It's long been held that electric weed wackers are for light duty tidying around the borders, a bit of edge trimming, that kind of thing. Get into tough weeds - or anywhere further than a few yards from the house - and you need a gas powered weed eater. But is that still the case?
If you only have a small plot, or the most you'll be doing is tidying the driveway, electric weed eaters are all you need. They are inexpensive, light weight, quiet and there's a huge amount of choice. For twenty or thirty dollars you can get something that will give you years of service.
The trouble with electric weed wackers over a larger area has been two-fold. First there's been the cable length. You can always run an extension but it's a nuisance and there are certainly safety issues with electric cables running round the yard in anything but the driest conditions. Then there's the actual power they put out. When you get to the weeds, are you going to be able to do any damage to them?
That's where gas-powered weed-wackers have traditionally had the advantage. They are the professional's tool. Tough enough to do just about any job and with a range of accessories available - like solid cutting discs - capable of taking down not just weeds but some fairly serious brush too.
For the pros, or for those with back yards that extend to several acres, it's still the gas models that rule. They're noisy though and usually quite heavy. If you've used one for a few hours your back will certainly let you know it!
Developments in technology mean the gap between the two types is not what it was. The problem with cables can be overcome by the growing number of cordless electric weed wackers available. A little more expensive, but you get a great deal more freedom. Batteries can be fairly heavy, but no more so than a petrol engine.
As batteries themselves get more powerful, so the machines that they are fitted to increase accordingly. There are now electric weed wackers that claim to compete with gas ones in every department. Indeed at first glance it's difficult to tell the two apart.
So has electrical power caught up with two-stroke and four-stroke petrol models or are the traditional boundaries still there? Well gas weed eaters are never going to be a budget tool - and they're not trying to be. At the top end of the market - for lawn and landscape experts - it's still the gas-powered tools that rule. In the mid range though there's an interesting choice and the market is getting more competitive all the time. In this area, electric weed wackers are certainly worth looking at.
If you only have a small plot, or the most you'll be doing is tidying the driveway, electric weed eaters are all you need. They are inexpensive, light weight, quiet and there's a huge amount of choice. For twenty or thirty dollars you can get something that will give you years of service.
The trouble with electric weed wackers over a larger area has been two-fold. First there's been the cable length. You can always run an extension but it's a nuisance and there are certainly safety issues with electric cables running round the yard in anything but the driest conditions. Then there's the actual power they put out. When you get to the weeds, are you going to be able to do any damage to them?
That's where gas-powered weed-wackers have traditionally had the advantage. They are the professional's tool. Tough enough to do just about any job and with a range of accessories available - like solid cutting discs - capable of taking down not just weeds but some fairly serious brush too.
For the pros, or for those with back yards that extend to several acres, it's still the gas models that rule. They're noisy though and usually quite heavy. If you've used one for a few hours your back will certainly let you know it!
Developments in technology mean the gap between the two types is not what it was. The problem with cables can be overcome by the growing number of cordless electric weed wackers available. A little more expensive, but you get a great deal more freedom. Batteries can be fairly heavy, but no more so than a petrol engine.
As batteries themselves get more powerful, so the machines that they are fitted to increase accordingly. There are now electric weed wackers that claim to compete with gas ones in every department. Indeed at first glance it's difficult to tell the two apart.
So has electrical power caught up with two-stroke and four-stroke petrol models or are the traditional boundaries still there? Well gas weed eaters are never going to be a budget tool - and they're not trying to be. At the top end of the market - for lawn and landscape experts - it's still the gas-powered tools that rule. In the mid range though there's an interesting choice and the market is getting more competitive all the time. In this area, electric weed wackers are certainly worth looking at.
SHARE
