Customer Reviews for RYOBI 40V Expand-It Cordless Battery Attachment Capable String Trimmer with 4.0 Ah Battery and Charger

I use this tool to clear mountain bike trails in the Santa Monica Mountains. I don't aim to cut the thick stalks of weeds and thistle. I use the 40v Ryobi Hedger Tool for that. What I use Ryobi 40 V String Trimmer for are the grasses, the smaller stalked thistles and burrs and the tangle of creeping vines - basically anything that has a stalk diameter less than or equal to my pinky finger. The tool itself is well built and balanced. It has a lot of power to cut. You will want to get a few batteries for it if you don't have more than one. And the battery should be greater than 4 Ah. Ryobi does make a 5Ah and a 6 Ah battery. Those would be best. The largest I have so far is 4.6 Ah battery and it gives me about 30 - 45 minutes of actual run time at 60 to 100% throttle speed. And I have two 2.4 Ah batteries that each will power this tool for about 15 - 20 minutes at 60% to 100% throttle speed. If you run it at 100% throttle speed, then your battery will deplete much sooner. So if I were to purchase this tool again, I would spend the extra money and buy the model that includes the battery as it's less expensive to do so than to buy the battery separately.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I bought this few months back as I was planning to buy a 40v lawn mower too, hence the battery will be an additional one. I instantly liked the handling of the trimmer. And best part is I can change the trimmer to a pole saw or edger without buying the motor and battery. I like the attachment capability. The trimmer is quite powerful and does an excellent job.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I am ABSOLUTELY 1O0% satisfied with my device! I got my yard done in a jiffy, and was back out playing with my kids in no time! Love it!

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] So my SRM-225 finally got to the point where I didn’t want to tune it up anymore... So I picked up this Ryobi string trimmer. I am really pretty satisfied with it, and it’s just 2 steps from perfect. Pros • Length, I am 6’3” and this is good for me, most cordless trimmers are too short. • Battery life, I have about 1/4 acre and the rear is fenced. I had two bars left after doing the yard and it had been a couple weeks so it was heavier than normal usage. • Weight, it’s about the same weight as my gas powered • Adaptability, the handle is able to be used with other attachments. • Price, it’s substantially less than the gas one I replaced and it comes with a 4ah battery. Cons • front handle, it’s a little “residential” for me if that makes sense. I think I may take the echo one off and use it. It’s just more ergonomic than the Ryobi one. • When it binds down (trimming around a rope ladder on my kids playground) it has a safety feature that stops the motor, which I like, BUT I have to take the battery of and back on to start it again. • “Torque” It isn’t as smooth “revving” as a gas powered, it has to ramp up so you can’t adjust the throttle like a gas one. That will take some getting used to. • My BIGGEST ISSUE is the depth of the spool. You can see in the pics that the Echo string is about 15/16ths off the ground, the Ryobi is about 2 1/8th inches off the ground. Cutting under a fence is difficult. My fence is between 1/2 and 1.5 inches off the ground so on the low spots to get it under you have to angle it so far that it cuts to the dirt. This may be an “idiot-proof” function to keep users from cutting too low but for my needs I’d like a lower profile. Over all I have to agree that it has “gas-like power” and it will work great for any homeowner up to 1/2 acre with ease. I was thinking of docking another star but I remembered that this is cheaper and more adaptable than the gas one I replaced, and this isn’t a professional string trimmer. I expect years of good use from this and now am looking forward to upgrading my mower to a gas free model.

I just bought the Ryobi 40v string trimmer. It has exceptional power and is just right for what I need it for. I use it to trim the edges of the grass leading up the wall and trim and edge also. I was extremely skeptical about buying a battery power tool but I was not disappointed at all. It has the same power of my 26cc Craftman speed start but I don’t have to pull and pull to start it up. Out of the box it the battery 1.5 hours to fully charge. I did all my yard trimming and edging on a single charge. Still have 1/2 the juice in it. It did no struggle with hi grass one bit. I love it. One thing thou the battery does get extremely hot. I wish they would design a pad or something so you get burn. The battery normally sits on the inside of your arm and it does burn. Other than that it is a great tool.

