DEWALT FLEXVOLT 60V MAX* String Trimmer, Brushless, Two Speed, 15-Inch, 3-Ah Battery (DCST970X1)

This thing is incredible- a real work horse! Rips through tall thick weeds with no problem. As stated by another reviewer, it burned out initially; but warranty fixed with fast and friendly service; otherwise, this thing doesn't stop! Until now, after 5 years, after constant heavy use, it finally died. I'll see if it can be fixed; but it has earned it's keep. Highly recommended

I have several hour's worth of mowing where my lawn mower and walk-behind trimmer cannot easily (safely) go. Mostly due to steepness of slope and uneven ground.About two years ago, I got the flex-volt chainsaw and was impressed with its power and battery life. The thought of a second battery was tempting, but the price was daunting, so I waited until the need for a new trimmer was imperative. The trimmer with battery and charger is not that much higher than the battery alone. So far that looks like a good move. (After at least 20 chainsaw battery discharge / recharge cycles with no obvious battery degradation, I have some confidence in the investment. Admittedly, the reports of battery problems and the local absence of customer support are somewhat troubling. My own experience with De Walt tool repair has been that a new power tool can be bought for less than the cost of even the most minor of repairs. To say nothing of the time required. In fairness, these tools far out-lived their three year warranty under fairly heavy use.Because of the many reports of bump-feed reloading issues and the absence of an effective debris shield I ordered the package deal for a real shield, better hub, and string. I plan to swap out the hub when it is empty. (I'll see if it can be reloaded in a shop setting as a useful backup. If not then, "good bye.") The hub and string arrived shortly after the trimmer. The shield is supposed to arrive soon.So. I had a few hours of heavy trimming to do. More overgrown than I like to see. It did great! The bump-feed worked flawlessly; the string was reasonably durable; plenty of power on the "low" setting. The battery lasted for the whole job. And yes, I looked like I'd been spitting into the wind of a mower discharge. The only justification for this I can think of is to wonder about the balance issue of a real shield, which may become heavy when loaded with a buildup of wet debris. (I'll be reporting on this when I review the large shield.)So far, so good.Update: Almost one year later. I finally used up the trimmer string that came with the unit. Turns out that the replacement string I bought was not that difficult to install and at least initially bump-feeds out just fine. The instructions and illustrations could be better. I could never find an arrow on the thing, but there was a short projection that allowed for correct alignment when feeding in the new string.I'm attempting to attach some pictures of an air filter I built to protect the motor from overheating after the air inlets almost instantly become clogged. These are not that easy to clean after every half hour of use. One of the pictures shows the air inlets, after maybe twenty hours of heavy-duty mowing, when I removed the filter for the first time. Perfectly clear! Warning: If you try this, do not tape over the exhaust port, which is right in the natural base of this attachment. Quite probably a white sock and a rubber band would do the same. I finally got some pictures to attach. A simple fix for a heavy, wet mowing issue. I was lucky not to burn up this motor before seeing what was going on.

This weed wacker is very strong, the next step would be a brushwacker with a blade.The good:-- enough power to cut down weeds up to waist high if the weeds are not too woody.-- has variable control so that light weeds can be trimmed easily and effectively. This trimmer can trim from light flimsy weeds all the way to dense almost brush weeds.Cons:-- the DeWalt string head is useless and jams way too often. After one use I replaced the DeWalt string head with Husqvarna T35 537388101 (indeed, I bought 3 of them eventually to have prewound spools when the line runs out in the middle of wacking). The T35 Husqvarna just goes and goes and goes without problems.-- the weight is a little high for some folks, there is no shoulder strap.I am happy with the DeWalt trimmer line and have only used the DeWalt line except for the initial Husqvarna line. The DeWalt trimmer line does not jam in the T35 even when randomly hand wound. This is important, carefully winding line is such a waste of time and some trimmers seem to only work well with well wound line.I get about 45 minutes from a 9AH FlexVolt battery with perhaps 50-80% of the time actually wacking heavy weeds, averaging knee high. After two of these batteries are depleted, the unit weight is fatiguing, the wacker plus 9AH battery is fairly heavy albeit well balanced.I tried the suggested alternate DeWalt guard to reduce getting covered with bits of weeds, and I was disappointed-- this alternate guard might be OK for a suburban yard with sidewalks, but the guard just gets in the way with heavy weeds-- and if you only have light weeds, well, you don't need this weed wacker. Switched back to the original shield and wear long sleeves, chainsaw chaps, and mask due to poison ivy. With the original guard one is guaranteed to be covered in bits of weeds, from head to toe particularly the lower legs. Regardless, the original DeWalt guard works very well in heavy vegetation.Use: 12 acre pocket farm, this trimmer plus a Stihl gas brushwacker, the latter for the heavy woody bushes. If those are not sufficient, there is the DeWalt battery chainsaw followed by a Stihl gas chainsaw.