Tested some Stihl battery powered products today

[Guido Salvage]

Our Stihl rep stopped by today and brought some of the new battery powered tools that will debut next spring. He had 2 hedge trimmers, a string trimmer, a chainsaw and a blower. The 36 volt battery will be good for 1000 full charges and will charge in about 30 minutes. He claimed the saw would make over 100 cuts through a 4"x4" piece of wood. I was most impressed with the blower, it moved material with ease and will last 22 minutes on a charge. I respected his wishes and did not take pictures as these were prototypes and some were not compliant for the U.S. Market.

 

[Philbert]

Some reps up this way suggested that there might be a new, lower priced / homeowner line of battery tools to compliment the current line. Might the ones you saw fit into that description?

Philbert

 

[KYsawman]

I think that the battery top handle will be the future of bucket truck saws much easier than restarting and safer than leaving it running between cuts.

 

[Guido Salvage]

Some reps up this way suggested that there might be a new, lower priced / homeowner line of battery tools to compliment the current line. Might the ones you saw fit into that description?

Philbert

It appears so, one of the hedge trimmers had an integral battery that you plugged a jack into. It requires 2 hands to use, you need to grip the front handle as well as squeeze the trigger to operate it.

The saw, blower, string trimmer and large hedge trimmer had a removable battery. The blower would be ideal for indoor clean up.

 

[TJ the Chainsaw Mechanic]

Hope they are as good as they make them out to be in Icademy. lol

 

[Guido Salvage]

I think that the battery top handle will be the future of bucket truck saws much easier than restarting and safer than leaving it running between cuts.

The saw only had a 10" bar on it and was lightweight and had a chain brake. It will be rated for cuts rather than run time. When I mentioned the batteries would be good for 1000 full charges that would translate into 2000 1/2 charges or 4000 1/4 charges.

 

[Philbert]

It appears so, one of the hedge trimmers had an integral battery that you plugged a jack into. . . .The saw, blower, string trimmer and large hedge trimmer had a removable battery. The blower would be ideal for indoor clean up.

Built-in batteries make me nervous - sounds like planed obsolescence.
I have the Oregon 40V OPE family. The blower is light and convenient, but it really sucks down the charge. The hedge trimmer sips the least juice for some reason.

Philbert

 

[big t double]

Built-in batteries make me nervous - sounds like planed obsolescence.

That was my beef. I told my rep...if we actually decide to stock/sell these integrated battery units (not made by Stihl FYI) I refuse to actually pay a mechanic to work on them. If they fail during the warranty period Stihl better be ready to just give the customer another one...no questions asked. I won't waste any time on these things.

 

[GCJenks204]

When I was at my dealer picking up the my new blower he had just seen the been battery stuff. He's very excited about it for next spring. Hopes it will allow them to capture a lot of the suburban market they aren't getting now. I know several women that will only use battery tools... Anyway these sound interesting. Apparently along with the hedge trimmer will be a single handed pruner that will cut up to about 1".

 

[Guido Salvage]

I had an older couple come in yesterday looking for a battery powered hedge trimmer and had nothing to sell them. I think batteries will replace much of our lower end gas powered equipment.

 

[Philbert]

Apparently, battery powered OPE is much more popular in Europe. Not sure if it is due to noise, emissions, lot sizes, convenience, regulations, . . .

Stuff seems to get introduced there first. Some companies, such as Bosch, have stuff there that they don't sell here.

Interesting to see where it goes.

Philbert

 

[Frank bierce]

Very curious to see if this type of stuff will do well on the market. I can definitely see it picking up a niche in certain areas.

 

[Brush Ape]

Tested some Stihl battery powered products today

What like a dildo...?

 

[jake wells]

if i was a 1/3 acre home owner it would sound good to me but running a small lawn cutting outfit it just wouldn't work because of the massive amount of batteries i would have to haul around.

 

[Kevin White]

Yea obviously those tools are meant for a different market, but still, a market... Lots of homeowners only use that equipment once or twice a year, and they suck at maintenance and fresh fuel. Weve all seen it. I have about 30 string trimmers with probably less than 10 hours on the motors and people just trash em.

 

[Khntr85]

I must add here that I work at a college university, and when I worked in the basketball arena area (just moved up a position 3-weeks ago), I kept telling my boss to check out the stihl blowers that run on batteries, so obviously we can use them inside.... after games/events we will blow the popcorn and other small trash to the floor and easily sweep it up....

Well sure enough he calls me in one day, there sets 2-blowers with 4- batteries and 2-chargers.....he said "hope your happy", lol... they last I would say roughly 20-30 minutes on "full-throttle", and actually have a great amount of power for what they are.... we have had them for atleast 2-years with a lot of use on them....... a small home owner would be money ahead NO DOUBT to get one of these, can't straight glass it LOL....

I should add that we had 1-battery go dead, but I would bet 1-paycheck that some idiot at work dropped the battery.... just a guess!!!!

Ps-these blowers saved ALOT of time after games/events!!!!

 

[DND 9000]

The accu system compact in Germany consists of the MSA 120 C-BQ, FSA 56, HSA 56 and BGA 56 and the accus AK 10 and AK 20.

Here you can have a closer look on the german website:

http://www.stihl.de/STIHL-Produkte/STIHL-AkkuSysteme/073685/AkkuSystem-COMPACT.aspx

 

[CR888]

As much as I appreciate new technologies in battery O-P-E and the new advantages they have, I kinda fear the day I can't buy a unit that makes over 90db of noise, needs carb rebuilds/tuning, drips oil/fuel, needs regular maintenance, occaisionally won't start, produces eemissions/smoke and all the other things we enjoy about out 2T tools. But one cannot deny these battery electric tools have a very bright future.

 

[Cobby08]

I did ask about the integrated battery line. They did said as of right now it is non serviceable and an over the counter swap. Personally I think the AK line will be a bigger hit then the integrated purely due to the fact of serviceability and ease of use; charging a battery is simpler then carrying in a whole unit inside (some don't have garages but just sheds) to charge them. You can get extra batteries for the AK line to continue use after the battery is flat. I was rather impressed with the MSA 120 to be completely honest. Does it have great power? No. Does it have decent power? Yes (as long as you don't treat it like a bigger gas saw) Does it have enough power for simple cleanup tasks (treestand galore)? Absolutely. It will have its purpose.

 

[Philbert]

Good point on the swappable batteries. I do that all the time. Same reason why iris good if they are all the same brand OPE, so that you can share batteries.

Philbert