Cordless outdoor tools reduce the hassle of maintaining gas-powered gear. But when Consumer Reports tested the $240 Echo CST-58V2AHCV, a 58-volt straight-shaft string trimmer sold at Home Depot, we were plagued by a battery issue for days. Then our testers stumbled upon a fix that the manufacturer later confirmed resolves the issue. Here are the details.The problem occurred while we were testing two different samples of the with fully charged batteries. When our tester pressed the power-on trigger, the motor would cut out a second or so later, stopping the spinning of the trimmer head. This occurred over and over for a total of more than 250 tries between the two trimmers.In discussions with TTI, which manufactures Echo’s cordless 58V line, we learned that all tools in the 58V line can potentially run into the same problem.

In addition to the Echo CST-58V2AHCV, which uses a 2-amp-hour battery, a 4-amp-hour version, the Echo CST-58V4AH, $270, has also experienced the problem, according to some user reviews on Home Depot’s website. TTI told us that batteries made since February do not have the problem, but stores selling the 58V line have not pulled older products off the shelves.The other 58V Echo tools, such as the leaf blower, hedge trimmer, and chain saw, use the same battery system.

But the tools most likely to have the problem are the two string trimmers. We had no such issues with the $270 leaf blower when we tested it. Once we got past the battery issue, we found the Echo CST-58V2AHCV notably aggressive, outperforming other cordless string trimmers in tall grass and weeds. It was also superb at edging thanks to its small debris guard, which let our testers see what they were cutting.

But that same aggressive cutting, coupled with the unit’s 13-pound weight, dragged down its score for trimming grass quickly and neatly. The 4-amp-hour version is heavier still.Our testers discovered the fix by chance. Pressing the check battery button, a last-ditch attempt to get the trimmer working, made all the difference.

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While this button ordinarily indicates the battery’s charge status, in this case it also served to keep the battery from switching into protection mode and cutting off power to the motor. The next time you fully charge the battery, however, the problem can reoccur.If you still want to buy this trimmer, we recommend you wait; as of today, there are no plans to offer a battery swap.

And if you already own either version of the trimmer, you’ll need to press the check battery button at least once after you’ve fully charged the battery. We think Echo should offer a fuss-free battery swap wherever the 58V line is sold.

Compared with other brands’ cordless trimmers, the is on a different level. It cut through 1-inch-thick Japanese knotweed like it was grass, while the others pathetically slapped their strings against the thick stalks. Considering all that power, you’d expect this trimmer to be noisy, but it was also the quietest tool we tested, with a hair-dryer-like hum that sounded more pleasant than the whine of its competitors. The Ego ST1521S is just as powerful and affordable as a gas tool, but without the messy fuel, smelly exhaust, or time-consuming maintenance. It was also the most capable cordless trimmer we found, with enough run time to cut a 1-foot-wide strip of grass almost two-thirds of a mile long on a single battery charge.

The Ego comes with a push-button line load system, which eliminates the typically tedious process of putting new line on the spool head. There are a variety of systems that do this, but the Ego’s is the easiest we’ve tested. It wasn’t the lightest trimmer we tried, but its excellent balance and handling made it one of the easiest to swing around and maneuver in tight spots. This one replaces our previous pick, the now-discontinued Ego ST1502.

If the is not available, we also like the. This is the previous generation of Ego string trimmer, and it shares much of what makes the ST1521S such a success: long battery life, excellent power, and ergonomics. The primary difference is that it doesn’t have the easy push-bottom line load system.

Instead, the string needs to be hand-wound into the head of the trimmer. It’s a nice system and still easier than those of most other models we’ve used, but it simply isn’t as simple to use as the push-button version. If you’re looking for a trimmer that can double as an all-purpose lawn tool, we also like the. Though it can’t cut very thick and tall weeds with the ease of the Egos, it still has the strength to slice through dense grass and the run time to handle a large property. Unlike the Egos, however, the Ryobi is also “,” meaning you can remove the trimmer head and replace it with any number of other yard tools, like a pole saw, a brush cutter, or a mini cultivator (each sold separately). The Ryobi typically sells for about $30 less than the Ego ST1521S.

