Customer Reviews for Milwaukee 18 V Lithium Ion Brushless Cordless String Trimmer 8.0Ah Kit with M18 FUEL 10 in. Pole Saw Attachment

These tool systems attracted me because I can change out the business end of the tool but only have the one motor and control unit to be concerned with. That saves storage space. In use the string trimmer is easy to load and a quick knock on the ground advances the string when necessary. The trimmer line is tough enough not to break too easily and it does a great job of cutting through grass, weeds and some woody material. Control at the trigger is very good. The edger is amazing and it cleans up the edges of the lawns very well. The 8.0 Ah battery still had half its power in reserve after string trimming and edging for about 50 minutes and walking about a half mile.

I got the pole saw attachment to help me with the tall trees in the yard. I wanted to raise the canopy because the trees were many years past due for a proper trim. The saw is very well made. It is professional grade in quality. Adjusting the chain is easy and the oil reservoir keeps the chain lubed. Also, it doesn't leak! As a unit, it works great with my 9a battery and did the job without needing a recharge. It cuts like a champ. I just let the weight of the saw do all the work and was done in no time.

This is an awesome trimmer! It replaces a Ryobi cordless unit which I now see was a total waste of money. I switched over to Milwaukee cordless tools a few years ago and it is awesome that alll of the tools run on the same battery packs. I must have a dozen batteries so I never run out of juice. I look forward to adding a couple of the other accessories that are available for this unit.

Very convenient because the tools are cordless. They both hardly weigh much , making it easy to get the job done quickly.

Milwaukee does it again, perfect, no gas, not loud, and plenty of power! Replaced my 20 year old gas trimmer, this was the way to go!

The trimmer exceeded expectations. Was very hesitant in buying it due to the price, but after biting the bullet and getting it, I will never go back to a gas powered trimmer ever again. No hassle, string loads easy breezy, quiet, battery life so far barely uses 1/4 of life on my whole yard that requires a good bit of trimming and edging. broke down and decided to get the edger and hedge trimmer attachments. If they work anything like the string trimmer, my yard will be the easiest its ever been. Now I just need Milwaukee to come out with an electric ride on lawn mower!

In turtle mode it works really well, saves the battery and is strong enough to cut normal trimming. In Rabbit mode it is more powerful than my high end gas trimmers. I have gotten rid of my gas trimmer because this one is so much better. One battery will last for my entire house and the second battery will cover everything else.

I was supposed to just cut a couple branches, but I got a little carried away and cut the whole tree down.

Well built, solid performance... I bought this on special from Home Depot. The power is comparable to my gas powered trimmer. The QuikLok attaches well, but occasionally I can’t get the attachment completely into the power head. A little wiggle or spin of the motor fixes that. You can turn the string cutter around to get the string swath diameter up from 14 to 16 inches. At first, the trimmer had a bad vibration, and I found it was due to the string in the head. It must have compacted in an unbalanced way. Rewinding it with new string made it smooth out. It trims grass as expected, no issues. I used the pole saw attachment on a number of trees and removed branches up to about 4 inches in diameter without any problems. I used a 3Ah HO battery for weight considerations instead of the big HO 8Ah battery that came with the kit. After multiple branches it brought the battery down a couple of bars. All in all an excellent system for my outdoor needs. I think they should include the strap with the kit. Oddly, it was included in the folding hedge trimmer attachment I ordered later.

Milwaukee has been known for great tools and this is no exception. I've owned this for about a month now and the only tool I have not used is the pole saw. Everything I've done with this tool has worked well and exactly as you'd expect. You won't regret picking this up.

This pole saw attachment has been extremely handy for tree trimming. I highly recommend it for the ease of use, power and convenience. Milwaukee, as usual, did a great job designing it.

Great combo I used it with the 12.0 battery got 2hrs of run time with trimmer. Haven’t used the chainsaw attachment yet. However, the edger and hedge trimmer works flawless as well. I’m very pleased with the quality and diversity of this set and it’s quite. No more gasoline just slap a new battery and keep it going. Time is money and to me this has been money well spent.

This pole saw works well. I applied some lube to the attachment end as well as inside the power head tubing. This has made attaching and detaching the pole saw easy. I also applied a small amount of silicone lube to the saw bar and plastic parts to make it easier to clean after use. The saw cuts easily, going through 4 inch branches. I’ve been using a 3aH High Output battery and it does the job. This is a moderately heavy pole saw with a 3 aH battery. The bigger batteries make it pretty heavy to carry for long. The chain loosened a bit after a few branches, as might be expected for a new blade.

Did not come with edger and HOME DEPOT wont answer their phone lines.

