Ryobi 18V ONE+ Cordless 25cm Grass Trimmer

Verdict

Ryobi’s colour scheme is always distinctive, and so is its ONE+ battery system, with a stem sticking up from the main body of the power pack that helps guide it into place. This is a grass cutter that’s easy to assemble and use, and won’t take up much space in your shed, but it’s more suitable for lighter garden trimming duties than getting through tough weeds.

Introduction

This is the grass trimmer that comes in a double pack with the Ryobi 18V ONE+ Cordless 33cm Lawnmower, and which is also available separately.

It’s a basic trimmer that’s very light and easy to use, but lacks features such as a movable guide handle. There’s enough endurance here from a full charge to edge a lawn and drive back encroaching light weeds, but not enough to fight your way through thick stands of nettles.

Design and features

• Easy to build
• Common battery system
• Handle not adjustable

The beauty of garden tools that use a common battery is that, if you’ve already got a compatible battery from a mower or other implement, you can pick up a second tool more cheaply as you can buy it without the battery and charger. 

Ryobi’s distinctive battery clips nicely into the handle of the grass strimmer, and the tubular metal shaft – which comes in parts for transit – clicks together in a way that’s simple enough to build, but difficult to take apart again.

The shield around the cutting head attaches with one screw, and the spool of the cutting line is already installed, so you can get up and running quickly enough.

Controls are few, with a trigger and top button pressed together activating the cutting motor, and a third on the side to rotate the unit through 180° for easier lawn edging.

The top handle isn’t adjustable, as it is in some similar models, and is simply a moulded plastic extrusion from the top of the control section. It’s positioned well enough to make it easier to sweep the cutting head across weeds and long grass, but I’d have liked to have had the ability to change the height.

Performance

• Decent endurance
• Cuts light weeds well
• Not enough for bigger jobs

The bundled 4Ah battery takes an hour to charge. In our review of the Ryobi rechargeable mower I complained about the short running time I received from a full charge, but in the grass trimmer the battery seems much more at home, allowing me to complete the edges of a whole suburban lawn and a bit of light weed trimming without running out of charge.

It’s easily good for 20 minutes of uninterrupted trimming, and there’s a nice LED indicator on the battery to tell you how much juice is left. If you have other ONE+ products, you can always use their batteries to extend runtime.

The 1.6mm cutting line emerges from only one side of the hub, reducing the cutting power but making it easier to replace the spool. At the speed the hub spins, I’m not sure hitting the weeds with one line is much different to hitting it with two, and it doesn’t seem to slow the trimmer down when it’s cutting grass or light weeds.

Try it on tougher stems, such as thick stinging nettles, and it turns from a cutting action to more of a flailing, felling the plants eventually but without a clean cut. This is a model better kept for lawn edging and tidying.

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