You are right about wanting to match the tool to the job and working conditions.
Engine-driven tools still make a lot of sense for many jobs - but they too require regular maintenance, fueling and lubrication - hence some of the appeals of corded-electric - and now battery powered tools for the homeowner use. Maybe we are just not “there yet” with cordless tools being designed to be reliable enough for dusty-dirt environments - but perhaps the manufacturer’s will get there.
In my own situation - my wife likes some of her cordless garden tools (grass clippers, hedge trimmers, small chain saw) for a few light-duty tasks - but has learned that they do not have great longevity. She’s on her 3rd. set of grass clippers (now a Gardena). Meanwhile - our properties were always too large to consider most other electrically-powered garden tools - so I bought engine-driven tractors, mowers, leaf blowers, string-trimmers, chainsaws, tillers etc. over the years. I have now reached a point in my life, where I’ve come up with what’s for me an even better solution - I hire others to do the work - and let them worry about maintaining the equipment
not just yet? I doubt that we will ever be there! there’s just too much difference between combustion engines and ac/dc in terms of sensitivity! electric engines fail so easily and are almost impossible to fix. but a gasoline engine can never fail completely. the worst it can happen is that you have to replace parts periodically, filters, sparkplugs, change oil etc sure its annoying but it beats having to replace the whole tool like with electric engines.
li-ion is a dead end for any power tool except driver drills. and so are ac/dc engines. research should be put into hydrogen combustion engines as replacement for gasoline or something similar
Here is an update.
I called Dewalt, explained the problem and they wanted me to send it to their repair center or take it to a local authorized repair center. I did the later. The local place was skeptical that it would be a free repair because it was 14 months or so since the purchase date. “We’ll see” they said.
While I was waiting I did a bit of research on the parts involved and found that there is a new version of the motor assembly. This says that they made a few changes probably due to issues. I purchased a second trimmer “Bare tool” style for 99 bucks since I missed the first one and my elderly mother kept asking me when the trimmer would be fixed so she could borrow it. (This is why cordless yard tools exist… no hassle for older people). The new one arrived and I noticed it had the new design. I gave it to her as a gift to go with the 20v blower I had already gifted her (and which she loves). A couple weeks ago my repair center called saying my trimmer was ready to be picked up. No charge and it has the newer motor assembly.
Both are working well. We each have one to keep at our own places so mom does not have to haul mine back and forth.
Hopefully the redesign has fixed any issues they have had with the motor.
It’s like you have never tried the new li-on tools out here and realize how much of a game changer they are.
My Li-on jigsaw works so well in my wood shop that I’ve sold all the corded jigsaws. The new lion circular saw had made the corded saws live in the drawer and seldom get used. The cordless grinder has replaced the corded grinder… on and on. I use these tools hard and love the flexibility that not having a cord brings.
As far as the trimmers. I was skeptical of them but because I have dozens of 20v batteries I gave them a shot. I am more then happy of their performance on my acreage. I can trim on a single battery and premixed oil, starting issues and noise and smell are gone. We’ll see if they can hold out over time. But… why am I wasting time responding to an idiot what wants me shot?
LOL was waiting for that!!!
Battery and corded yard tools are absolutely great depending on your use case. I was very pleased with the performance, longevity and convenience of corded tools at my previous 1/8 acre property. I used the same corded Toro blower and Homelink hedge trimmers for almost 10yrs. 48V Toro string trimmer is about 5yrs old and going strong.
Since moving to a 1/2 acre property I have switched to EGO 56V tools (530 blower, 16" chainsaw, hedge trimmer) and couldn’t be happier.
If I had a larger property I would use some gas tools, but I’m small enough to enjoy electric. I also do trail maintenance and for that we’re 100% gas. I’m lucky in that someone else owns/maintains the gas stuff so I have it easy. 
- Null
splinterpuller, I am interested in what you did with your trimmer. I am having problems with mine but it would seem to be related to some kind of overheat sensor. Wanted to know if you still had it and would be willing to part it out?
Cheers
Blair
Sorry for not seeing your message until now. My trimmer was repaired by the service center. They put the upgraded motor it in and I gave the fixed trimmer to my mother so both that and the new are in service.
As an avid mechanic and user and abuser of all things construction related and home owner related. I can honestly say that I have had a dewault 20v trimmer for an entire mowing season and the trimmer although it could be made heavier duty. It would be wasted on the average consumer. I have had zero issues with mine. I’ve never had to do anything but put one of my many battery packs in it and it works. Plain and simple. I have a reliable husqvarnia in the shed that I have to do regularly maintenance on and let warm up cause they are cold natured or al that I’ve owned are. I haven’t had to buy on drop of gas for it. And I’ve been charging the packs with my small solar setup I finally built after many arguments with my father over reliability which outside of me burning up an inverted cause I tried running something far too big. Zero issues with that as well. Gas is great for my truck or motorcycle. No arguments about power Density. Oil will always win there. It’s got the most out of anything. But reliability and ease of use and me not relying on fuel. I’ll take the rechargeable. I’m almost exclusively cordless apart from chop saw chainsaw and jigsaw. But those I don’t use much and fuel does make more sense for the chainsaw for now.
Glad to see they warrantied it I was curious when I read the first post. Then realized it was from 2016.
I have a Echo Cordless trimmer from 2016 also got it end of season. Anyway I have found most of the cordless electric tools as strong or stronger than gas. I know impossible right.
You are doomed… my “tools” are DeWalt. My outdoor equipment including blowers and pole saw etc. are Ryobi. Sooner or later they go on clearance usually with a battery (I always check the clearance endcaps at HD) and if they go bad on you Meh… You got a battery out of it. I got their bottom line weedwhacker last year for 39 bucks as a more “precision” cutter in the garden vs my four cycle bruiser that juist
tear up everything. I got it in clearance around November, as I remember, with a small batt and that thing has surprised me. It is the perfect tool for the job I wanted it for. And that Ryobi misting fan thing I got for 79 bucks? It is awesome out camping at 100 degrees…
Proper maintenance is all. Clean your machine after using.
