Battery Power for Lawn equipment -- is it time?

The battery purchase and free tool deal, which I too took advantage of, did not exist this Christmas season. Evidently, the batteries have gone up in price. Tool kits now come with 1.5 or 2 amp hour batteries, not 3AH and 4 ones in prior offerings.

 

One of their earlier deals left me screwed hard for about $800.

However, nothing is forever.

I'll eventually forgive them, but I'm quite content to send all my home improvement business to competing boxes for a few more years.

 

You guys are real buzz kill

 

Yep, they do have a lower price than HomeDepot for the kit I linked. HomeDeport price is $129, the Factory Reconditioned kit from the outlet is $80. Yeah, if you don't mind refurb, they are a bargain. But I do suggest this kit for $80 instead of just a drill if you do not already own an impact driver. Beleive me, it is far better in using as a driver than a drill with a driver bit.

Direct Tools Outlet Site

 

Hmm not sure which kit you found- the only ones I saw with drill + impact included a 1/4" impact. If I'm buying an impact tool, I want a 1/2".

The only $80 impact I see on there is a 3/8", and that kit is battery + charger + bag (no separate drill)

 

Well, I got free Ryobi HP batteries on a Black Friday deal from them just a few months ago. It was an online order, and I just returned the kit to my local Home Depot for a full refund and kept the free batteries. Yes, I know the kit batteries are smaller. But I actually like the smaller batteries more than the larger heavy ones. I am not a contractor. I don't use a power tool all day. I need to use it for 30 min or less occasionally on our around-house project. A lighter battery is easier to handle and use. I'd rather have several smaller batteries than have fewer larger-cap heavy batteries.

The only exception was the yard tools which required longer continuous operation time than regular hand tools. But, my earlier purchase of ONE+ 18v system Ryobi yard tools (trimmer and leaf blower) gave me the impression that they are not powerful enough even with a large cap battery. I moved on to the 40v Oregon Tool ecosystem since then. The problem is that Oregon Tools has discontinued the entire cordless tool manufacturing. When our trimmer and chainsaw die or can't get a new battery for them, I will have to invest in a new ecosystem, probably a Ryobi 40v system. But there are other yard power tool ecosystems that seem to work well.

 

I have both a 1/4" impact driver and a 1/2" impact wrench. Both Ryobi ONE+ hand tools. I have not used a 1/2" impact wrench much. If you are thinking of using it on your car to use with 1/2" sockets, then yes, that is what you want. I do not work on cars that much. The only time I may want to use the impact wrench is to loosen the lug nuts. But since I have a breaker bar in my car, I have not used the impact wrench for that purchase either. And, as you know better than me, for tightening the lug nuts, it is better to use a torque wrench.

The 1/4" impact driver is for screws and small bolts that you would use regular 1/4 in. Hex screwdriver bits. It has a one-handed bit release for quick bit changes. Basically, it is a fancy and very powerful screwdriver. I use my 1/4" impact driver far more often than any other power tools I own. Just think of the average homeowner's chance to use a screwdriver vs. drill vs. wrench.

To add: I have used a cordless drill with a 24-position clutch and 2-speed gearbox for screws and small bolts using a regular 1/4 in. Hex screwdriver bits attached to the cordless drill chuck for a long time, until I got the 1/4" impact driver. The difference is night and day. If you want to tighten or loosen a screw, then the 1/4" impact driver is a far better tool than a cordless drill. I don't know how many times I have used a cordless drill to drive the screw into a wood or wall, only to strip the slot of the Philips's head. Once this happens, it becomes impossible to remove the screw using a regular screwdriver. This just does not happen with an impact driver.

 

If you don't already have one, you will want to purchase this inflator.

Direct Tools Outlet Site

It sells for $25-35 at Home Depot.

I carry one in my car.

 

I had one. I think I got it "Free" at the time when it was on sale with another kit. It was a good working unit for topping air in the car and other pneumatic tires around the house. But after ~3 years of regular use, nothing heavy but regular tire top-up when the Psi was low, it started smoking while used on a tire and burned the motor dead.

If you read the manual, it says the following:

Allow pump to cool for five (5) minutes after each five (5) minutes of continuous use.

Yeah, it takes longer than 5 min to top-up all 4 tires when it is 3-4 Psi lower than recommended. Still, it was a very convenient unit not needing to connect a cord to the 12v battery. The thing I did not like about the unit was the one I had was an analog gauge and was not very accurate. I had to remove the hose, check the air Psi with another pressure gauge, and have to pump more or let the air out to adjust. I also carried it in the car. One problem I had was that the trigger switch is very easy to start if the unit is not securely packed. I had the pump starting on its own while rolling in a large cardboard box in the back of my car. It is quite loud and I was startled by it.