I bought QuikLok system recently with the weed eater attachment. Now I’ve expanded to add pole saw to deal with overgrown branches. Only issue was the pole saw looked seated but was not at first. I might have returned it but watched helpful video that clued me in. A slight turn on the attachment pole and it fully seated and cranked up. I’d retract my negative first review if I could find it.

Been holding off making this purchase for over a year. Finally bit the bullet and bought it. Blown away. Handles all the trimming around the yard and enough juice left over to edge around the driveway and street frontage. Even more impressed with the line that comes with the tool. Holds up great.

Works great just like every other Milwaukee tool I have...

1st and most importantly is the thermal shutdown feature. I will get about 10 to 12 minutes of moderate to lite use on the low power setting before it shuts down and needs at least 30 minutes to cool down for another 12 minute run. This is taking down some high grass about 18 inches using a 12ah fully charged battery. While the unit does its job well, especially on trimming very small areas (around trees and flower pots) the run time limitations on are quite disappointing. 2nd is the rather strong vibration that the unit produces while running free under no load which only increases under load. It is the same or perhaps even a bit more pronounced than a gas trimmer. Granted the noise is much less than its gas counterparts, but my hands are going numb from the intense vibration produced after just 5 minutes. 3rd is the trimmer head angle. It should be a bit more acute. Especially if you are on any type of slope. It seems the head is almost at the right angle but not quite, requiring you to hold the unit at an uncomfortable difficult angle to achieve the desired trimming effect. 4th is the way it chews through battery's. Granted I can recharge them more often than you would expect because I am hanging out waiting for a half hour for the motor to cool down. After about 8 minutes of use on the low setting a 12ah battery is down to 2 bars. Switch it to the high setting under a lite to moderate load you will get about 5 minutes of use before either thermal shutdown or battery exhaustion. A 9ah battery fares even less well. This doesn't seem very heavy duty to me. 5th is the safety lock on the throttle. Its awkward and rather uncomfortable digging into the webbing between thumb and index finger while the motor vibrates like an out of balance washing machine. I'm wondering if something a bit more ergonomic couldn't have been designed? 6th is weight to power. I don't know if it is a close class comparison but my gas trimmer is a Husqvarna 525L which comes in at 9.7 lbs to the Milwaukee's 9.85 lbs. After battery and charger both come in right at the $300.00 mark. But Lordy that Husqvarna is a workhorse beast. Like I said I am not sure if its an equitable class comparison but they are similar in weight and cost. NOT power and certainly not runtime. I have not in my limited use experienced any issues with the bump feed head so many other reviews mention, and this seemed to work flawlessly on my unit. I really do enjoy the fact that it has an extension to give me a bit more reach as well. It has made a steep section of my property line much more manageable. If only it didn't take me 8 hours to cut what I can do with a gas trimmer in one hour. I am open to hearing from Milwaukee on any of these issues, especially the thermal shutdown problem. Most likely I will be returning this unit. It just doesn't meet expectations.

1st and most importantly is the thermal shutdown feature. I will get about 10 to 12 minutes of moderate to lite use on the low power setting before it shuts down and needs at least 30 minutes to cool down for another 12 minute run. This is taking down some high grass about 18 inches using a 12ah fully charged battery. While the unit does its job well, especially on trimming very small areas (around trees and flower pots) the run time limitations on are quite disappointing. 2nd is the rather strong vibration that the unit produces while running free under no load which only increases under load. It is the same or perhaps even a bit more pronounced than a gas trimmer. Granted the noise is much less than its gas counterparts, but my hands are going numb from the intense vibration produced after just 5 minutes. 3rd is the trimmer head angle. It should be a bit more acute. Especially if you are on any type of slope. It seems the head is almost at the right angle but not quite, requiring you to hold the unit at an uncomfortable difficult angle to achieve the desired trimming effect. 4th is the way it chews through battery's. Granted I can recharge them more often than you would expect because I am hanging out waiting for a half hour for the motor to cool down. After about 8 minutes of use on the low setting a 12ah battery is down to 2 bars. Switch it to the high setting under a lite to moderate load you will get about 5 minutes of use before either thermal shutdown or battery exhaustion. A 9ah battery fares even less well. This doesn't seem very heavy duty to me. 5th is the safety lock on the throttle. Its awkward and rather uncomfortable digging into the webbing between thumb and index finger while the motor vibrates like an out of balance washing machine. I'm wondering if something a bit more ergonomic couldn't have been designed? 6th is weight to power. I don't know if it is a close class comparison but my gas trimmer is a Husqvarna 525L which comes in at 9.7 lbs to the Milwaukee's 9.85 lbs. After battery and charger both come in right at the $300.00 mark. But Lordy that Husqvarna is a workhorse beast. Like I said I am not sure if its an equitable class comparison but they are similar in weight and cost. NOT power and certainly not runtime. I have not in my limited use experienced any issues with the bump feed head so many other reviews mention, and this seemed to work flawlessly on my unit. I really do enjoy the fact that it has an extension to give me a bit more reach as well. It has made a steep section of my property line much more manageable. If only it didn't take me 8 hours to cut what I can do with a gas trimmer in one hour. I am open to hearing from Milwaukee on any of these issues, especially the thermal shutdown problem. Most likely I will be returning this unit. It just doesn't meet expectations.

