Are you tired of having to safely transport and store petrol in order to run your garden tools? Or are you driven mad by a tangled mess of intertwined cables and extension leads every time you try to extricate them from storage? For the ultimate user convenience, more and more people are choosing battery powered garden tools as the way forward. But don't hit the Buy button on that brand new lawnmower just yet, as we've compiled a handy buyers guide which will hopefully provide you with some information to help you make the best choice.
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Compared with petrol and corded electric alternatives, battery powered garden tools can be said to give you the best of both worlds: you get the same freedom as petrol but with the low maintenance, ease-of-use of electric. Aside from tasks like sharpening and lubricating blades, there's not much you need to do to keep them in working order ' just store your batteries and charger in a dry, indoor environment (rather than the shed or garage) and charge them up in between uses. As long as you've remembered to charge your batteries, there's virtually no set-up time involved ' just pull the trigger and away you go.
Being electric, these tools tend to be a lot quieter than petrol machines, with less vibration and no exhaust fumes. As well as having obvious benefits to the operator, this means they are generally less of a nuisance to neighbours and anyone else in the immediate vicinity too.
Cordless tools are potentially safer than petrol or corded electric as well. Petrol is highly flammable, must be stored safely and can be a real nuisance to clean up after leaks and spills, while with corded tools you need to use appropriate extension leads that are rated for the appliance and have to always be aware of the cable to prevent accidentally cutting through it or tripping over it.
So those are some of the benefits ' but what should you look for if you're thinking of making the jump to a cordless tool kit?
Cordless tools are split into a variety of categories depending on the voltage they run on. Commonly this will be 12v, 18v or 36v for example, and the higher this number, the more powerful you can expect the machine to be. This means that a 12v chainsaw (which is probably going to be labelled a 'pruning saw' rather than a chainsaw) will only be able to run a very short chain, while a 36v chainsaw will enable you to saw through bigger branches, and with far greater speed and efficiency. That doesn't mean that bigger is always better though: more powerful tools need bigger, heavier (and more expensive) batteries. By contrast, a 12v battery is extremely compact and lightweight, meaning that a mini 12v chainsaw can be used comfortably with less fatigue, and will be ideal for use in tight spaces and on smaller branches where it would be impractical to use a larger machine.
Generally speaking, these tools can only be used with batteries of the same type ' that is, a 12v tool won't work with anything other than a 12v battery. For a long time now, 18v batteries have been the preferred middle ground for handheld power tools, providing a decent amount of power without being excessively large or heavy, and for this reason you'll probably find more tools available on 18v battery platforms than in other voltage classes. Wherever possible, it makes sense to try and standardize your tool kit on the same battery platform as then it means they can all use the same battery and charger.
You might notice another figure quoted on battery specifications and that's ampere-hours (ah). What this refers to is how much charge the battery can store inside it, and the higher this value, the longer the battery can keep going before it needs recharging. Again, this doesn't necessarily mean that bigger is always better as you'll usually find the cost, size and overall weight of the battery increases as well. But if you have a large garden to maintain, or are a professional contractor working throughout the day, a high capacity battery can be an extremely convenient upgrade, enabling you to power through bigger workloads without the tool grinding to a halt before you've finished.
Another important thing to note here is that the type of tool you're using will affect how quickly your battery charge drops from full to zero. Some power tools don't have to work all that hard to fulfil their required function ' for example a typical grass trimmer only needs to be able to spin a thin length of nylon line around, and you'll probably find that one of the smallest batteries will keep it running for a decent amount of time. However, put this same battery into a rotary lawnmower with a big metal blade, and you might not get very far at all before its completely flat.
A common cause of complaints arises when people come to replace their old lawnmower battery and scour the internet looking for the cheapest price, only to find on arrival that their brand new battery performs much worse than the original ' leading them to assume that there must be something wrong with it. The reality is of course that they've purchased one of the smaller, cheaper options which can't hold the same amount of charge and is never going to be able to match the performance of the stock battery supplied in the box.
