Battery powered lawn tools have always seemed like a great idea. There’s no gasoline engine to maintain and they’re quiet. Basically, you get the advantages of electrically powered equipment without worrying about a cord. However, battery powered equipment of the past wasn’t always as convenient as it should have been.
Lawn tools that run on a battery can have a number of problems. Early models weren’t nearly as powerful as gasoline versions and the battery performance wasn’t all that good. As the batteries lost power, equipment slowed down and on top of that the batteries didn’t last very long. Things are changing, however. Today’s battery powered lawn equipment has made significant leaps forward in terms of power, quality, and battery performance.
Higher-Voltage Competes With Gas Power
Today’s battery powered lawn equipment typically runs on high voltage lithium ion batteries. Improved technology has made the batteries not only more powerful but also capable of running longer. They can now compete with comparable gas-powered models in the homeowner and commercial markets.
Take Stihl’s battery powered equipment as an example. These tools are specifically designed so they’ll run at full-power for the battery’s entire charge. You won’t have to worry about power levels dropping partway through a job. Stihl also offers three tiers of batteries to handle everything from small projects to professional jobs.
Wider Selection of Products
You can now get most types of hand-held lawn care equipment in a battery powered version. If it’s a tool you’d use it to trim, cut, and clean up around a yard there’s probably a battery powered option. There are even battery powered versions of some larger equipment, including walk-behind mowers.
Reliable, big-name brands are among those producing today’s battery-powered equipment. Stihl and Echo both offer a battery powered string trimmers, hedge trimmers, blowers, chainsaws, and lawn mowers. Stihl also offers pole pruners and they’ve introduced the world’s first cordless electric cut-off machine. This tool is perfect for cutting brick, tile, and metal.
Fast-Charging, Interchangeable Batteries
Even with advances in battery technology, battery powered equipment still has a limited run time. It’s just a fact of using rechargeable, cordless electric equipment. You have a few options for combating this problem. Keep an extra battery or two on hand so you can swap-out a fully charged battery as soon as the new one runs down. Or you can take breaks partway through a longer job for the battery to charge.
Today’s lithium ion batteries are often fast-charging so you don’t have to wait very long before they’re ready to use again. In addition, if you buy all your battery powered equipment from the same brand there’s a good chance the batteries will be interchangeable. For example, if the battery you used for trimming still has some charge left you can use it in a blower to clean-up cut grass.
To learn more, visit us at Richarson Saw and Lawnmower. We’ll answer your questions and give you a chance to see different brands of lithium ion power equipment in-person.
