Best Cordless/Battery System? Ego? Echo? Other?

7 years ago

My wife wants a cordless blower that's easier for her to use than gas powered. I'm also a big fan of electric (we have a Tesla S and will soon have an X for my wife). Electric is quieter, more reliable, no having to buy or mix gas, easier to start, and no exhaust or gas fumes.

I have an Echo PAS-280 with bed redefiner, edger, tiller, and blower that I've been very happy with. Echo has some good history and experience in the industry but I don't know how much they know about newer technology. Ego appear to have done a great job on the battery and motor end and seem to be getting a bit more umph per battery pound than Echo. Haven't yet looked much at others.

My question is not so much just the blower but who has the better system if I expand to mower, trimmer, chainsaw, etc. Ego has a wider selection of batteries, all batteries work in all tools, and while Echo tops out at 4 Ah, Ego also has 5 Ah and 7.5 Ah batteries as well as a fast charger option (though I'd assume this has some impact on battery life).

I'd be quite happy if I could eventually replace all of our gas powered tools (PAS, Echo trimmer, Echo hedge trimmer, Toro mower, snow blower, etc) with battery powered and get rid of gas cans and trips to fill them (and dump old gas).

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Comments (5)

speedlever
7 years ago
I'm also interested in the cordless systems to replace my gas equipment. My initial impression is that the acquisition cost and extra battery cost are hard to justify from an economic POV. The Ego 21 inch self-propelled with 7.5 Ah battery is ~$600 and a 2nd battery is ~$379 at Home Depot. Then add the cost for a trimmer ($129 - no battery) and blower ($129 - no battery) to use the same batteries. That nearly doubles the cost of my Honda mower and Ryobi trimmer/blower. And I doubt the battery life has anywhere close to the gas equipment life... 15+ years in my experience.

Rats. I'd really like to consider the cordless option. But it has to make economic sense. So I'm still just thinking about it ... especially as my ancient string trimmer is being nursed along and needs to be replaced.
trickyputt
7 years ago
Although I bought my echo58v trimmer from home depot for $269, at least it came with a 4ah battery and charger. I have found out since then that for my front yard, which is approximately one acre, the 4ah battery is too much. I never use half, even with heavy spring growth. I discovered ebay has the stuff for sale, and bought 4 other batteries for 150. I also scored the 58v chainsaw for $75. It will eat a battery. It took 3 batteries to take the top out of a fully grown hickory that fell over. The wood resides in my smoker piles now. During that run I bent the blade and in ignorance messed up the simple rubber oil feed. I sourced parts out of Miami of all places and rebuilt it. I found out the bladeis the thinner type used on pole saws, and since the hickory trunk incident, I have only used it for trimming and small trees with no further incidents. I would say best battery design goes to ego, as the heat absorbing polymer cladding seem to keep them cooler, and this is more important than you know because those batteries have a lot of energy and can blow or burn when things go wrong. I would say generally that the devices are slightly heavier than their gas counterparts, with all the motor wire and battery weight. It sure is nice to click and go though. I am hesitant about the echo blower, as our needs are a bit heavier than some, with loads of trees on the other 2 acres where the house sits. I may get one anyway for sport. The trimmer power heads are supposed to be compatible with some line of echos multi use tips. I could not beat the price when I averaged thing out. I really want to see if the trim mower is nice and light. My gasser is self propelled and I like it a lot but its a bit of a load with electric start and a battery itself.
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speedlever
7 years ago
Your yard is larger than mine. I'm happy to hear that the 4Ah battery is more than sufficient for a 1 acre yard for string trimming. I also looked at the Echo equipment at HD when I checked out the Ego. That's an interesting observation about the Ego batteries.

I'm not all that impressed by the Ego trimmer. I don't think you can rotate the head for edging, but I could be wrong about that.

I have a temporary (and cheap) C3 trimmer I picked up from Sears that has been discontinued. I think it's a CR2050. It does ok and I have plenty of power for my 1/3 acre yard. But it uses .065 line. I prefer .080 or better yet, .095. But at least the CR2050 can use my existing stash of C3 batteries (from my impact driver). I think it came with a 2.5Ah battery. It says 48Wh on the 19.2v battery which equates to 2.5Ah if my math is correct.
trickyputt
7 years ago
Thats interesting about the battery amp hour translation. The echo58v is a greaseable head like my stihl fs85x. It is as strong as I need it to be. Interestingly, the echo has a line takeup that allows you to leave the spool on the head and wind the cord into it. It took me a while to learn how to use it, I was so used to taking spools off. I went back down to .095" round line. I want a softer line that flows theough the air better and cuts finer, and that size seems to offer all that with good longevity. My biggest complaint about the echo is mainly the cutting head guard, which I have taken to calling a bikini guard, as thats about all it covers. The stihl guard is 12 1/2" wide, the echo 6 1/2".
speedlever
7 years ago
Back down to .095? What size line were you using?

Best Cordless/Battery System? Ego? Echo? Other?

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