Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Lithium WorxGT™ 2-in-1 Trimmer/Edger

This is off topic but hey, it's my blog, I can post up what I want. 8)

So been needing a weedeater for a bit now and finally broke down and got one. Got a Worx GT 2 in 1 Lithium Electric Weed Trimmer.



I didn't want to do the oil and gas combo if I could avoid it. The 4 stroke engines for unleaded only cost more but they would have been worth it. Saw this on TV and thought, "That's really all I need." So I ordered it from Amazon and I'm thinking that I can just recharge a battery to save money in the long run without having to buy gas all the time? That's the way I'm looking at it anyway.

So it arrives in the mail on Friday and I get up to use it first thing on Saturday morning. Now granted I've let my weeds grow up pretty tall and they've needed cutting for a few weeks now. Plus the ground is wet from a late shower and the morning dew. I cut around the swing set in the backyard so the kids can play without all the grass sprouting out from around it. Headed over to do beside the fence where it's really thick.

This is where you see the difference between gas and battery. It took a slow and repeat cutting to get the tall weeds cut down. With a gas powered one you could cut right through and keep on going. That power difference is definitely noticeable when dealing with thick weeds. So I get a little ways along the fence and the battery dies on me. I plug it up to charge and look at the bottom of the weedeater. the weeds were wrapped around the top of the core that spins around. I'm thinking it might have caused the battery to drain faster causing resistants. So I spend some time with a knife and my fingers trying to get it out. Got pulled away for a little bit and then came back to work on it some more. The weeds had dried up some so they started coming off easier.

So the battery finally finishes charging and I decided, lets see how this edger is going to work on it. Go out to the front and start working on my walkway to the front door. It's doing good but it doesn't dig down into the dirt like I'm use to doing. It's right on the edge but never really gets into the dirt all that much. I even ended up tilting it sideways some because at one point the string didn't seem to want to come out from the little it lost. So I do all that and start working on the driveway. Decided to cut around the air conditioner and after I get one side of the driveway done. Then the battery dies again. So it gets plugged back up for charging. Which by now the kids are outside with me playing, so I'm playing with them while it's charging.

When you're waiting and watching, it seems to take forever to charge something up. I'm guessing it took about 40 minutes or so to actually charge up. Didn't actually time it though.

When it gets done charging I finish edgeing the driveway and go down the outside edge of the fence. The grass is drying up and it's not as thick this time so it's going a little faster. I then go to cut around some bushes, telephone pole, mail box, fire hydrant and it dies on me again.
It's lunch time by now and it's getting hot. So I didn't even finish cutting the rest of the front yard and still got most of the backyard fence to cut. Needless to say, that was the end of weedeating for the day.

One nice feature is a metal piece that sticks out show you how far out your string will go so when I'm cutting the fence, I can put the weedeater up to the spot and it doesn't wear out my string really fast as it keeps it off the fence.

I'm also still using the spool that came with it and I have 2 more replacements after it. I don't think I used but maybe 1/5 that line. It hardly got ran down at all. With a gas powered one I Would have probably already replaced the line by now from doing all that I did. One nice thing is once my spools do run out, I can order them from the site to get more spools and it only cost me shipping. So you don't pay for the spools and I think you get 6 when you order them. Not bad if it's going to last a while like it looks like it's going too.

I don't like the fact that when you set it down and it won't set up right without falling over. Can't tell ya how many times that happened and when I was working on it being on the cement. The handle on both side is all scruffed up like I've already been using it for a couple months.

Overall, I like it and once I get all the big weeds down, I just need to keep them down and I'll be able to cut more faster the next time around. If you have thick weeds, stay away from this as you need a gas powered weedeater and not a battery operated one. I do suggest you buy a second battery from the start as I plan to get one now. About the time you get done cutting the other battery should be close to being done charging. So if you have a big yard like I do (half acre), you'll need a longer span of battery time to cut it all. If you have a small quarter acre lot, you might not need it and this will be perfect for you.