But, again, it isn’t as effective on the thick stuff, and it’s also heavier and much louder. The Ryobi uses a hand-crank reel mechanism, like, which makes line loading easier than with the older models, but it’s not as good as push-button system. Though we think the vast majority of people will be able to get by with a cordless string trimmer, in some extreme cases, the nonstop power of a gas model is a better fit, such as for clearing large field areas or remote trimming on an extremely large property.

For this, we like the. It’s normally priced comparably to the Ego ST1521S, so it’s on the low side for a high-quality gas trimmer. In our own tests, the Echo handled waist-high weeds and 3-foot-tall grass with no problems, and it has a tremendous amount of positive feedback on Home Depot’s website, one place where it’s sold.

We’ve been covering outdoor power equipment since 2013, with guides to,. All of this research and testing has given us a firm grasp on what makes a good piece of lawn equipment, and it has imparted a knowledge of the various manufacturers and their reputations for quality, availability, and customer service.I also have extensive string trimmer experience. I currently live in New Hampshire and have about 2 acres of mowable lawn, and after each cut, I spend roughly 30 minutes using a string trimmer around stone walls, flower beds, pathways, and the chicken coop.

I also have about a half-mile of electric fence that needs to be maintained all summer with a string trimmer (any blade of grass that grows to touch it reduces its effectiveness).Harry Sawyers, the editor of this guide and a former pro landscaper, has tested many of the trimmers at his LA property, which is too steep to mow in many places. The typical local practice in this situation: Scrape it bare with a string trimmer so there’s nothing left to burn by fire season. Who this is for. A string trimmer—also known as a weed wacker, a strimmer, a weed whip, or a weed eater—is the perfect complement to a lawn mower, adding a nice, crisp finish to your lawn.

Whereas lawn mowers are for wide-open areas, string trimmers are for cleaning up the edges and all the places the mower can’t go: nooks, crannies, and tight spots between and under hedges; narrow pathways and steep inclines; in close quarters near mailbox poles, trees, and lampposts; and along fences and walls.Our string trimmer recommendations are for someone who’s looking for a reliable, powerful tool that will help with post-mow cleanup and weed clearing. We weren’t looking for a pro-grade tool that could spend all day flattening a hay field, or that was necessarily durable enough for constant, all-day rugged use. We were looking for one that was convenient for intermittent regular use, with enough oomph to handle grass, thick weeds, and the occasional stalky shrub. How we picked. For this guide, we focused on rechargeable cordless trimmers with enough power to cut everything from simple lawn grass to thick overgrown weeds.

Compared with gas string trimmers, cordless models are quieter, need practically no ongoing maintenance, start with the press of a button, emit no exhaust, and can “refuel” without requiring a separate run to the gas station. Over years, our testing has proved that the best cordless tools have the run time and cutting ability for everything but the most extreme clearing jobs.

For all of this power and convenience, the price of a cordless string trimmer is roughly the same as a gas model’s—and even less once you factor in the long-term cost of purchasing gas and oil and the time spent on maintenance. In some extreme circumstances, only a gas tool will do—and for those. But those rarely apply to most people’s needs, so the rest of this section outlines our criteria for cordless string trimmers.Power: All of the cordless trimmers we looked at can cut regular lawn grass, but we wanted one that also had the ability to handle tall weeds or densely overgrown grass. That’s where we started seeing significant differences among the models. The weaker trimmers strained their way through tougher conditions, either getting bound up in the grass or pushing it over instead of cutting it.

Going even deeper into the underbrush, only a couple of models could slice through really thick plants, like fat Japanese knotweed stalks. Although this is territory really meant for a brush cutter, it’s comforting to know that some of the trimmers can handle it in a pinch.Runtime/charge time: Cordless trimmers typically come with a single battery, so it’s crucial that they have a decent run time. When we took the trimmers out into an overgrown field, even the worst-performing cordless model cut more than 1,000 square feet of thick, dense grass.

Translating this to more practical terms, it could clear a 1-foot-wide strip of grass around an entire football field. The best-performing trimmer cut approximately 3,400 square feet, which translates into trimming the same 1-foot swath around the perimeter of more than three and a quarter football fields.