1st and most importantly is the thermal shutdown feature. I will get about 10 to 12 minutes of moderate to lite use on the low power setting before it shuts down and needs at least 30 minutes to cool down for another 12 minute run. This is taking down some high grass about 18 inches using a 12ah fully charged battery. While the unit does its job well, especially on trimming very small areas (around trees and flower pots) the run time limitations on are quite disappointing. 2nd is the rather strong vibration that the unit produces while running free under no load which only increases under load. It is the same or perhaps even a bit more pronounced than a gas trimmer. Granted the noise is much less than its gas counterparts, but my hands are going numb from the intense vibration produced after just 5 minutes. 3rd is the trimmer head angle. It should be a bit more acute. Especially if you are on any type of slope. It seems the head is almost at the right angle but not quite, requiring you to hold the unit at an uncomfortable difficult angle to achieve the desired trimming effect. 4th is the way it chews through battery's. Granted I can recharge them more often than you would expect because I am hanging out waiting for a half hour for the motor to cool down. After about 8 minutes of use on the low setting a 12ah battery is down to 2 bars. Switch it to the high setting under a lite to moderate load you will get about 5 minutes of use before either thermal shutdown or battery exhaustion. A 9ah battery fares even less well. This doesn't seem very heavy duty to me. 5th is the safety lock on the throttle. Its awkward and rather uncomfortable digging into the webbing between thumb and index finger while the motor vibrates like an out of balance washing machine. I'm wondering if something a bit more ergonomic couldn't have been designed? 6th is weight to power. I don't know if it is a close class comparison but my gas trimmer is a Husqvarna 525L which comes in at 9.7 lbs to the Milwaukee's 9.85 lbs. After battery and charger both come in right at the $300.00 mark. But Lordy that Husqvarna is a workhorse beast. Like I said I am not sure if its an equitable class comparison but they are similar in weight and cost. NOT power and certainly not runtime. I have not in my limited use experienced any issues with the bump feed head so many other reviews mention, and this seemed to work flawlessly on my unit. I really do enjoy the fact that it has an extension to give me a bit more reach as well. It has made a steep section of my property line much more manageable. If only it didn't take me 8 hours to cut what I can do with a gas trimmer in one hour. I am open to hearing from Milwaukee on any of these issues, especially the thermal shutdown problem. Most likely I will be returning this unit. It just doesn't meet expectations.

Tools work great. The charger that came with the kit does not work or even turn on. I am currently using one of my old chargers to charge the battery. I have contacted Milwaukee and am waiting to hear back. The description of this kit says that it come with the 9.0Ah battery when it actually comes with the 8.0Ah battery. Not a huge deal but the little extra run time on the 9.0Ah is nice.

I absolutely love the possibilities of this tool!! Specifically; I have the string trimmer which has been an integral tool to my lawn maintenace and has left me extremely impressed with the quality of this tool, but it is noteworthy that there are other LOK attachments for the base of this tool, including a hedge trimmer, edger and chainsaw pole attachment. This tool is of professional quality, has no exhaust and is much quieter than its gas competitors. It lasts considerably long for a battery powered tool and is much better for my health - for my hearing and my breathing. It is also much easier for me to like this tool as I already have several tools on this platform. Definitely reccomend! I am keeping my fingers crossed for more amazing tools from milwaukee, such as a sweeper /snow thrower LOK attachment would be amazing!

