Customer Reviews for RYOBI 40V HP Brushless 15 in. Cordless Carbon Fiber Shaft Attachment Capable String Trimmer (Tool Only)

Bought this yesterday from local store. First step of assembly this morning, the tab for insert into the brush guard snapped the plastic right off when tightened from the other side per the instructions. Hit me right on the cheek bone just missing my eye. The Handle is attached with poorly made plastic components that do not even align properly; the cheap plastic wingnut is threaded and will not even secure so therefore the handle is useless and slides up and down.

The “reel easy” bump feed trimmer head is absolute garbage. The strings break after minutes into use, and the broken string retracts into the housing. It takes a near Herculean effort to get the head off to re-feed the string. Once the string is extended into the holes, exhaustion sets in before losing all strength and feeling in your hands and arms before being able to get the feeder housing back to the locked position. Do Not Buy.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] More powerful than I thought it would be. Easy to change heads for different uses. Works well!

I purchased this trimmer less than a year and part of the bump head broke off and can’t get the rest off to replace with a new one. I spent hours, days, months texting back and forth with Ryobi Digital Technology who made all RYOBI Tools and you will have to go through for the warranty claim. There is always someone different will ask me the same questions and give me the runaround. As of this day 08 November 2023 still try to get this fix. Good luck trying to get them to honor their warranty.

Absolutely love it!!! 18 year old gas powered Craftsman string trimmer broke one too many times and I was tired of fixing it. Went out and got this and while pricy it works beautifully and makes trimming fun again! My gas powered string trimmer had a curved head end shaft which I preferred. I was actually able to use that end on this one. I was also able to swap out the string trimmer head too as my old trimmer head had seen better days.

Really strong but quiet string trimmer that is fun to use and is much lighter to carry than a gas trimmer. I’m happy with it. Check out my review. Ryobi 40V String Trimmer - Expand it https://youtu.be/v7BvdsFUDIk

My specific model is no longer listed, but I'm sure its comparable to this model. I've owned my trimmer alongside my 40v mower for 3 years, i used to just purchase a new gas trimmer every year since they were so cheap and not worth fixing every time they break, but this Ryobi one just keeps going! Its literally outlasted any other string trimmer I've owned in the past, it has more than enough power to go through anything. I had to wait to buy a new bump feed head so I could finally trim.

I have the "original" 40V brushless weed eater which I have been using it heavily for 2-3 years now for brush clearance. I finally destroyed the head of the string trimmer and decided to give the carbon fiber a shot. The carbon fiber is significantly lighter than the old version and it makes a big difference. In terms of power, it truly does have gas-like power. The battery lasts long enough to trim a yard. If you're trying to clear a large area, you'll need a few batteries.

Following all of the positive reviews I purchased this model. Unfortunately for me I'm the 1% who's trimmer came apart after only 40 minutes of use. The nut (now lost) securing the grass deflector vibrated off (with proper tightening). Minutes after that, the string completely retracted into the string head. Against my better judgement I disassembled the string head to uncoil the string and now after repeated attempts I can't get the string head back together. The unit and it's parts are back in the box available at my next yard sale. No, I don't recommend this model.

Upon first use, the edger guard for this trimmer was damaged by a small rock that was kicked up, for which I exchanged for a new one. Also, the center of the unit was smoking and extremely hot as the tightening screw managed to loosen thereby separating the drive shaft components and friction was creating the smoking. Third, the battery life, at 45 minutes was disappointing. Lastly, the trimmer head was difficult to reinstall - I needed to put the head in a vise to have enough hand strength to force the head back on. I will be returning this as it is a lot of money for so much failure and disappointment.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I bought this a couple of weeks ago to replace my gas engine that was worn out. I’ve had 4 different gas engines that drive the Expand It attachments over the last 15 or so years. I’ve had Toro, Troybilt and the Ryobi 4 cycle. My attachments include trimmer, hedge trimmer, blower, edger and cultivator. This electric motor drives them all better than any of the gas versions I’ve owned. The torque is surprising. I recently bought the 40v HP mower and with 2 batteries, I can mow and trim the yard with power to spare. I’m thoroughly pleased with both tools.