That’s a lot. And keep in mind that we performed our test in very difficult cutting conditions, with the tools cranked to their highest speeds.

Under regular conditions, run time is likely to be even longer.But charge time is a different story. Most of these trimmers use big batteries, and they can take a while to fill up. Because it’s entirely possible for the battery to empty out during use, we wanted a tool with the shortest possible charge time, minimizing downtime.Comfort and balance: Trimmers, in an ergonomic sense, are little more than a long pole with a weight on each end. They can be awkward tools to handle, so during our testing, we looked at the overall balance of each model and how easy each was to carry around.

Some come with clips for shoulder straps, which is a nice touch. Also important: how maneuverable and responsive they are. A successful model should have a lot of precision up at the trimmer head, making it easy to cut the grass, but not the flowers.Easy line change: Putting new string on a trimmer has long been the most frustrating aspect of a string trimmer, but new models are making this easier with automatic or manual systems to reel the line into the head of the tool.Debris guard: Down at the trimmer head there is a shield to protect the feet and lower legs from flying debris.

Through our tests, we found that the wider the guard was, the better it was. Some models (usually those designed with the pro in mind) have narrow guards that stop some debris, but not all, leaving our legs and feet stained green by the end of a trimming session. The larger guards don’t stop everything, but they do a much better job.Cost: With string trimmers, unlike other outdoor equipment like chainsaws and lawn mowers, going cordless doesn’t come with a price premium.

The best straight-shaft gas trimmers are currently mostly in the $175 to $250 range, which is about where the solid 40-volt-plus cordless trimmers land. Again, this is just upfront pricing and doesn’t take into account long-term costs like gas and maintenance, which add to the cost of gas trimmers.Looking at models to test, we dismissed anything priced too far over $250. We simply found too many highly rated models in the $150 to $250 range to justify going beyond that mark.

This eliminated cordless models from pro names like Husqvarna and Stihl, some of which offer trimmers in the $300 range that don’t even include a battery. You don’t need to pay that much for basic lawn maintenance. At the low end, we mostly stayed away from anything under 30 volts. Those just don’t have the power needed to consistently cut grass and weeds. We found that even the 32-volt model we tested struggled with anything tougher than standard lawn grass. How we tested. To see how the trimmers handled different grasses, and plants, we tested them in New Hampshire and Los Angeles—along stone walls and perennial beds, between rose bushes, under split-rail fencing, down the edge of a driveway, around a fire pit, up and down hills too steep to mow, and in other situations any trimmer may encounter.

For this testing, we paid attention to overall ease of use, balance, ergonomics, handling, and noise.For comparative run time and power, we hauled the trimmers out to an overgrown New Hampshire field and drained their batteries by clearing giant swaths of thick grass and dense weeds, calculating the total square footage each tool was able to handle. Some of them were also used to clear an LA hillside that was covered with 3-foot tall, saplings, and nettlesome thistles.

To test each trimmer’s upper range, we pitted each one against a large stand of Japanese knotweed. Blazing through tall grass and Japanese knotweed with a previous version of the Ego. Photo: Doug MahoneyFinally, to confirm our findings, we’ve spent years using our picks and other leading contenders for the post-mow work at a rural property with extensive trimming needs: 187 feet of stone wall, 182 feet of split-rail fence, 180 feet of garden fencing, 137 feet of flower beds, 150 feet around a variety of structures and sheds, 51 feet of miscellaneous trimming (around trees and large rocks), and an additional 556 square feet of hillside clearing where it’s too dangerous to use a mower. Our pick: Ego ST1521S Power+ String Trimmer. Of all the trimmers we’ve tested, the combines raw cutting power, finesse, handling, convenience, and run time in a way that none of the others do. It also has the easiest line load system we’ve tested.

All of the Ego trimmers we’ve tested have marathon-like run time, often outlasting the others by nearly 40 percent—and in most cases by more than 50 percent. The ST1521S has the power to slice through dense grass, gnarly weeds, and even 1-inch-thick Japanese knotweed without slowing down. All of this cutting ability is harnessed with a smooth, variable-speed trigger, which makes delicate work just as easy as brute-force clear-cutting.