New motor design? Mine was purchased 11 months ago, 3 hours of use, never replaced the string and it started smoking and the motor locked up. Unfortunately i had purchased one for my daughter when she bought her fist home, now I’m just waiting for her’s to go out…
What a horrible experience across the board.
I bought a brand new version of this that started smoking and stopped working after 20 minutes. I contacted Customer Service and they said they were going to send a new unit, but please give them 2 weeks to get it out to me. Fast forward 3+ weeks of waiting with no word, I follow up and ask for an update. Crickets.
Finally, after over 4 weeks I get a follow-up email stating “I apologize for the confusion, you wont be receiving a replacement tool”… “Remember, the average repair process usually takes 3-5 weeks approximately.”… “If the technicians determine the tool damage is not covered under warranty, your credit card will be charged an amount no greater than the Factory Overhaul Cost listed for the tool, plus taxes, and you will also be charged for the return shipping.”
In short, they are not going to replace the tool like they promised, waited nearly a month to let me know, and now could make me pay for a repair to something I used for 20 minutes, and the repair will take 3-5 weeks.
I come from a family of contractors with garages full of tools. I find this absolutely unacceptable.
I got 20 minutes of use out of mine and customer service was awful. Ever since DeWalt merged with Black and Decker, and Craftsman, etc they have gone downhill.
B&D acquired the somewhat moribund and “one-trick-pony” Dewalt in 1960. So your “ever since” comment would represent a 62 year downhill slide. My take is that B&D and now SBD (after Stanley & B&D merged) has done very well with Dewalt - taking a RAS manufacturer’ brand name to now represent a wide-ranging professional power tool brand. That’s not to take issue with the bad experience that you had with their service which sounds atrocious. Having been associated with the purchase of many hundreds of power tools over my working lifetime, I know that some do fail prematurely (sort of infant mortality.) Manufacturers know this - and usually their warranties (even 30, 60 or 90 day ones) usually cover this issue. Sad that they did not do better by you.
Thank you Fred! You are right, I have many DeWalt tools which I’ve used for many years. This one was a poorly designed I suppose, and I think they knew it; as soon as I gave them the model and timestamp on the tool they said they were going to send a new one.
Customer service is super important, especially when things go bad. For them to say they are sending a new one and then to say never mind after a month and me having to reach out again infuriates me. Honor your commitment! If they would have said go to a repair center a month ago, I wouldn’t have had to wait an additional 3-5 weeks. By the time I get it back a tool I use every week will have been out of play for basically the entire season I use it. I’m forced to buy a new one and then even if it’s fixed I have an extra tool I don’t even need any longer and have to spent several hundred dollars more to do it.
Well, just stumbled across this thread. May 20th 2020 i bought a dewalt 20v weed trimmer. Just this week the unit would only click, click, click spin 1cm then go back to clicking. I took it all apart thinking it was stuck vines or grass. Nothing in there…changed batteries etc click click click. Called dewalt, said 3yr warranty on factory defects. By the looks of this post over the past 7 years it seems its a factory defect with the magnets in the motor head. Brought it to local dealer today, printed the receipt i found, they bagged it up and sent it back to dewalt…hopefully get a new one? Ill keep you updated
I’m trying to justify the about $200+/- for an ego trimmer. Actually I don’t have but maybe 30 minutes of work for it weekly. It’s the small amount of use that keeps me from buying gas: gas has to be used up, the tank run dry, and there can still be problems. And I’d love to have an edger and a bush trimmer too. Ego’s combo tool/powerheads have very mixed reviews and start at $300. My ryobi gas powerhead died after ~4 hours of actual use. I have 4 or 5 attachments that are now useless to me. Thus tti/ryobi is out of contention*
I like my woodworking and general use dewalt tools (20v), and tought a string trimmer would extend that. But it comes close to $200, or passes that with a good battery >= 6ah. But I see a lot of consensus that these trimmers don’t last, that dw doesn’t stand behind them well at all, and that the heads are tricky to load string and also have issues. Granted fewer people pipe up about grat experiences, but the enough negative chatter that I don’t get much confidence for their outdoor lines.
OTOH, ego gives a 3 year warranty on the batteries and the more recent ones seem to last only about that long. The batteries can be scarce and pretty costy. The tools seem to ladt well most of the time, from a distance they far surpass dw in quality, features and longevity. Aside from the higher price, the problem is only about half the people who do experience a problem with ego products have a good customer service experience: they get no help or blown off - kinda like dw. The other half rave. Can’t argue with ego’s features, but they have so many models it’s hard to select. With more on the way.
*I strongly believe that a lot of engineering is applied to make battery tools last only so long. The business seems to think that consumer tools should break after 4-6 hours of use, then half or more of consumers are ‘re-entrant’ or buying the second or more of a given tool as a replacement¹. Re-entrants are more likely to pay for more features. I’d rather buy a better tool that would last than deal with flaky customer service because of minimizing engineering!
¹ tti/ryobi seems to be the master of short-lived tools, outside of hf stuff
I have the DeWalt 922 unit. Bought it in June 2020 and used it a couple times each summer and now after some light use yesterday the head quit moving. Nothing is jammed in the head and tried different batteries. I don’t have a receipt since I bought it at a store and not online. Not sure if DeWalt will warranty it. First DeWalt tool to just up n die on me. Won’t spin or make any clicking noises. Just dead. After reading other comments on the internet seems to be a common problem. Might buy a replacement bare tool and add the $25 two year warranty