Do Gator trimmer heads work with any cordless weed trimmers?

[pakcyclist]

Last year I got a B&D cordless weed trimmer. Loved being able to start it without breaking my neck, back, hands, arms, and shoulders! Wished the battery lasted longer, but I don't have too much to do. Thing I absolutely despised was the cutting line. Went through one of the spools in less than 5 MINUTES!!!! (After a few months the thing started acting up -- smoking, slowing down, barely cutting -- so I was able to return it for a refund. Anyone know if there are any cordless models that accept those "Gator "brand cutting heads (the ones with a short piece of wire or blade) rather than those idiotic spools? If not, for sure I'll stick with a gas version.

 

[BlazNT]

Most electric weedeaters do not have enough power or torque to move the extra weight that is required to use what you want. You would have to purchase the high dollar battery powered ones to do what you want without burning up the trimmer.

 

[Boobala]

Last year I got a B&D cordless weed trimmer. Loved being able to start it without breaking my neck, back, hands, arms, and shoulders! Wished the battery lasted longer, but I don't have too much to do. Thing I absolutely despised was the cutting line. Went through one of the spools in less than 5 MINUTES!!!! (After a few months the thing started acting up -- smoking, slowing down, barely cutting -- so I was able to return it for a refund. Anyone know if there are any cordless models that accept those "Gator "brand cutting heads (the ones with a short piece of wire or blade) rather than those idiotic spools? If not, for sure I'll stick with a gas version.

OLD SAYING .... DON'T send a "boy" to do a "man's" job, ... GAS, kicks A** !!
IF you want a DEPENDABLE trimmer, buy a Stihl, or an Echo, BUT, Maintenance is the key to easy starting, biggest problem I found in ANY gas powered hand-held lawn equipt., is not emptying the fuel tank, then running it, till it runs "dry" I have a Stihl FS90R trimmer, only problem I ever had was I could hardly pull the starter cord, adjusted the valves , Voila ! like A new machine, ( the FS90R I have is a 2-4cycle, ..model, strange engine but a GREAT machine )

 

[MowerMike]

I think your main problem is that you were using a cheap light duty string trimmer with thin line, probably .065”. There are heavy duty cordless electric string trimmers available from EGO, Dewalt, Greenworks etc. that use .080” or .095” line, and have batteries with sufficient capacity to provide a long run time at a high power setting. Also, you definitely want a model that has a manual bump feed, rather than auto feed that tends to waste a lot of line.
Finally, get a model that features an easy feed spool head, so that you don’t have remove the spool to rewind it or buy expensive prewound spools.

 

[bertsmobile1]

The other thing to consider is the shaft.
Bent shafts have a speedo cable on steroids to drive them.
They rely on the give in the string to prevent shock loadings on the drive WIRE that shortens its life.
Strait shafts have a tube which can tale a lot more punishment .

With electric motor over head models the problems is AMPs.
people put too heavy line on there which creates too much load.
The load reduces the speed the motor turns which increases the time each sector on the armature has electricity flowing through it.
As each sector is in effect a direct short circuit across the battery, the longer that are in contact, the hotter they get and the hotter they get the higher the resistance and the higher the resistance the hotter they get.
End result is they get too hot and let the smoke out of the battery.

Electric trimmers can do a good job, but like ant and every tool, hand powered, mains powered, petrol powered or battery powered, only work to the tools speed.
Overloading them will lead to problems.
You can trim your yard just as well with a 0.5mm line as you can with a 2.5mm line but the thinner one will take longer
Trying to make the 0.5mm line work to the same speed as the 2.5mm line achieves nothing and uses a lot of line.

 

[MowerMike]

You can trim your yard just as well with a 0.5mm line as you can with a 2.5mm line but the thinner one will take longer. Trying to make the 0.5mm line work to the same speed as the 2.5mm line achieves nothing and uses a lot of line.

The smallest line I’ve seen is 1.7mm (0.065”). Do they really have 0.5mm line where you live ?

 

[bertsmobile1]

Got some rolls of 0.75 mm line.
The .5mm was just a number to make a point with.
Supposed to be U-bute ultra strong especially for light duty trimmers.
Sold one roll & gave another away.
But I do get a lot of repairs come in because the Dope on the other end of the trimmer was too dog gone lazy to feed out more line every couple of minutes so it chaffs inside the head and breaks the second he finally winds it out.

I only use dragon fly heads.
Fitting a light head allows running a slightly heavier line.

 

[pakcyclist]

Last year I got a B&D cordless weed trimmer. Loved being able to start it without breaking my neck, back, hands, arms, and shoulders! Wished the battery lasted longer, but I don't have too much to do. Thing I absolutely despised was the cutting line. Went through one of the spools in less than 5 MINUTES!!!! (After a few months the thing started acting up -- smoking, slowing down, barely cutting -- so I was able to return it for a refund. Anyone know if there are any cordless models that accept those "Gator "brand cutting heads (the ones with a short piece of wire or blade) rather than those idiotic spools? If not, for sure I'll stick with a gas version.

As an update, I came across an EGO 56-volt trimmer which has a "rapid reload head" that is strikingly similar to the Gator head (except this has one line instead of 2). Anyone know anything about this brand?

 

[MowerMike]

As an update, I came across an EGO 56-volt trimmer which has a "rapid reload head" that is strikingly similar to the Gator head (except this has one line instead of 2). Anyone know anything about this brand?

Great quality brand. I have two of the EGO leaf blowers and just bought that string trimmer you mentioned (ST1500F). It passes the trimmer line through the head, so that it is effectively dual line. It uses heavy .095” (2.4mm) line so that it can handle the heaviest weeds and grass. It is also surprisingly lightweight, weighing about 9.7 lbs with the 56 volt 2.5 Ah battery. I bought the optional accessory shoulder strap, but it is really unnecessary. Also, I suggest getting the straight shaft version that is sold on Home Depot online, and not the hinged shaft version that is sold in Home Depot stores.