Though none of the trimmers we tested were quiet, the Ego ST1521S had the nicest sound, emitting a low-pitched hum rather than the high squealing whine of some of the others. This Ego completes the package with great balance, comfortable grips, and a simple bump-feed line advance.On thick Japanese knotweed, the Ego blazed right through 1-inch-thick stalks like they weren’t even there.The Ego ST1521S’s power and run time stand far above those of the other trimmers we looked at. We did a battery test on an earlier model, and on a single battery charge, the Ego cut down about 3,400 square feet of dense field grass, weeds, and stalky shrubs (an area nearly 60 by 60 feet). At the time, the next-best trimmer cut about only 2,100 square feet (almost 40 percent less), but beyond that, all of the others cut 1,600 square feet or less (less than 50 percent of what the Ego accomplished). Putting the Ego’s performance in perspective, it could trim a 1-foot-wide swath of grass that’s two-thirds of a mile long on a single battery charge. That’s easily enough to handle all but the most expansive lawns. Knowing this, it’s no surprise that, on a single charge, the Ego ST1521S dealt with the trimming needs of a large New Hampshire property, which requires nearly 900 linear feet of trimming and an additional 556 square feet of mowing (flat areas the mower can’t get to).

At a little over 10 pounds, the Ego isn’t the lightest string trimmer, but its battery nicely balances the tool, making it very easy to manage. Photo: Rozette RagoIf you do get stranded with an empty battery, the Ego’s charger can deliver a full battery in about 40 minutes. If you’d rather have the comfort of a second battery (though we don’t feel it’s necessary), are available, ranging from about $150 to $350, depending on ampere hours.The Ego’s power is as impressive as its run time, and none of the other trimmers we tested could match its sheer cutting strength.

While trimming in the field or on the LA hillside, we never had to stop, hesitate, or even slow down when using the Ego. It cut as fast as we could swing the trimmer head. Other trimmers bound themselves up in the tall grass or, when faced with a dense patch, pushed the grass over rather than cutting it. On thick Japanese knotweed, the Ego blazed right through 1-inch-thick stalks like they weren’t even there. Other trimmers either took much longer to do this or couldn’t make the cut at all.But the Ego isn’t just for clear-cutting fields and destroying the invasive Japanese knotweed (although it’s certainly wonderful for that). The variable-speed trigger offers full control of the cutting head, allowing you to find a cutting speed that fits the task, from blasting away at thick weeds to finesse work around the perennials and delicate surfaces (like painted siding or lattice). A few of the trimmers had one or two set speeds, so this kind of control wasn’t possible.Another impressive element of the Ego is its noise—or, rather, lack of noise.

The trimmers we tested ranged from high squeal to hair-dryer hum, and the Ego was the quietest we looked at. It’s not an unpleasant sound, and because the Ego’s motor is down at the cutting head, it’s far away from the ear, further lessening the effect.

This is in stark contrast with gas trimmers, which have the engine positioned at your elbow and screaming like a fighter jet. The Ego’s relatively pleasant sound is not only good for your own hearing but a courtesy to your neighbors as well.Aside from its power, run time, and control, this tool’s ergonomics are among the best we tested. The Ego weighs a little over 10 pounds, so it wasn’t the lightest, but it was still very easy to manage due to its nice balance. With the cutting head out front and the battery to the rear, the weight is evenly distributed, making it easy to fall into a smooth back-and-forth rhythm while clearing flat areas. In tighter spots the Ego was not heavy enough to be awkward while we shifted our grip around. The Ego has an easy-to-use push-button line load system.