The service life is very short. I bought it for a year and used it occasionally. Now it's broken and the battery life is short.

Helped an elderly lady mow & trim VERY dense, thick growth in her back yard-3 feet tall with stalks as thick as my finger. String would not work - had to use the blades. Wow - it made short work of what seemed an impossible task! The lady was moved to tears when she saw her back yard w/ all the weeds gone! Tractor did the main stuff but the dark green growth near the house (see picture ) is what I used this weed eater (with blades) on. Tractor wouldn't touch it. Excellent battery life.

Great trimmer with one exception. I am on my second trimmer, the first one failed after one week of use as the carbon fiber shaft failed. The second one has been good but is developing issues where it cuts out when under load. I have tried several different batteries, same issue. Trimmer offers gas like proformance and good run time with 4 and 5 ah batteries. I would recommend this product with the foreknowledge it may not be the most dependable product down the road.

At the first use of this product I tried to advance the trimmer cords. I open the trimmer assembly, advanced the cords but when I tried to rotate the trimmer assembly to the locked position it refused to turn. Once off, it is impossible to put back on as it WILL NOT return to the locked position making the thing essentially useless. All and all, I am extremely disappointed by the tool and definitely would not recommend it.

Unreasonably difficult to decouple the line housing from the trimmer head out of the box. So much that I have to start using tools. That doesn’t make me feel great considering it’s all plastic. I would not recommend buying this for that reason.

My neighbor has this model and I have the gas powered head. After trying his I bought one for myself. I already had most of the attachments. The battery last long enough for me to trim, edge and blow my grass before I have to recharge. It is so quiet I can start earlier in the morning and not wake the neighbors. No gas smell, exhaust smoke or heat.

My wife & I just bought a 5 acre "fixer upper." We all know how difficult small engines are & w/ 5 acres of overgrown property, I needed a backup in case the gas engines didn't work. Been using this thing all weekend & I'm blown away. It tore through the brush, limbs & weeds w/ ZERO ISSUES. I was skeptical when purchasing, but couldn't be more pleased. I've attached 2 pictures of the corner of my property to show what this product has been working on. Very pleased so far. Hope it holds up.

This was purchased to trim around the house, and clean up the ditches in the front. It accomplished that and so much more! My tractor died, and was forced to mow my large yard, out of necessity. I recommend ONLY this model or a better one in the series. This is robust, comes with brush-less motor, carbon fiber shaft, and durable construction! I recommend NOT using the faster speed, because all it does for the most part, is drain the battery faster. The SLOW speed is sufficient enough! I am waiting to afford other accessories now. BEST purchase this year.

The carbonfiber pole melted at the joint after 25 min of use

After reading reviews and talking with the Royobi representative at our local store yesterday I chose this model. I’m with dealing with mixed gas eapecially ethinol which really ruins any small engine. My old head unit finally died and i wanted to still use my Royobi attachments. This tool accepts all of them. I am convinced that the new battery systems are relible. It took less than 40 minutes to charge the new battery. The new trimmer is lighter and easier to handle. Since it was too hot to work today, I spent 20 minutes clearing some heavy brush and blackberry bushes only using the standard head. OMG! What a beast. Quiet, powerful and amazingly easy to handle. I wiped out two rough sections in minutes and still have half charge. Ill be going back with the heavy blade and cultivator later. All my older attachments fit and work well. I have the original string trimmer, hedger, brush blade and cultivator. The best way to use the cultivator is to work backwards rather than pushing forward. This new power head can do the job. The other positives for me is not needing ear protection and not annoying neighbors.

Did the job cut front yard and back yard and more. Very quiet weedeater. Cut through tall weeds with ease using the blade attachment. Also came with .80 line. Did whole yard off of one full charge battery. My only complaint kind of heavy with 40v battery on it. Beside that i like my purchase.

