.

[Bigmallly]

I think the main thing with cordless equipt is to make sure you have a few charged batteries. I have 2 strimmers with 4 batteries & get about 2 hours strimming in total.

[Potstubsdustbins]

As professionals in the building trade we love cordless, drills x 2, vacuums x 2, jigsaws x 2 and circular trim saws x 2 and torches x 2. The next purchase will be two 115mm angle grinders.

I have been using them since Makita bought out their first drill some 25 plus years ago and have watched the improvements over the years. The really big break through came with the advent of Li-Ion batteries, yes they are expensive my Makita's are £75 + VAT but they deliver loads of power and can be charged at any stage of discharge with out damage to the battery itself and they last. We have only found one downside, there is virtually no warning when the battery is about to die, it goes from full power to nothing very quickly, to get round this each van carries two batteries.

The best advice I can give is buy the best you can afford and if you go with Makita make sure it's the LXT range you will then be able to expand your tool range by buying bare tools to use with the battery/batteries you all ready have.

[lottie dolly]

BM it all depends on what the battery price is mine was 139.00,
forgot to say is also li ion has no memory.

[Small pumpkin]

I've be clueless for years and cordless. But I can't really comment because all my powered gardening kit is petrol.

But I'm right there with you on cordless drills, impact drives, circular saws very good toys to have at hand.

[Miss Mousetrousers]

Obviously, it depends on how big the area is you are using it for, and the heaviness and inadvertently cutting cables is another important thing to consider, plus the faff of re-filling and maintenance of petrol-driven equipment. OK - you have only a limited amount of time before the battery runs down but, given time, I'm sure that the battery quality and life will be improved. Another aspect is possibly how much more safe they are to use regarding tripping up over cables, possibly hurting yourself when doing so, no flammable liquids to be careful of, and - no swear words for the neighbours to hear when your plugs have no spark!

[green thing]

A few down sides to lithium iron cordless are the replacement cost of the batteries . when I bought my last drill with battery it was £120 the replacement batteries are now £90 can I buy the naked drill (without battery) for £30 No .
They also build in obsolescence every few years by changing the cases to make sure they don't fit.

Auction sites now sell replacement internal battery packs the hardest part is getting into the welded plastic case to replace them .

lithium ion batteries can be extremely dangerous if the charger becomes faulty by over charging or shorting out when wet . RC car drone users are advised to charge them in flame proof bags because of a number of them exploding .

Last Christmas trading standards advised people not to purchase the cheaper end so called hover boards due to faulty chargers and not cutting out .

The mother in law has a new cordless vacuum which is excellent but she charges it up after every use even when the battery is still hot and leaves it plug in constantly to keep it topped up . not good
Your better running them completely flat then fully charging.

Most manufacturers and now saying not to leave lithium iron charger's unattended when charging
And some of the big manufacturers are still get caught out by poor quality batteries and charging components getting into the supply chain .

The next generation of batteries are going through trials at the moment and will give up to five times more power then lithium iron and a lot safer .