Since it was decommissioned, I moved on to this inflator. A bit more expensive, but I think I also got it "Free" or close to free on sale. The same spec motor, AFAIK, with 150psi MAX 5min on, 5min off duty cycle. But auto shut off and digital gauge are quite accurate on this unit. Makes topping-up air in the tire a breeze. And no accidental triggering of the unit for this one.
RYOBI ONE+ 18V Dual Function Inflator/Deflator (Tool Only) P747 - The Home Depot

 

Yep, I've got a very light DeWalt 8v screwrdriver with the 1/4" hex chuck and it's wonderful for overhead work, tight spaces and so forth. Excellent variable speed control via gyro. I enjoy it for many of the reasons you list about the Ryobi impact. The DeWalt I have is the same idea, just smaller, lighter, less powerful and more precise.

I wanted the Ryobi drill/driver to have a step up for power while retaining compatibility with ordinary drill bits and accessories- it's replacing an old NiCD ~20v harbor freight drill.

I have a 1/2" impact now and it isn't wonderful, but it's also used rarely enough that I'll keep going with it at least until I see a screamin' deal.

 

Battery tools have turned out to be a "godsend" in one sense and a lot of $$$ in another after I had an accident and found I did not have the strength that high-compression gasoline engines require for pull-starts.

For the most part I am impressed, but still do not understand:

WHY ARE THE BATTERIES SO $$$. It must be that they "are pricey." Because with competition I would expect prices to settle lower. Or are all the makers in cahoots -- that is a good old word. Cahoots. My father used it all the time. Don't hear it any more.
kris

 

Some cahoots involved to be sure, but there is real demand pushing up prices. Same/very similar battery chemistry as to what is in every smartphone, laptop, many EVs and all the gadgets in between.

And then there's quality control- bad lithium ion batteries create very expensive lawsuits when they burn people, so name brands desiring legal protection tend to spend more to qc their product, and that costs more to you.

 

The capabilities of these batteries have been growing rapidly. The most capable ones are pricey, but the smaller ones (if the brand has multiple capacities) are less expensive.

 

If your tools are one of the popular brands, there is a selection of third party packs available.

 

Only complaint with the Worx saw(14in?) is with the auto chain tensioner, which would be an issue if it ran on gas. It is made to price point, but that hasn't been issue for me. I got it for half off. If I was spending MSRP, I'd had gone with Sun Joe; that has an auto oiler and kick back brake.

Higher budget, Makita uses metal drive gears instead of plastic. The saw should out live you. IIRC, the only downside is in there being limited selection of replacement chains. I was only looking for a smaller chainsaw. Still have the old Craftsman for bigger jobs, but more likely I'll just hire someone for those.

 

I think it was @Salamander_King with the cordless chainsaw experience.

I still use a corded electric one; I don't need a chainsaw often enough to justify the cost difference of a cordless.

 

Used my greenworks chainsaw and pole saw this winter to get out of my driveway after an ice storm. My old gas saw probably wouldn't have started or it would after way too much effort then stall if I left it at idle for any amount of time and then back to endless starting attempts. It hated cold weather.

Battery saws had no issue and I was done in about 20min instead of 2 hours.

 

To put hours worth of high energy in a small battery requires expensive lithium. Which needs computing power and sensors in the battery to keep them from burning in your hands. You do need quality, cheap batteries fail too quick and a safe fast charger costs money. Only recently have those qualities made it to yard tools.

I made the jump to battery chainsaw, polesaw, weedeater and hedge trimmer years back. Excellent decision. Two and a half weeks ago we had another "100 year storm" (three years in a row now). Our hillside neighborhood and private road is surrounded by a forest of hundred year old live oaks and thousands of "mountain cedar" (ashe juniper trees). Hundreds of them broke huge limbs or trunks after being ice laden, including several blocking a private road. The Lynxx polesaw and chainsaw came to the rescue with no gas or starting problems. As long as the chain is reasonably sharp they cut through anything and a 40v battery can last two hours or more. With two batteries you are always ready.

 

It all depends on what you are going to use it for. I have 16-inch corded and cordless of basically the same electric saws by Oregon Tools. You can read my review of them on this thread post #217. If you will be using it for small limbs or brush up to I would say ~6 inches or so, then a battery-powered cordless chainsaw works perfectly. For occasional use around suburban yard work, it has adequate power. But if you frequently need to cut logs bigger than ~12 inches in diameter or fell a tree larger than ~18 inches in diameter, you will be disappointed. My corded chainsaw has the same motor as the battery one, but the corded saw cuts much faster. But if the tree is larger than 12 inches dia, especially if it is hardwood, such as oak or maple, then either cordless or corded was underpowered. For those jobs, I rely on an old 18-inch 2-cycle gas engine Huskquverna.

Still, for small branch-limbing jobs, a cordless battery chainsaw is the perfect tool. One thing to remember is that you have to make sure that you fill the chain oil at regular intervals to make sure that you always have some in the reservoir. With the gas chainsaw, when the gas tank needs to be refilled is the time to refill the chain oil. But with battery or corded electric saws, I tend to forget to check the chain oil.