Not gas-like power. I am coming out of a 20-year old Craftsman gas string trimmer with an edger attachment. I was never able to stall the gas trimmer while edging. This thing stalls more often than I'd like it to. I used it to edge (with the edger attachment) around flowerbeds prior to putting mulch down. Every 20 ft or so the edger will be clogged with tightly packed dirt and the motor can't turn. Never had that issue with the 26cc gas unit. The Ryobi cordless trimmer is smoother than the gas counterpart thanks to the electric motor, but not lighter. The powerhead weighs as much as a gas unit with the battery installed. We have a 100ft burning bush hedge that gets tiring to trim with a gas timer (with a hedge trimming attachment) holding above my head. It doesn't look like this is going to be any easier. Furthermore, it isn't very quiet either. While not as loud as a gas unit, with he trim dead attached it is much louder than the Ryobi 40V mower. Unlike the gas units, you don't have to mix gas and oil and deal with the starting issues, clogged carburetors, spark plugs, engine heat, and exhaust fumes. I bought this with a 40V mower and they can share batteries. The battery that cam with it is not adequate to do the trimming, edging and the blowing required for my yard. The 6Ah replacement batteries at Home Depot are slightly smaller and about the same weight as the 4Ah battery that came with this unit. I opted to get an additional 6Ah battery because they weigh the same and can be used in the mower also. But it costs about 80% of the price of this trimmer package. For a small yard this will work fine with the included battery, but you'd probably have to buy extra batteries. Factor at least extra 60% into the price to account for the spare battery. At that point it is hard to match the cost of a gas trimmer unless you have other yard equipment that can share the batteries.

Overall the Ryobi string trimmer is solidly built and lightweight with lots of power. Brushless motors give you more power and should last longer. 4 AH battery gives a lot of run time. 40volt gives gas like power. A good choice if your planning to buy other attachments. I like the look of the carbon fiber shaft and I imagine that's part of why it's so light. I like how the head part can be detached for other attachments, theoretically saving money from having to buy the motor assembly for every tool. I'm a little nervous on how the connecter at the end of the shaft will hold up over time. It does look to be designed better than the detachable Ryobi trimmer I had about 15 years ago. see picture for details of how the other shafts attach. The grip on the head is a little awkward and the trigger is a little hard to press and lacks a lock button for long jobs. Could get tiring if using more than 15 minutes. The string trimmer itself is very nice with a big 15 inch width. the string sits a bit high up so getting down close to the ground might be a bit tricky. The handle to load the string is a nice and tough. It is very easy to load and the string doesn't get stuck. Comes with a 2nd head for the plastic blades used for cutting thicker tall grass or thin twigs. Makes it convenient to swap the heads quickly

Powerful, versatile, lightweight, brushless electric string trimmer kit with battery and charger. This unit, with max 15" swath, truly competes with my gas Echo for speed and power -- and with a lot less required maintenance. With the 4.0 ah battery attached, it balances nicely, and after 15 min. of trimming down last year's lily turf plants and hostas around our deck, it was still showing more than half charged. It includes the Reel Easy reel with bump-head feeder and winder that allows for easy reloading of the spool (along with fixed string and bladed options) and the carbon shaft accommodates other attachments, including edging accessories and pole saws. The controls aren't ultra refined (the combined safety and trigger, in particular, feel a bit flimsy, and I'm concerned at their longevity), but overall, it's a great unit with a surplus of power, the battery charges quickly, and the five-year warranty offers peace of mind. If you're interested in transitioning to battery-operated yard tools, this is a great place to start. Highly recommended.