Was looking for a new gas weed eater and took a chance on this one. I really didn’t have high expectations and thought I’ll just bring it back if I don’t like it. Needles to say I love it! I couldn’t believe the power. I had some tall grass on the edge of my property over a foot tall and this weed eater took it down no problem. I really couldn’t be any happier with it. Battery lasted for the whole job and still had plenty to finish the rest of the yard. The battery did get hot that probably the only complaint I would have but gas engines get hot too. Ryobi probably could have put a plastic shield over the battery but other than that great product.

The last battery-powered yard tool I had was from 20 years ago and despite living in a townhouse (Very small yard), the battery never lasted for the whole job, even when I was just doing my own yard. Last year, I purchased the Ryobi 2-stroke Expand-It curved-shaft edger and have really been pleased with its versatility and dependability, although it's VERY important to use a product like TrueFuel so it runs at it's best. I since purchased the brush cutter, the edger, the leaf-blower and the hedge trimmer attachments. I wanted a straight-shaft weed-eater attachment but also liked the concept of just popping in a battery rather than fueling, priming, chocking and pull-starting the 2-stroke, so I took a chance on this model. I used the hedge trimmer first and it did a great job on the knock-out rose bushes. Then after mowing, I edged all of my townhouse unit's walkways, curbs and even did the townhouse for the lady across the street. I like the design of the guard on this trimmer head as it does a better job stopping flying debris than does the curved-shaft guard. Next, I hooked up the leaf-blower and was a little disappointed that it wasn't as strong as it usually is on a 2-stroke power head, but it was sufficient to do the job I needed at that moment, but I dare say it wouldn't be a good match for heavy leaves. I would also be reluctant to recommend this particular power head for an attachment like the brush cutter or the edger. It just doesn't seem to have enough "umphf!" But on the other hand, Ryobi has really improved the locking ring used to secure the attachment into the power-head shaft and it is a vast improvement over the design of the 2-stroke version I currently have, which I've already had to replace the locking ring and Home Depot doesn't carry them in stock. I was certainly right about liking just popping in the battery and going, and I (as well as my neighbors) ESPECIALLY liked the QUIET operation of this unit. The noise level was a whisper compared to the rather obnoxious whine of the 2-stroke engine so it would be great to use if you're an early riser and want to get started before 8:00am. This has also piqued my interest in other products in the Ryobi 40v line. I wouldn't recommend this for a commercial application or a large property, but if you're just an "average" homeowner, 1/4 to 1/2 acre, this unit should be equal to the task. In the photo, please note all of the edge work I had to do along the sidewalks, curbs and walkways to my neighbors doors-that's a LOT of edging. Over all, I am very pleased with this unit thus far.

I love the power of this trimmer plus I already had 3 40v batteries, so I can constantly trim while the others charge. With that said, here’s what I don’t like: Right-handers will be holding the battery on their right side like normal, but the angled handle means the shaft isnt straight out in front of you (unless you have the handle VERY close to the motor side). If the handle is in a more balanced position, you’re holding the shaft across your body (pointing at 10:00 instead of 12:00). With my previous trimmers this wouldnt be an issue, but this trimmer rotates counter clockwise. This means the discharge is coming straight back at you. With how powerful the trimmer is, this can be very painful. If I wasn’t wearing safety glasses just now, I would be in the hospital at this moment. You should also wear jeans and long sleeves. I don’t like loading string. It’s really frustrating and complicated. The piece that you bump to get more string is really thick which makes it impossible to cut lower than 2.5 inches unless you angle it downward. I much prefer the plastic blade attachment. It’s lower profile and way easier to replace than string. Plus the bring orange circle lets you see where you’re cutting.

I've purchased many Ryobi battery powered products in the past and they all have been great values, but this one just stinks. I'm very unhappy with this product which I purchased not too long ago. The battery died after a few uses, but they will send me a replacement in a few weeks because they are back-ordered. The support agent said they knew about a bad batch of 4ah batteries so I'm guessing many people need them. I asked for a larger battery that they have in stock so I can use the equipment sooner, but she declined. I would NOT recommend this product until they figure out the 40v battery problems. I believe these bad batteries are on the shelves right now in different equipment and they are not pulling them so their customers will just suffer the same fate as me.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I bought it couple weeks ago and is wonderful and comfortable

very versatile ; I have bought additional attachments to support my business

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I bought this several weeks ago with the 10" pole saw adapter. I was surprised how well it worked. At first I was a bit skeptical, but it has surpassed my expectations.