So remember, there's a big difference between a 1.3ah and a 9.0ah battery, but whether you need to splash out for the biggest and most expensive one available will depend on the type of tool you're using as well as the amount of work you want to get done in a single session.
This is a question we get asked a lot at Tooled-Up, and for a long time it was a very simple answer: no! However, times are changing and with a recent shift in the industry towards more universal battery platforms these lines are becoming more blurred. For instance, the PowerForAll 18v battery which started life in the Bosch Home and Garden range, can now also be used to power tools from Gardena and Flymo as part of a cross-brand initiative known as the PowerForAll 18v Alliance. Another notable exception is the Power X-Change system which is shared by cordless tools from Ozito and Einhell, but this is sure to become more widespread as time goes on. However, if in doubt assume that batteries aren't interchangeable between brands, and you'll need to acquire a suitable battery and charger from the same manufacturer.
You may come across cordless garden power tools which are labelled as 'Brushless' and wonder what this means. For a long time, practically all electric power tools were manufactured with carbon brushes, and these are essentially small consumable parts which are an intrinsic part of the motor assembly. Every time the tool is used, these brushes are subjected to a small amount of wear and eventually they will become completely worn out to the point where the motor will no longer start up unless they are replaced. This in itself is not a huge disadvantage as they can last a long time and are cheap and easy to replace. However, the friction caused by the wear on these brushes means that these motors are not the most energy efficient of designs; additionally, the brushes take up room inside the motor housing so they add a bit of bulk onto the tool.
With a brushless motor, the job of the brushes is instead performed by a separate controller on a circuit board ' this is essentially like a very basic computer on a chip, and is more expensive to implement. However, dispensing with the brushes means that designers can pack a more powerful motor into a smaller space, and the motor will run cleanly and more efficiently. In turn, this means that it won't drain the batteries as quickly, and one of the biggest advantages of a brushless tool is that you can get longer runtimes from your batteries.
Power tools are made to fit a wide variety of price points and to suit a diverse range of users ' from homeowners who trim their hedge a handful of times a year to professional landscapers who might use a hedge trimmer several times a week. The domestic grade machines will be a lot cheaper but as they're designed for infrequent use you may find they have a more limited warranty, while upgrading to a professional version should equip you with a more robust tool which is guaranteed for commercial use and will hopefully survive extended periods of heavy duty workloads without breaking down.
No matter which particular tool you're considering for your requirements, it's always worth taking a look at the brand in more detail to get an idea of what other tools (if any) can run on the same batteries. In some cases there may only be a small handful of products that run on a particular battery, while larger platforms like the PowerForAll 18v alliance give you access to literally hundreds of compatible machines, most of which you'll be able to pick up as bare tools (without battery and charger) ' a handy cost-cutting saving which also helps to reduce the clutter and inconvenience of managing multiple different chargers and batteries.
Due to the fact that most of these machines are part of a complete battery system- that is, they'll run on batteries the user may already own ' many of them are sold without a battery or charger included. This is great if you already own a battery and charger, as you'll get them for a cheaper price and won't have to accumulate a whole arsenal of un-needed batteries and chargers every time you buy a new tool. However, it's not so great if you don't already own a battery and charger and many people make the mistake of buying a bare tool only to find out they then need to source these separately ' while this is perfectly possible, you might not appreciate the inconvenience and to make matters worse you'll probably spend more money doing it this way rather than buying an all-in-one starter kit. So always take the time to research what's included and check you're not going to be missing anything when you open the box.
You may also find that you can buy the same tool with a whole variety of different battery configurations, in which case you just need to make a judgement call on what will suit you best. If you have a large garden to maintain you'll probably appreciate having that largest batteries you can get your hands on, but if you only need to trim a small hedge then a 1.5ah or 2.0ah battery may be more than enough.