Overall I like this product. I had my Echo gas 2 piece system for 17 years. This battery system can definitely hang with the gas system. I was skeptical as many are when switching from gas to battery. But already being a Milwaukee hand tool guy, the switch made it much easier. Pros: I LOVE not dealing with gas. I like the quick start up. As most have stated. It will do just fine in turtle mode when just doing a yard that is already manicured. Jump to rabbit for unkept spaces- no problems. I also got the edger attachment. Same applies for that but I usually use the rabbit just to finish quicker. It is pretty well balanced. Battery run time is good, not great. Definitely runs way longer when just using turtle mode. It is nice that I have 5.0 Amp batteries from my hand tools if I run out of battery in the middle of a trimming. Cons: I do NOT like the trigger. It is variable speed but I feel that it is stiffer than it should be and after trimming for about 10 mins, my fingers start to hurt a little. Not unbearable but uncomfortable. Shaft length- I feel that the attachments could be an inch or 2 shorter. I am 5.10. So not sure if that makes a difference or not. Lastly, I do NOT like the thickness of the string trimming head itself. I know that they made it that way to hold more string. However it makes it hard to trim places all the way to the ground (concrete driveways etc). More compact would be better. I did make two modifications that help me out. 1)First thing I noticed was that the "arrow" attachment sticker for the actual attachments are NOT aligned very well. The second time I was used it I did not fully engage the attachment. I thought it was broken until I realized what was happening. So reattached it fully. Then put a piece of color electrical tape on it to let me know that it is fully engaged. 2) I DID NOT like the fact that when you put the motor head on the ground that there was NOTHING on the bottom of the motor casing to protect it from getting beat up and damaged. So I had some of those dense felt pads you use on the bottom of furniture so that you do not scratch the floor. I put some of those on it. Both mods work great. OVERALL: I like the product and would buy again. I just guess that I will never understand why simple things are not thought through during R and D before production. It is the common sense part of me shaking my head. The trigger and head thickness are why I took one star off of my overall rating.

Easy to assemble, long battery life, and tons of power. Very happy with this purchase

Another item that exceeds expectations. Perfect for my use, no more small engine hassles! Heavier then expected. Got it for great deal on sale with HD, arrived quick too.

This is a great addition to an existing M18 collection, or even if you are just getting started with the brand. This kit has the first powered edger I've owned, and I am very pleased. It makes a nice crisp and clean line that looks very professional. I love that I can switch between edger and trimmer in less than a minute. The trimmer can easily hold pace with the workhorse Stihl that I've been using for the past 15 years. And it does so without the noise or hassle of the 2-stroke and its gas mix. I was originally intrigued when Milwaukee released the first generation of M18 trimmer a couple years ago. But I'm really glad I held out to get the Quik-Lok version this year. I'm really excited to see the Outdoor Power Equipment line expand in the future!

The string trimmer and edger works flawlessly! I'm very happy with these!

I intended to buy yet-another gas trimmer, but saw this M18 FUEL. Though I own an electric-car, I never thought this electric trimmer could compete with gas. But, since every Milwaukee M18 FUEL tool I own has been pure-perfection, I gave this a try... This trimmer is nothing short of outstanding. Instant-power and instant-torque like you'd expect from an electric motor. The string-winder head is simple to reload and outperforms every trimmer I've ever owned. I am thrilled I smashed my gas-trimmer into 20-pieces (after running like crap FOR THE LAST TIME) and bought this M18 FUEL. I spent half my time clearing land just trying to keep my gas trimmer operating; this electric M18 just flat-out works all the time. My only (minor) complaint is battery-life. Their specs of 1-hour runtime is wildly-optimistic. I averaged about 20-minutes under heavy load with the M18-9A supplied battery, but those 20-minutes are flat-out hard work. I got about 10-minutes of heavy load operation with all of my M18-5A batteries. That said, I have enough batteries that I operated this trimmer non-stop for 2-hours straight, in knee-high thick field-grass, using it more like a brushhog than a simple yard-trimmer. This trimmer took everything I threw at it, and just kept chugging, outperforming any gas-trimmer I've ever owned/abused. I love every M18 Fuel tool I own... impacts, drivers, drills, cut-offs, grinders, flood-lights... just-awesome.

The weed eater was easy to assemble and very strong. I have the 12.0 battery and have cut my grass 4x since having it and it still has 2 bars left.

This is a great pole saw, what prevents it from being perfect in eyes are a lack of features that I found in a lesser known brand(lack of a tool free tension adjuster , the saw lacks an adjustable handled(I know there is an extension but the purpose of the quik lok is quick and easy transitions it would be a lot quicker to adjust the reach from it's handle than to disconnect it , connect the extension and then connect the pole saw. Also a lack of an adjustable head. I used pole saws with that feature and it is very helpful. This has two settings(another small issue is that the icons for the both settings are white and they are illuminated by a white light, so using this on a sunny day and it is difficult to see which mode you are in(see pic below). Even on the lowest setting, I found that this had more than enough power to cut my tree limbs in a fast and clean manner. For all of my limbs I used the slow setting(Turtle) and it got the job done. I felt no need to put it on the higher setting(Rabbit). I only used the higher setting once just to test it and it definitely cuts faster. The pole saw felt good to me, not too heavy. I had an older co-worker try and it out and she commented on how manageable it was to use. There are 2 pts of contact that need to be initiated to activate the pole saw, and it fires up instantly. Overall this is a great pole saw. Just remember to grab bar and chain oil when using it .