Photo: Rozette RagoThe Ego is a dual-line unit, meaning that two strings extend from the cutting head, and it comes equipped with a 0.095-inch trimmer line, which is on the thicker side and contributes to the trimmer’s cutting ability (a of 0.095 string is available). As with anything, the Ego ST1521S is not perfect, but none of the drawbacks come close to offsetting all of the good that the tool provides.The front handle’s durability is one drawback. On the Ego it is cushioned with a foam padding, and even though it’s very comfortable and something we came to appreciate during longer trimming sessions, we do have a concern that it could tear easily if snagged on a garage hook, a nailhead, or maybe even a rose thorn. Most other trimmer handles are plastic or have a thin layer of rubbery padding. Even after several years of using a similar Ego, however, we’ve found that the handle has been holding up well, with only one small torn spot.Also, if you use your trimmer for edging, the Ego is a little less comfortable to hold than some of the others. Edging requires you to rotate the trimmer so that the cutting head is perpendicular to the ground, rather than parallel to it. This means that you’re now gripping the side of the front handle rather than the top.

The curved shape of the Ego’s handle doesn’t accommodate this as well as some of the other trimmers’ handles. It’s certainly possible to do, but trimmers like the Ryobi, with their square-shaped handles, allow for a more comfortable grip. Runner-up: Ego ST1502-SA Power+ String Trimmer. Overall, the Ryobi’s performance was in the middle of the pack—just over half of what the Egos accomplished on a full charge—and in patches of really thick, tall grass, sometimes the trimmer head got wound up in the grass or just pushed it over instead of cutting it. It also couldn’t sever the Japanese knotweed stalks as efficiently as the Egos. Still, when it came to regular trimming, even in heavier weed areas, it had little problem.Because the Ryobi is “” you can remove the trimmer head and replace it with a number of other tools, such as a, a, or even a.

We tested many of these attachments and were impressed with the results. Using the cultivator with a fully charged battery, we were able to work for an uninterrupted 15 minutes and tilled a 2-by-20-foot (40 square feet) area of the field into a ready-to-go garden bed. For a second test on softer ground, we tilled up a 10-by-10-foot area (100 square feet) on a single charge. In these instances, managing the cultivator is physically demanding, but they demonstrate that the Ryobi is capable of cleaning up garden rows or tilling flower beds in the spring.

The Ryobi string trimmer head (upper left) and a few of the other available attachments (cultivator, brush cutter, and pole saw). Photo: Doug MahoneyWe also liked the pole saw attachment, and we were able to cut down a number of branches and small trees that had fallen over a brook and we couldn’t reach with a traditional chainsaw. The brush cutter worked as advertised too. In general, we were impressed with how all of the attachments performed when attached to the cordless tool.If you do go the attachment route and want the ability to jump quickly from task to task, you may want to consider purchasing a for about $100.The Ryobi has a few downsides. First, it’s heavy. At 11½ pounds, it’s about a pound and a half more than the Ego, a weight that takes its toll after a while.

On the Ego, the motor is located down at the cutting head, in effect counterbalancing the weight of the battery, but on the Ryobi, the motor is up by the handle. With this configuration, the balance felt slightly off, and it took a little more effort to swing the machine around. The Ryobi also didn’t feel as nimble as the Ego in tight spots, like between the rose bushes.Compared with the Ego, the Ryobi is loud—a squeal-like, whiny loud. We recommend using ear protection, no matter which string trimmer you use, but even with padded ears, it’s easy to pick up on the whine of the Ryobi. Also great: Echo SRM-225 Straight Shaft Gas Trimmer. Even with all of the benefits of cordless, in some rare situations a gas model will be the best fit, namely for clearing large amounts of grass, either on a hillside that’s too steep for a mower or on a massive property that lacks an easy place to recharge near where you’re working.

We recommend the for that kind of work. It’s roughly the same price as, but on the low side for high-end trimmers from the pro brands.We tested the Echo in Los Angeles on a steep rear hillside—approximately 2,000 square feet—that Wirecutter senior editor Harry Sawyers has to clear before Southern California’s fire season. In the spring of 2016, he purchased the SRM-225 to do the job, after trying (and returning) Echo’s lighter-duty curved-shaft model. For this job, the gas engine appealed to him at the time, and it’s still working perfectly after four years of intermittent heavy use and minimal maintenance. (But, he says, if he were shopping in the spring of 2020, he’d probably get a cordless tool instead.)Here’s the appeal of a gas engine: With an ample supply of fuel and trimming line, you’ve got limitless run time for an all-day job, which is the reliable, durable Echo’s primary duty.

