Black & Decker 12" Cordless Trimmer / Edger Cst2000

Pros: Easy to connect and use as edger
Cons: Bad electrical design and not useful for larger jobs.

Over the past year, I've used the grass hog to edge some areas around trees my lawn mower can't get to and to trim along my walkway and driveway. While the Grass Hog is in theory easy to use, I can't recommend it due to intrinsic shortcomings in it's ...

Pros: Holds a charge a long time. Easy to operate.
Cons: Heavy, lower handle breaks, Line cutter gets dull quickly, Nylon drive gear wears/breaks.

I have a large yard so a cordless was the easiest the way to go. I didn't want a gas powered because ...

Pros: cordless electric, easy and comfortable to handle, well balanced
Cons: battery lasts maybe 20 minutes...takes 3-4 days to get my edging done.

Unfortunately for all it's got going for it, this tool simply can't do the job. First the good stuff ...

Pros: Great convenience due to battery cordless and autofeed features. Balanced and relatively light weight
Cons: A lot of plastic that tends to crack and break rendering unit useless

We bought the first Grass Hog because we liked the cordless feature and auto feed feature. These are still an asset of the Grass Hog. Our first Grass Hog was accidentally run over by a car in the garage. We replaced it with a 2nd, now having 2 ...

Pros: Cordless, powerful, easy to use. Extremely low maintenance! Take and use anywhere!
Cons: Will eventually need to replace battery. Soft, overmolded handles would have helped fatigue.

I've owned my Grasshog trimmer since spring of 2003 and have been using it ever since. This is a great product. No long extension cord or fuel necessary! I was a little apprehensive about purchasing this product because my main use was going to be ...

Pros: Portability
Cons: Unreliable battery, lacks sufficient power, miserable warranty service

It worked fine the first year. Then the battery started keeping a "memory" in the battery - preventing it from completely recharging, and there wasn't enough power to cut through even short grass. I tried to replace the battery under warranty, but the...

Pros: No cord, auto-feed spool, works as an edger
Cons: Mediocre battery life, possibly expensive replacement spools

I also have Black and Decker's cordless electric mower (CMM1000), which I can't say enough good things about. My feelings on this trimmer are a little more mixed, but still mainly positive. The construction is a little flimsy, but I've had it about a year now and it's holding up fine. It's also nearly as heavy as a small gas trimmer, so don't expect it to be much less physical effort to lug around.

The system to rotate the cutting area for edging works well, though you won't get a razor-like line like you'd get with a dedicated edger. Battery life is acceptable and is always sufficient for any regular trimming jobs. About 30 minutes of solid use is all you can expect from it, which isn't always enough to edge my whole yard. Still, if you edge more often or have a smaller yard it may be plenty.

Keep in mind that the well designed auto-feed system means you'll probably be springing for Black and Decker's relatively expensive pre-loaded .065 spools instead of cheap generic line.

Pros: Easy to use.
Cons: Not a good edger.

I've owned many trimmers and this one is the easier to use than any of them. The automatic line feed is the best feature. Not having to bump to get line to feed is great. This is the first battery operated trimmer I've owned, and it's great not having to mix 2-stroke fuel and change spark plugs. My yard is fairly large, and it will trim the side and back yard with one charge. It is not powerful enough to make a good edger.

Pros: Works!!!
Cons: none so far

Have had mine for 3 years! Purchased extra battery. If automatic feed does not work, try bump feeding it! I use it to trim around the yard and to trim the family plot grave stones. No problems so far.

Pros: Works great until it breaks.
Cons: Power Pack mounting piece is vulnerable to breakage.

Grass Hog worked great, as advertised, and I was happy with it until Power Pack mounting piece broke. Five screws takes it off for replacement, and reveals non-reinforced plastic construction where greatest force is applied lateral to length. Heavy battery hand hold applies a lot of lateral force against whip guard. Whip guard should not normally offers force but sometimes needs to be worked in tight areas, and that's when the Power Pack mounting piece is vulnerable to breakage.

Pros: lightweight, easy to use
Cons: bit unbalanced, trigger is starting to stick

5 ft tall goldie locks found that gas powered trimmers were TOO big....corded electric ones were too small (and a pain) but she found the black & decker trimmer to be "just right" :) This is a great little trimmer. It's light (though as another reviewer wrote, it's a bit unbalanced) it starts up imedietely and for small/med. yards slices through all your triming needs. I have never messed with edging....tried that once with a gas powered one and was left with a face full of sod so never bothered with it since. I have owned it a year and have yet to change the line on it (hoping that won't be a chore) The battery life isn't bad, it comes with 2 batteries and one battery should be sufficient to trim a small/med. yard. For larger yards would probably use both batteries. Only thing I've noticed wrong with it is the trigger is starting to stick.

Pros: No gas or extension cords
Cons: Moderate power

I searched reviews both here and and complaints.com about cordless trimmers. Research showed others were generally pleased with the Black and Decker 12 volt Grass Hog cordless trimmer for light to medium duty jobs. I noticed this year (2004) that Lowe's had an 18volt version at the same price as last years 12 volt version. I paid $100 for this unit.
So far I have trimmed 4 times, each time able to complete the job on one battery (it came with 2). The automatic feed has worked well, so far using approximately less than 25% of the spool for the year. I have a standard 60x120 lot with trimming around the house, yard barn, sidewalks and driveway.
Overall I am pleased with the performance of the unit. It would not be powerful enough for heavy duty brush cutting, but it a nice alternative to noisy and stinky gas trimmers for your normal user