Okay, let’s talk about weeds.

Here’s the thing about living in the city… you get weeds. Like two or three stray plants that pop up in the garden, maybe a lone dandelion in the middle of the yard, and weeding takes– on average– 5 minutes, twice a year. So to say I was unprepared for the veritable jungle of plants that will take root and fight viciously for their piece of ground out here in the country is, well, a slight understatement.

Not that it wouldn’t be possible to manage a garden, but (maybe I’ve mentioned this before) hello, I’m building a house over here. This is the first weekend all year I’ve had to devote to the yard. And in a stroke of brilliant timing, Black & Decker asked if I’d review their 24v Cordless String Trimmer/Edger, and asked me to see:

how it measures up in the toughest conditions you face in your lawn

The weeds around here are as tall as trees, and I thought, Black & Decker, you have no idea what you just got yourselves into. I was thinking the proper piece of equipment to use would be like, you know, a bulldozer? I wasn’t sure that a “string trimmer” was up to the job.

Let’s take a look at how it went…

Garage (er, house)

Whatever it is, this is where we live.

As you can see, the grass up by the house hadn’t been trimmed in, well, ever. I thought this was an easy way to break in my trimmer. Also, I’ve actually never used a string trimmer before, yard work isn’t exactly my area of expertise, so this was a good way to break me in too.

That was pretty easy. It took all of 5 minutes, including the time I spent fiddling with the controls and adjusting the handle.

Let’s step it up a notch, shall we?

Pasture

The 70 feet of fence I put up last year was looking slightly overgrown, and the donkeys were doing nothing to keep it down. We’re not talking about “a little overgrown grass” here. There’s a lot of clover, some large plants with a lot of prickers, some even larger plants with slightly fewer prickers, and dandelions that are the size of my torso.

This was the largest weed I chopped down by the pasture…

Two feet tall, an inch-thick stem, and full of thorns.

This was where I figured the Black & Decker had met it’s match, but I turned on the “boost” mode, and as you can see, it went right through it.

Here’s a before and after in some of the “tamer” areas of the fence.

Not bad at all…

The donkeys gave it two ears forward and two ears back. I think they were saving that clover for later…

I was surprised that tackling 70 feet of fence took less than ten minutes, and I was starting to have a lot of fun so I scouted for the next place I would attack.

Garden Jungle

Um, yeah. I’m a little behind on my weeding. But I flipped the trimmer to boost mode and went to town.

Leaving a path of weed-destruction in my wake.

The Black & Decker Cordless String Trimmer/Edger held up to every job I attempted, short of the time I held it up over my head to see if it could lift me up like a helicopter. Eh, every tool has it’s limits.

Review

So I cleared a fairly extensive area with this baby in a relatively short amount of time. I was weed whacking for 30-45 minutes total.

1. The weight was good. I want to have a little weight to my tools because it makes them easier to control and because I want to feel like it has some power behind it. This trimmer was lighter than I expected, but still felt good in my hands. And my arms didn’t get the slightest bit tired when using it.
2. The power was clearly adequate. I used this on the biggest weeds I could find and it got right through them. Note: On two occasions after chopping through a particularly large weed the trimmer would stop and I’d think I’d maxed it out, or killed the battery. After clicking the trigger a couple of times it would start right back up – I’m still not sure if I was just losing my grip on the trigger or if I really did max it out.
3. The string held up. I wasn’t sure about this whole “string” thing. I wanted something with a blade. And teeth. But I guess they know what they’re doing, as the string did it’s job just fine and held up to the beating I gave it running it right next to the metal fencing.

In short, I can’t find anything to complain about. Except, Black & Decker, I have a suggestion… maybe you could call it the “Weed Terminator” or “Jungle Destroyer” or something with a little more umph than “string trimmer”. You know, “Amazing Tool Of Landscaping Destruction” has a nice ring to it.

Here are some features I particularly liked:

My hand could reach the trigger and the safety switches at the same time. The only other tool I own that’s accomplished this is my drill. It’s the first thing  I look at in any tool.

I also could flip to boost mode with my finger still on the trigger. Another plus.

Also, it comes with the allen wrench needed to adjust the secondary handle. It’s a small thing, but do you know how effing irritating it is to have to go dig out the correct tool when you want to adjust something? Drives me nuts. So this feature got a smile out of me.

All in all, it was a great product. I’d definitely buy one, or recommend it to anyone as a good value for the money.

Win Your Own

So here’s the deal… It’s Monday. I can’t do anything about that happy fact, but I can help you get excited for the weekend. Black & Decker gave me a second string trimmer to give away.

Not this one, a clean one.

Here’s what you have to do to enter:

1. Leave a comment. I’m not too picky about what you say, as long as you don’t bad-mouth my John Deere hat, but I’m interested it what your favorite and least favorite yard jobs are, if you want to share.
2. Tweet this. (make sure you @kitliz so I know you tweeted)
3. Facebook it. (make sure you’re my friend so I know you posted)

You can do all three, and enter 3 times.

Contest closes Monday, July 5th. Winner announced Tuesday, July 6th.

The winner will be randomly picked through random.org. Must ship to a U.S. based address (not that I don’t love you, Canadians) .

Legal Disclaimer: Black & Decker provided the product I reviewed, and the product I’m giving away. Which didn’t stop me from beating the hell out of the tool or telling you what I really think about it.

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