We got this trimmer mostly for our farm property and around the house. We do not want the upkeep of a motorized trimmer for small jobs. It was easy to put together the few pieces and was ready to trim grass. The grip/handle is comfortable. The 40 volt battery seems to have adequate power and lasted for quite a while. If I had more to mow/trim, I would get a second battery. It is fairly light-weight and easy to handle. The string was easy to add and replace. I was not overly impressed with the other heavy weed attachment. There were no instructions on how to put it together, but it easily replaced the string head. I believe it is a good trimmer for up to a moderate size yard, additional battery would be better. Good value trimmer

This package includes the Power Head and the Straight Shaft Trimmer. The Power Head has the handles, place for battery attachment, and 2 position speed selector. The trigger has a safety that you pull back first, before pressing the trigger. The 40V battery (included) seems like it would be heavy, but the 2 hand positions make it very well balanced, and not too heavy. The trimmer seems very well built. The shaft is carbon fiber, with solid metal fittings holding the trimmer head on. It comes with 2 different heads. One head is a standard bump feed head (string trimmer). It comes with 0.08 inch line installed and an extra replacement line and a speed winder for replacing the line. The cutting with can be adjusted between 13” and 15”. The other head is a fixed-line bladed head that holds 2 plastic blades for cutting thick/heavy grass. It also comes with a rapid charger. I was surprised how fast it was - from zero to full charge in less than 10 min. The trimmer is plenty powerful and comfortable to use for a big yard. Plus, the bladed head is nice if you have some heavier, overgrown areas to deal with. The trimmer shaft can detach from the Power Head and you can attach other Ryobi Expand-It tools such as an edger, blower, snow blower, or tiller. Overall, it’s a well-built and versatile tool for a homeowner who does all his/her own yard work.

I'm not a tall person by any means, I've never used a string trimmer before...it's normally my husband's task/job. When I told him that we were going to be getting this Cordless Ryobi trimmer, he was very pleased. His current trimmer is a pain in the rear to change out the string and it uses regular gas. In other words, it isn't ideal for him. However, right before delivery, my husband had major surgery and cannot lift anything more than 10lbs for the next six weeks...which brings me to the weight of this trimmer...it's twelve pounds with the battery. The battery itself is without a doubt the biggest rechargeable battery I've ever seen! I managed to get the trimmer all snapped together for him to give it a 'once over' as best as he could. We charged up the battery and gave it a few 'vrooms' to test out the power on the trimmer. I tried to give it a few zips in the grass, but the weight combined with the length for me, was a no go. He however says it sounds powerful, it also looks and feels like a high quality trimmer for his upcoming future dates with our landscaping needs.

Amazing! A huge step up from my corded, electric string trimmer. It is very easy to put together, although the instructions referred to illustrations, I never saw any. No matter, it's a string trimmer, pretty much only one way to fit together. The first thing I did was charge the battery, it took forty mins to fully charge from one light to four. There are examples on the side of the charger that explain what the light colors/flashing means, basically, steady green = fully charged. I have a mid-sized yard, 5,000 square feet of grass and a good neighbor fence in the back. Once assembled, I took it out for a quick spin. I was able to trim my entire backyard in minutes. I found it best to use it on a fairly low trigger speed, all out and this will eat through any normal residential trim duty, including, dirt, wood, etc. It didn't bother me to lay out my 100 ft extension cord and use my electric trimmer, but this has ended all that. I tried this as it was highly recommended by others in my family. It didn't disappoint. Nicely balanced and easy to use and no gas to deal with or cord, simply use, charge and hang it up. This is part of the Expand-It system which offers all kinds of attachments, which I will add as required, but for now it's my trimmer of choice.

I am a traditionalist by nature so have not tried the battery operated weed eaters until now, I recently took a chance on the Ryobi 40 Volt Carbon fiber weed eater with attachment capabilities..Wow, I really like this weed eater, it has the power I need, its light weight and well built. It was easy to assemble. It comes with everything, the weed eater, battery, charger, line, wind tool and extra line....I am now a Ryobi fan and anxious to try other Ryobi products...another plus is the weight, much lighter than my gas weed eater...something the wife or a kid can use..