This trimmer is a powerful piece of dung! I purchased it to replace a corded Craftsman product that I could no longer find string spools for, (I had had it quite some time). This unit "seemed" to have everything that I wanted: cordless, powerful battery, stated flexibility of positions and a promised easy restringing process. Oh boy was I fooled. As an FYI, I do not have a large overgrown lawn, about a 1/4 acre and my use is principally trimming the grass around the sidewalks. Let me start with the battery. Even at full charge it dies before I finish my front yard, it takes forever to charge and it weighs a ton. The power is strong as promised but doesn't last. I guess that's one way to get you to buy a second battery $$$. The trimmer head is rotatable on the shaft to 3 locked positions. None of which will take you from horizontal to vertical to do effective sidewalk edge trimming without being a contortionist. But the kicker is the quality of the trimmer head itself. It has a neat design and you get a cute little winding tool for restringing that fits on teeth in head. Ahh the head, it is supposed to be a bump feeder where to advance the string you just bump the head. Well, as shown in the attached pictures the teeth disappears as the head disintegrates and comes off in pieces from the bumping. Now mind you these pictures were taken after only 4 (yes four) uses. I cannot remember EVER being so disappointed in a product before. My original plan was to replace all my lawn tools with RYOBI cordless products because it would be one, powerful platform. No way now. I'm considering Milwaukee but I will sure as heck read reviews and talk to actual owners. Buyers BEWARE!

I purchased this badboy today at Home Depot because of a huge area of year old gargantuan weeds that my new yard guy sasaid he'd have to use a bushhog which was beyond my budget. So i decoded to takle it myself. I also purchased the ryobi bush cutter attatchment-I will be returni g that to the store because this string trimmer is beyond capable all on its own! im a female on the far side of 55, 5'3" and not in the best shape. This trimmer was easy-peasy. The battery did take about 2 1/2 hours to fully charge but i weeded for 55 minutes and it still had one bar left on the battery charge-I only quit cause i was hot, sweaty, and ready for a refreshment lol. It ate thru those weeds, brambles, and even some small saplings like no tomorrow! I'm beyond impressed. Some made mention of a heat issue when motor/battery ensemble would touch arm during use. It was warm, but not hot in anyway, and I just kept on going-I just let that top end drop a little. No biggie. I am including a pic that shows what I've done in that 55 minutes and you'll see in the distance the remainder to be done which will give you an idea of what i faced with this killer machine. It was so thick, a man couldnt even walk thru it, Im telling you, and this weeder just chomped right on thru it!

It is a great lawn tool. My only issue is the battery life for what I had to do. I ended up using the battery that came with it and then my Ryobi Blower battery. I would’ve need another battery more than likely for what I was doing but, I recommend having the bigger battery to start with it. Also when I went to find a bigger battery at Home Depot they didn’t have any.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] After recently using one that we purchased for work at the Peoria sports complex to use on Major league fields. We mostly use it in small areas where we can't get a mower and in the landscape. After using it for a month my gas powered mower finally gave out so I decided to purchase the Ryobi 40-volt line trimmer for my own yard at the house. I was sold on the power longevity of the battery and overall heavy duty robust design. I seriously have unintentionally abused the one that we use at work and was very satisfied with it. It got put through the wringer not only by me but by our staff on a daily basis. putting string on it is so so easy for a rookie it's almost mind boggling how we didn't have this before. Overall I will be purchasing more for work because of the heavy duty design and the battery life.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I bought this product today and I love it. It’s light weight, comfortable, and has plenty of power

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Purchased this weed eater this week along with an extra battery. Quick assembly and several hours of charging and I was ready to weed eat. Cut the tall grass and weeds on my property with power to spare. Much easier to operate and handle than my gas powered weed eater.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Firstly, this review is coming from a guy who has always considered himself a devout gasoline engine believer. I never thought cordless could be viable for OPE. After getting tired of fussing with the fickle carb on my 4 stroke 30cc, I decided I may give this battery electric stuff a try. I am so glad I did. I charged it to 100%, and used it for about 30 mins or so with the string head, then put the brush cutter attachment on it and ran another 10 mins. Still had a little charge left when I was done. The initial charge does take a while (about 3 hrs in my case) so be prepared to do that before using it. I will say these electric motors make some torque. It didn't bog down with the brush cutter like my old gas unit did. Follow the battery care instructions! My cordless drill Li ion batteries are over 7 years old & perform like new. I expect these will to. Now go buy one already!

