Cordless garden tools – which one to choose?

Cordless garden tools – which one to choose?

The summer season is approaching, which means time for even more intensive work in the garden. The main tasks of the gardener include mowing the grass, weeding flower beds, planting, replanting, propagation and pruning. Many of the activities that need to be done are time-consuming. Therefore, you should acquire gardening tools that will greatly improve the work.

Cordless devices

Depending on the needs and the type of tasks that await you when working in the garden, you should choose the devices that are best suited for the care of the plot for certain procedures. For pruning and shaping hedges, professional hedge trimmers are best – a battery-powered one improves your work, as you won’t have to fumble with the end of a power cord, especially if your green wall stretches all over the site. With such a large area, the hand-held trimmer option won’t work either. The second task that gardeners often don’t allow themselves to do at night is lawn care, with open areas even pleasant to mow, but hard-to-reach areas are a real pain. Fortunately, among the available gardening equipment there are perfectly suitable trimmers. Why is it better to choose the cordless version? Mainly because of the lower operating costs, because electricity is still much cheaper than gasoline. An additional advantage of such a battery is the absence of a long cord, which becomes a real nuisance while the trimmer works around the garden. As you know, uninvited weeds like to grow in unfamiliar areas of the plot. Before mowing, you should also take care to get rid of dry leaves and branches lying on the lawn. Of course, you can use a traditional rake to do this, but if you have a large area that needs to be cleaned, it will take a long time. The best solution is a blower. If you choose a quality device, on a single battery charge you can clean up an entire, even very large plot of land. The last garden tool that will surely make your work easier is a chainsaw. With its help, you can effectively trim and shape, for example, fruit trees.

Advantages of wireless devices

Cordless devices have many advantages, because in addition to the obvious environmental friendliness and concern for the environment, the absence of harmful exhaust emissions into the atmosphere and their weight also speak in favor of their choice. With no fuel tank and a powerful engine, garden tools weigh less and are therefore more comfortable to use, the user does not need to be stronger to cut branches on home apple trees. Operating costs also argue in favor of choosing battery-powered devices, because the fuel needed to run internal combustion engines costs much more than electricity. If you have the energy, plug the charger into the mains and don’t take a canister to the nearest gas station. Compared to mains-powered tools, cordless devices also perform better – this is because there is no cable limiting the work area to the area that an extension cord provides. In addition, there are often problems with wound and storage of a long cable.

Which battery to choose?

If you know all the advantages and functions of cordless devices, it is worth thinking about which particular battery model you should choose to buy. In order for your garden tool to perform at its best. Remember that the more power a battery has, the longer you will be able to work on a single charge cycle. Tools with a lithium-ion battery will be a good choice. One of the highest voltages is 56V. Cordless tools such as a hedge trimmer, shearer or blower are also an important consideration, with 1.5-2 AH batteries, but 4 AH batteries are also available. Also consider the size and needs of your garden to choose the best model for you.

High-quality gardening equipment makes work easier and allows you to tend to your garden quickly and easily. This way you can enjoy a beautiful room around the house. Working in the garden is not easy and enjoyable if you have a large garden plot. Therefore, you should make it easier to work in the garden with the help of cordless devices.

Features and benefits of cordless equipment

Cordless gardening equipment is relatively young and not yet too popular. Nevertheless, it has a number of significant advantages. We will talk about you and about the features of the work in general. And in order not to be unsubstantiated, we will use the model range and technical successes of the company Stihl as a concrete example.

Technological features of batteries

The basis of all modern battery equipment for gardening is a battery on lithium ions (also known as Li-ion), which recently replaced the nickel-metal battery. Compared to its predecessor, the technology itself is more advanced and even more important to the average user. See for yourself:

• Lithium-ion batteries are not susceptible to self-discharge, can be kept charged for months and are ready to use immediately.
• They have no “memory effect”, the negative consequence of improper charging. Ni-CD/Ni-MH batteries require strict control of charge/discharge cycles: they must be discharged “to zero” and only then fully charged. With partial, fast charging, they “memorize” conditional charge limits, causing their capacity to drop over time. The lower the capacity, the shorter the tool’s run time. This is not the case with Li-Ion, and partial charging is even “useful” for them.
• Charging of Li-ion batteries is automatic with constant monitoring of the main parameters, including applied voltage, battery capacity and battery temperature. This is a great advantage for the user: Just check the indicator on the charger periodically.
• The modern batteries in STIHL power tools, for example, are designed for up to 1200 cycles (0 % discharge and 100 % charge). For professional (almost daily) use in this way, a battery lasts more than 2.5 years. In everyday life – about 10.
• To replace the battery on most devices it is not necessary to buy a new tool or carry the old one to the service center. It is made in the former factor of a universal, quickly flattened module. This feature gives several additional advantages at once: you can always buy a new battery, buy a second one (if necessary – of higher capacity), only then stop working until the first one is charged. In addition, it can be used interchangeably with the entire fleet of garden equipment, and when buying new equipment, if they are already in your arsenal, you can choose a cheaper technique without the battery and tsuk.
• One last plus is compactness. Even the most powerful batteries have a compact size and low weight, which makes them convenient to use even in a small hand-held tool.

It is also worth pointing out that STIHL uses a number of technical refinements when manufacturing the power cells for its machines:

• The contacts of the individual elements are permanently welded together to ensure reliability in daily use.
• The element as well as the electronics control (controller control) are sealed to protect against external influences (moisture and heat).
• To reduce the risk of mechanical damage and simplify connections, they are usually made of durable polymer.

The advantages of battery-powered gardening equipment

Shtil first used batteries in garden equipment in 2009. The role of pioneer in this new direction went to professional pruning shears. It quickly became clear that they were far more productive than “simple” mechanical tools, and more convenient than electric ones. This “discovery” led to further development in this direction, and first of all to the improvement of the technology itself. As a result, it allowed the use of the battery not only in compact hand tools, but also in such large and powerful machines such as lawnmowers or even chainsaws.

We will return to this issue a little later, but for now we will note the advantages of battery technology – they are common to all types of tools:

1. No exhaust fumes, as with gasoline-powered devices – you can safely work even indoors, such as in greenhouses.
2. Less noise – does not disturb relatives and neighbors.
3. The total weight of the complete battery-powered equipment is much less than that of gasoline-powered machines – it is more convenient to manage during work and easier to transport.
4. Quick start with a button. No need to reach for the starter handle, fumble with the cable and plug it in.
5. No power cable – no need to worry about cutting or routing between obstacles on the job site.
6. Easy maintenance – no need to prepare fuel mixture, change filters or take it to a service center for maintenance.
7. Unlike “wired” power tools, you can work “on a rope” or in light rain – the batteries and planting victims are safely protected from moisture.

Types of cordless devices for the garden

After the advantages, let’s return to the aforementioned question about the variety of equipment available today. In the current catalog of Shtil is not only a set of several battery devices, but also several full series (or systems, as they are called by the manufacturer), which allows you to more easily navigate in the mass of produced devices and choose the right battery for you – it has the same marking as the series itself.

– A small series of the simplest devices with a reliably integrated battery, optimal for small gardens. It contains a blower, trimmer and cutter. – The ultra-compact range with garden shears and secateurs. – More powerful devices for medium-sized gardens: chainsaw, router, blower, trimmer, lawnmower. – Professional tools: mowers, cutters, high trimmers, blowers, lawn mowers, scarifiers, sweeping brushes and more.

In fact, the range of modern cordless garden equipment already has everything you need to work in the garden or on the garden plot of a private home. And not only for household needs, but also for active commercial use.