You might have the option to buy more than one battery in a starter kit and there are a few advantages to this: Firstly, it enables you to always have one on charge while the other is in use, meaning you can swap between them and complete larger jobs relatively seamlessly. Secondly, its much more convenient when you need more than one tool for a job and means you don't have to share the same battery between them. But another reason why you might want to have two of the same battery is that in some cases manufacturers make tools which run on two batteries simultaneously: commonly this will be a 36v tool that runs on two 18v batteries, and the idea here is that you can step up to a more powerful voltage class but without having to buy into a completely new battery system.
Remember that power tools can be dangerous so make sure to read the manual before using any new tool. If you don't already own appropriate PPE for the task you're undertaking, you may want to try and purchase some at the same time so you're all ready to go. It is recommended to wear eye protection with most power tools, but depending on the job you may also require equipment like safety boots, ear defenders and a helmet.
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The irony of lawn tools is that they're often destroying the same outdoor spaces we are hoping to maintain and manicure. That's because some of them are causing more harm to the environment than many people realize.
Gas-powered outdoor equipment, including leaf blowers and lawn mowers, emit an outsized share of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
There are 650 million gas-powered outdoor tools currently in use in the U.S., according to a study from The Freedonia Group, a division of MarketResearch.com. And each one contributes to climate change.
Any form of energy comes at some cost to the environment. The lithium-ion batteries that power these lawn tools need to be recharged with electricity, so they contribute to greenhouse gas emissions indirectly by taking energy generated by power plants.
'But it's a fraction of the harmful emissions produced by running gas tools,' Mui says.
And if your utility company relies in part on renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, the carbon footprint of using your electric tool gets even smaller.
You can find out where your area stands by entering your ZIP code into the EPA's Power Profiler to see how much of the energy you use is generated by oil, natural gas, and renewable sources.
One side note: If you purchase multiple tools from the same manufacturer platform, you can use one battery interchangeably for all of them. And for each tool you purchase without a battery, you pay around 30 percent less.
It's almost inevitable that you'll spill a few drops of gas when refilling the tank of a lawn mower or string trimmer, or when filling up a container at a gas station.
That's because when you're filling a gas container, a gas pump's shutoff mechanism doesn't activate the way it does when you're filling your car's tank. So you're more likely to overfill your container. 'That spilled gasoline can contaminate groundwater and aquatic systems, potentially exposing people to dangerous hydrocarbons like benzene and toluene,' says Andrew Zimmerman, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Florida.
And while your small spill may seem like no big deal, consider that you're one of millions of people making that mistake. 'If you added up all the spilled fuel across the country each year,' Mui says, 'you'd probably end up with something that resembled a large-scale oil spill.'
At CR we regularly conduct member surveys in which we ask our members to tell us about problems they experienced with their outdoor power equipment. We use that data to estimate how reliable newly purchased tools will be through the fourth or fifth year of ownership. The more reliable the tool, the less likely it will quickly end up in a landfill.
What we discovered: Battery-charged trimmers and leaf blowers turn out to be more reliable than gas ones. For instance, almost all the battery string-trimmer brands we test earn a favorable rating or above for predicted reliability, while less than half of the gas brands we rate score as well. As for leaf blowers, most handheld battery-powered brands earn a favorable or very favorable reliability rating. No handheld gas brand earns more than a midlevel reliability rating. In fact, a majority of brands warrant unfavorable or very unfavorable ratings.
We see more variability with battery-charged lawn mowers, but almost all of the cordless electric mower brands for which we have adequate data earn a midlevel rating or better'and a handful of brands earn top-level or near top-level ratings. Most gas mower brands are also rated midlevel or better, but there are more gas brands that do not receive acceptable reliability ratings.
Overall, as battery-powered lawn tools of all kinds have improved, so have their warranties. Many brands have started offering lengthier warranties of two or three years as opposed to one year, which was pretty standard when battery tools first came out. So when a problem arises with a battery-powered lawn tool, it may be easier to have it fixed than in the past, as opposed to throwing it out. That's good for the earth and for your wallet, too.