Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Equipment Shed => Topic started by: Subversive_plot on May 22, 2021, 02:27
-
This is about equipment that worked BETTER than advertised.
About a year ago, the corded electric leaf blower that I had failed, and the corded line trimmer that I owned was a pain to use, and wasted a lot of line, needing to be re-loaded about every other use. I had previously owned gasoline-powered equivalents of each, even when maintained exactly as instructed, they did not last long (nevermind the odor, the noise, and keeping yet another can of blended oil and fuel).
A relatively new brand of power yard tools was being advertised, EGO Powerplus (yes, the brand name is off-putting. Also yes, it is sold in the UK as well as the USA). The selling point is cordless electric outdoor equipment, lithium ion powered, no gasoline, odor, and low noise, but with lots of power. Equal or better than gasoline powered equivalents.
A combo blower and line trimmer combo with battery and charger was on offer for about what you would pay for a mid-priced gas-powered blower. I went for it.
Each piece of equipment is separate, but powered by an interchangeable 56v arc lithium ion battery. Let's talk about that battery first. The battery goes from zero to fully charged in well under an hour, same or faster than a cell phone. A single charge is more than enough for a full days use around my place. I'm happy so far.
To my mind, I would have paid what I did for the blower alone. Light weight, lighter than any other blower I've owned. Well balanced. The air-moving design is an engineering work of art, squeezing every bit of energy out of the Venturi effect to deliver the most velocity out of a blower that I have ever experienced. Better than gas blowers costing twice as much. A job that used to take a half hour to do with the old corded blower now takes 5:minutes or less. There is even a turbo boost feature when you need the velocity of a category 2 hurricane instead of a category 1. The velocity is adjustable up or down in case all you need is a moderate breeze.
The string trimmer is also well designed and well balanced. Assembled, it is longer than trimmers I have used before, but it is easy to use. The speed is variable, depending on how hard you press the trigger. There is of course a second safety trigger, let go and the power stops. The bump-actuated line feed works extremely well on this one (can't say that about past trimmers). It is extremely parsimonious with the line. I have had to load line into it exactly twice since purchasing, one of those was today. It's not advertised for edging drives and walkways, but after a couple uses, I've found it is easy enough to control as an edger. Hello manicured drives and walkways!
If you are in the market for either type of equipment, give this one a serious look. The company also makes lawn mowers, hedge trimmers, chainsaws, and other equipment that use the same power system, but I haven't purchased any of those. Yet.