Me too as to reliability!
I opted for the now broken corded version about fourteen years ago due to the difference in weight from a gas powered trimmer. And that’s why I’ll get one of the lightest battery versions now.
14 years isn’t that bad, I suppose.
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You’re not really a cat lady until you have at least six. 
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Ooookay, this is weird. I just plugged in the trimmer and it works now. But the motor sounds really high pitched weird. 
Think I’ll still go shopping next week to see what my arthritis can best handle. I’m assuming this trimmer/edger won’t keep working reliably so might as well be prepared to replace it. 
FWIW, I have a Ryobi ONE+, and it replaced an older Black and Decker.
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Same here, ONE+ trimmer, and a leaf blower that also works great.
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Don’t forget each cat has 9 lives it depends how old they are as to how mant lives are left.
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I’ll go a little against the grain here about battery powered yard tools. I tried a few and found them too heavy and switched to corded versions all around. Today in fact I used a Sears Craftsman corded string trimmer. The bother w/the cord for me is the better compromise compared to the extra weight of a cordless, as well as the battery replacement expense. I have corded electric chain saws of various types too, including one on the end of a long pole, and these are plenty powerful and otherwise seem nearly bullet-proof. Never had one fail.
I did have an corded dremmel tool fail a few months ago. It was 40 years old so I guess it deserved a break. The problem was just the brushes; unfortunately my curiosity got the better of me so I took the entire thing apart for inspection of how it worked. While a corded tool, the motor was actually designed as a conventional permanent magnet DC w/commutator. In the process of discovering this fact I promptly broke the AC to DC diode bridge and my poor Dremmel tool remains broken … lol … .
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George did you use modern Li-ion powered ones? Which ones? How long ago? My ONE+ is no heavier than the Craftsman corded one I had, and a lot more convenient.
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Fourteen years ago I chose the corded B&D Grass Hog because it weighed less than the battery trimmers of the time.
I’ll find out comparative weights and comfort next week of current models. I can always get another corded trimmer but will see.
In the meantime a pair of friends have offered to lend me their newish battery trimmer for a couple of weeks so I can see how I like using it versus my corded one.
As of today my trimmer works again. No clue why it quit working or is now again working. Strange. But it sounds different and I suspect won’t last long. I’ll figure out what to replace it with but unless it acts like it’s trying to short out I’ll use for however long more it may last.
Hey, at least my late mom’s seventy-two year old cast iron skillet still works good as new.
Me too. The Ryobi trimmer is much lighter than the previous generation B&D trimmer, and way lighter than the gas powered trimmer I had before.
As long as you keep them clean rust free and seasoned they will last longer than any of us will. 
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@Marnet You are correct that battery string trimmers were heavier than corded string trimmers. My wife bought me a Ryobi string trimmer some years ba cc k and it replaced a corded string trimmer. The battery powered Ryobi was much heavier than the corded string trimmer it replaced. I liked that Ryobi better because I didn’t have to drag a cord around. That Ryobi had a sealed lead acid battery that made it heavy. When I needed to replace the battery for the third time, I found that I could buy a Worx battery powered string trimmer for less than the cost of a battery for the Ryobi. The Worx string trimmer uses a lithium Ion battery and is the lightest of the three string trimmers that I have owned.
I bought a Black and Decker battery powered mower from s friend. It was as heavy as the 18" Toro gasoline push mower that I own, and was harder to push. After replacing the lead acid batteries twice in the Black and Decker mower, the controller board went out. I was going to bypass the board with a switch, but there wouldn’t be any circuit breaker protection if the motor was overloaded. The controller board was no longer available. I may go to a new battery mower as the new battery mowers use a lithium ion battery and are much lighter.
I do have one corded tool that I really find useful–a 1/2 " Black and Decker hammer drill. I have used the drill to go through a poured concrete foundation to run an electrical conduit. It is probably the tool friends most often borrow from me. However, for light duty use, I prefer a battery powered 3/8" drill.
For me, I prefer the Ryobi 40V weed wacker with the brushless motor. You can get attachments for it such as a pole saw, pole hedge trimmer, pole blower, rototiller and some others. But for a suburban hose with a small yard, grass only, the plus one 18V works just fine. I also have a 40V chain saw that I use far more often than my gas chain saw and a 40V leaf blower that is much easier to carry, lighter and much quicker to start than a gas model, and just as powerful.
Yeah it just depends what and where you are using the stuff. A corded trimmer wouldn’t be portable enough for me but I have a corded blower and edger that works just fine in the limited area I use them. I have a battery pole saw that is surprisingly handy and use it quite a bit. I don’t want to use a 200 foot cord or take the generator though just to use it. I’ve got two gas chain saws-one for lighter duty and one for major tree work. I do like my battery drills and impact driver but still have several corded models. So I’ve got three brands of batteries-BD, DeWalt, and Porter Cable but so far work out but if I’m out trimming, I’ll grab 2-3 batteries to take with me. There are limitations on each variety so just have to match them to the job. I’m very unhappy with my Porter Cable battery power saw though. Just no power unless you buy the $80 battery for it. Sits on the shelf so far.
@Triedaq @keith @bing Useful info. Thank you.
I have a gas powered self-propel Toro mower that is the easiest mower to handle I’ve yet used, partly due to the self-propel feature. It had a electric start feature courtesy of a small rechargable battery. But the battery died at the beginning of last summer. The manual pull start is easy enough that I’ve not bothered replacing the battery.
For about ten years I had a corded leaf blower until it shorted out. Although it was useful it was such a noisy hassle to use I didn’t bother to replace it and reverted to broom and rake.
I gave my late dad’s small corded chainsaw to my brother. I found I couldn’t handle it safely.
The difference is that electric cars use induction AC motors, which can put out a lot more power per pound than the kind of motor in a sewing machine.
Tesla’s 360hp motor only weighs 70 pounds.
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Ah, that I had no clue about. I"ll have to look up vehicle weight specs on Teslas and other EVs in comparison to conventional ICE vehicles of comparable size.
If I recall correctly, diesal engines are heavier than proportionate ICEs???
As to hybrids, a neighbor has a nice about ten year old Hyundai full sized sedan. Nice car but sadly minimal trunk room due to the volume of space the hybrid battery occupies.
I have begun seeing some Teslas (Tesla 3 mostly I think) in my middle class part of town. The lack of a front grill because it doesn’t need the air flow to an engine looks noticably odd. But I’m sure it will get to seem normal in a few years as more EVs are on the roads.
The motors aren’t the weight issue on EVs, it’s the batteries, like 1,200 lbs. on a Tesla S.
Diesels are heavier than gas engines, to deal with the higher compression ratios, but they’re both “ICEs”.
Hybrid battery packs have shrunken a lot for those using lithium ion batteries, no longer much of an issue for trunk room for them.
When I was about 6 years old, my favorite toy–Robert The Robot–stopped working.
Being a curious little tyke, I decided to disassemble him in order to try to remedy his malady. When I put “everything” back together again–Voila!, he worked again.
Then, I noticed that I had failed to put one part back in his mechanism, but since he was functioning properly at that point, I decided that I had no need to take him apart again.
When my father asked what had been wrong with Robert, my answer was…
He had too many parts!
Apparently I understood the concept of irony, even at a very young age.
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