This trimmer’s engine is as easy as any modern two-stroke engine to start, and Harry found he’d rather pay a slight premium for a can of premixed instead of fussing with his own mixing ratios. Not only does the premix save an additional trip to a gas station, the can is stabilized and can be stored at home for years.The Echo is available at Home Depot, where it currently carries a 4.6 rating across more than 6,000 customer reviews. We’ve been covering lawn equipment since 2013 and can state that a rating this high, with this many reviews, on a gas-powered piece of outdoor equipment is extremely rare and likely indicates a unique level of quality. This model shares some problems common to any other gas trimmer—it’s super-loud, it vibrates your hands at full throttle, and it’s strong enough to kick all kinds of junk up into your face.

Wear eye and ear protection, long pants, and gloves to be safe when using it. What to look forward to. The, and the were all previous picks, but they have since been discontinued and replaced with new models.Ego has a number of other models, including the and the. All of them look solid, but none of them have the push-button Powerload system.Ryobi has two other attachment-capable 40-volt models, but neither of them match the power of our runner-up pick. The comes with a smaller battery, and the has a brushed motor and not the brushless of the. All three Ryobis are priced similarly, so we prefer the larger battery and more efficient motor, especially since it might be powering some of the more draining attachments, such as the cultivator.Ryobi’s straight-up 40-volt string trimmer, the, comes with a smaller, 1.5 Ah battery and has an auto line-advance system that extends ¼ inch of line each time the trigger is released. We tested another model with a similar feature (the Worx) and did not like how it constantly made the clicking noise of the string being trimmed.

We also weren’t fond of all the little pieces of string that were ejected.The typically costs about $50 more than our Ego pick, and it comes with the smaller debris guard.The is a nice trimmer, but it’s also an expensive one. And it has the smaller debris guard, which we didn’t like. However, if you already have a lot of Milwaukee’s batteries, it could make sense to get the (for close to the same price you’d pay for the Ego ST1521S—with a battery and charger). Just be aware that the 9.0 Ah battery included in the trimmer kit has a longer run time than the 4.0 Ah M18 batteries you may already own from Milwaukee’s lineup of drills and other (non-lawn-equipment) power tools.For a 20-volt trimmer, the is light, agile, and very comfortable to use despite not having the run time of the others or enough power to handle some of the more rigid shrubs and weeds. As for its downsides, we grew frustrated with the small debris guard, which caused our legs and shoes to be covered with grass trimmings. This small guard is used on other DeWalts that we didn’t test, such as the and the. But, as with the Milwaukee, if you already have a stockpile of DeWalt batteries and aren’t interested in investing in a new battery platform, any of these DeWalts will work just fine, as long as you’re aware of the small debris guard’s shortcomings.We tested the, and it proved to have decent run time and power, but it feeds about a half-inch of trimmer line each time you activate the tool, so it makes an unpleasant clicking noise as the newly extended string gets trimmed.

At 8½ pounds, this Worx is a light trimmer, but we think that most people would benefit from having the additional power and run time of the Egos or the attachment capability of the Ryobi. The is another multi-head system, but its selection of attachments isn’t as wide, offering only an, and.We tested the attachment-capable and didn’t like the weight or the fussy interface. In addition to the regular trigger, it has an annoying activation button that you need to press each time you start the tool (but if you shut the tool off for only a few moments, you don’t have to re-press the button). It also has only two speeds and no true variable-speed trigger.The now-discontinued Worx WG175 32V String Trimmer/Edger/Mini-Mower had the lowest voltage of any tested trimmer, so it’s not surprising that it had the least amount of power. We tested it directly against the Black+Decker LST136, due to the similar body design, and found that it had no problem with shorter, post-mow grass, but anything more than that strained the tool. It has since been updated with the.

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This new model comes with two batteries, which is nice, but it adds to the cost. And since we recommend the Black+Decker only for small lawns, there’s not much need for the second battery.

Ryobi also has some light-duty models, such as the, but none of them matched the Black+Decker with regard to convenience features like the telescoping handle or the ease of edging.