First of all I love that the battery pack is a system that is common to several other RYOBI devices. I also own the 40V Lawn Mower, Hedge Trimmer, and Chainsaw, and that most of them come with chargers so you can always have a freshly charged battery on hand. That being said, the trimmer works great for what it was intended, edging tall grass and weeds. It does not perform well when it encounters plants with stems thicker than about an eighth of an inch, the spool wraps up and the motor goes into over-current shutdown for a few seconds. The first time this happens, you are likely to think the trimmer is defective, but it isn't, it's just protecting itself. You quickly learn what you can and cannot trim. But, one big issue that needs to be addressed in a model refresh is that the motor housing gets very, very hot in use, hot enough that it caused a second degree burn on my forearm where it contacts my skin. I haven't read other reviews yet to see if this is a common experience among owners. I would recommend either wearing some sort of protection on your arm, or making sure you hold the device in such a manner that the motor housing doesn't come into contact with your skin.

Excellent smooth and quiet also has plenty power

I had previously written a glowing review on this item with my only issue being the heat generated by the motor head. I have tried many "comfortable" ways to try and protect my arm from burning and blistering but none worked really well. I wrote to Ryobi Customer Service to try and find out if they had a fix for this problem - NO ANSWER!

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I bought the string line trimmer a couple of weeks ago. I have to admit I was skeptical. Charged the battery and gave it a whirl. Very impressive. This baby has got some go. Easily trimmed the whole yard. Mind you I keep my yard nice so it’s not like I was cutting down knee-high weeds. In fact, I liked it so much I went back and bought the steel blade edger and blower. The edger works great. The blower, not as strong as gas but does the job well. Changing the line on the trimmer, super easy! All of the attachments fit perfectly right out of the box. I was able to trim, edge, and blow and had one bar of battery left. All in all I think it’s a great system. It may be a little bit heavy but I think most users will be able to handle it just fine. Best of all so long gasoline and oil. I’m going to miss you. Not!

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Have used this 3 times now. It’s awesome. Quite powerful for battery operated. Love it. I don’t have a large yard but have plenty to edge and trim around. Set up was easy and changing the cutting line is very easy. Can’t wait to get some of the other attachments.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I bought a Ryobi weed eater a month ago works great

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Bought this today 49v trimmer today to replace my worn out 18v trimmer.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] My wife and I volunteer for the National Park Service. After using their gas trimmers for more than a week, on the advice of a friend, we decided to purchase a battery Ryobi of our own. We will never go back to gas trimmers again. What a life safer! Wish we could afford another one!

I'd been using 18v models for years, but they couldn't keep up with our 3 acre yard. A friend told me about the 40v model, said he has one and it works great. So I bought this one. You can do some serious trimming with this trimmer! Powerful and easy to use.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] This was my first battery weed eater after this the following week got the mower, blower, and water pressure I'm with hands down In love with all there products. No more gas spills or gas in my garage. Thanks Ryobi best investment for my yard.

Very Good Weed Eater! I bought this Ryobi 40 volt weed eater just recently after reading over alot of the reviews on it. The price was lowered and I needed to get a newer and more powerful weed eater for the tough weeds. I had a gas powered weed eater but it's such a pain with the gas and oil. I also had a older Roybi but it was a 24 volt and was only for lighter duty stuff. Home Depot was very helpful when I asked about getting this one and they also helped me put some of it together. I still had to put the 2 poles together and that was a little bit of a struggle but I finally got them together and just waited for the battery to charge. It took about an hour but it was then fully charged and ready to go. I was not sure whether the string would work but it went after the heavy weeds like nobody's business. I really like how this is works and it ran for about 30 minutes on the tough weeds before the charge started getting low and by the way it's nice to be able to check on the battery status right on the battery! The trigger is easy to operate, you do have to watch how you rest your arm on the battery as it does get on the warm side so I will be looking around now for a harness strap that will balance some of the weight. The noise level is very acceptable to me but you can always wear ear protection if you want. I am just so happy with this weed eater I want to get a spare battery now. I may even get one of the attachments that are able to be put on it. Definitely I recommend this! Thank you Home Depot and Ryobi.