FLEXVOLT 60V MAX* String Trimmer, Brushless, Two Speed, 15-Inch, 3-Ah Battery (DCST970X1)

This weed wacker is very strong, the next step would be a brushwacker with a blade. The good: -- enough power to cut down weeds up to waist high if the weeds are not too woody. -- has variable control so that light weeds can be trimmed easily and effectively. This trimmer can trim from light flimsy weeds all the way to dense almost brush weeds. Cons: -- the DeWalt string head is useless and jams way too often. After one use I replaced the DeWalt string head with Husqvarna T35 537388101 (indeed, I bought 3 of them eventually to have prewound spools when the line runs out in the middle of wacking). The T35 Husqvarna just goes and goes and goes without problems. -- the weight is a little high for some folks, there is no shoulder strap. I am happy with the DeWalt trimmer line and have only used the DeWalt line except for the initial Husqvarna line. The DeWalt trimmer line does not jam in the T35 even when randomly hand wound. This is important, carefully winding line is such a waste of time and some trimmers seem to only work well with well wound line. I get about 45 minutes from a 9AH FlexVolt battery with perhaps 50-80% of the time actually wacking heavy weeds, averaging knee high. After two of these batteries are depleted, the unit weight is fatiguing, the wacker plus 9AH battery is fairly heavy albeit well balanced. I tried the suggested alternate DeWalt guard to reduce getting covered with bits of weeds, and I was disappointed-- this alternate guard might be OK for a suburban yard with sidewalks, but the guard just gets in the way with heavy weeds-- and if you only have light weeds, well, you don't need this weed wacker. Switched back to the original shield and wear long sleeves, chainsaw chaps, and mask due to poison ivy. With the original guard one is guaranteed to be covered in bits of weeds, from head to toe particularly the lower legs. Regardless, the original DeWalt guard works very well in heavy vegetation. Use: 12 acre pocket farm, this trimmer plus a Stihl gas brushwacker, the latter for the heavy woody bushes. If those are not sufficient, there is the DeWalt battery chainsaw followed by a Stihl gas chainsaw.

I have several hour's worth of mowing where my lawn mower and walk-behind trimmer cannot easily (safely) go. Mostly due to steepness of slope and uneven ground. About two years ago, I got the flex-volt chainsaw and was impressed with its power and battery life. The thought of a second battery was tempting, but the price was daunting, so I waited until the need for a new trimmer was imperative. The trimmer with battery and charger is not that much higher than the battery alone. So far that looks like a good move. (After at least 20 chainsaw battery discharge / recharge cycles with no obvious battery degradation, I have some confidence in the investment. Admittedly, the reports of battery problems and the local absence of customer support are somewhat troubling. My own experience with De Walt tool repair has been that a new power tool can be bought for less than the cost of even the most minor of repairs. To say nothing of the time required. In fairness, these tools far out-lived their three year warranty under fairly heavy use. Because of the many reports of bump-feed reloading issues and the absence of an effective debris shield I ordered the package deal for a real shield, better hub, and string. I plan to swap out the hub when it is empty. (I'll see if it can be reloaded in a shop setting as a useful backup. If not then, "good bye.") The hub and string arrived shortly after the trimmer. The shield is supposed to arrive soon. So. I had a few hours of heavy trimming to do. More overgrown than I like to see. It did great! The bump-feed worked flawlessly; the string was reasonably durable; plenty of power on the "low" setting. The battery lasted for the whole job. And yes, I looked like I'd been spitting into the wind of a mower discharge. The only justification for this I can think of is to wonder about the balance issue of a real shield, which may become heavy when loaded with a buildup of wet debris. (I'll be reporting on this when I review the large shield.) So far, so good. Update: Almost one year later. I finally used up the trimmer string that came with the unit. Turns out that the replacement string I bought was not that difficult to install and at least initially bump-feeds out just fine. The instructions and illustrations could be better. I could never find an arrow on the thing, but there was a short projection that allowed for correct alignment when feeding in the new string. I'm attempting to attach some pictures of an air filter I built to protect the motor from overheating after the air inlets almost instantly become clogged. These are not that easy to clean after every half hour of use. One of the pictures shows the air inlets, after maybe twenty hours of heavy-duty mowing, when I removed the filter for the first time. Perfectly clear! Warning: If you try this, do not tape over the exhaust port, which is right in the natural base of this attachment. Quite probably a white sock and a rubber band would do the same. I finally got some pictures to attach. A simple fix for a heavy, wet mowing issue. I was lucky not to burn up this motor before seeing what was going on.

Just used the DeWalt 60v weedeater to do my whole yard and also in back of my house along the creek and then did my sister-in-law's yard on ONE CHARGE! And still had plenty of power after an 1:30 of weed eating! This thing is awesome! DeWalt's "Power Without Gas" tools are going to make the world switch to electric power. After reading the other reviews, I can't understand why they want to run it wide-open for 30 min flat. There is absolutely no reason to run this thing wide-open all the time. This thing has plenty of cutting power just running it about 1/2 power and save the battery. It will easily cut 3 foot tall grass along a creek bed at 1/2 power, much less wide open to cut a little grass along a sidewalk. What is wonderful is NO STINKING SMOKE, NO HEAT, NO ENGINE NOISE, NO GAS, NO OIL and NO pulling on that #$% gas-powered weed eater a dozen times when it won't start. The ONLY slight negative, the charger that comes with this is pretty weak. I would recommend investing in DeWalt's flexvolt fast charger. DeWalt's fan-cooled flexvolt "fast charger" is fantastic. It will charge batteries in 1/2 hour. You can use the charger that comes with this to charge your other DeWalt batteries...or use as a back-up. I LOVE all of DeWalt's brushless tools. Look for their Made-in-USA tools.

Let me first get the cons out because it is the reason for the one star (half star if I could) ding. The head design and the string. My first run with this device was only a little disappointing because this thing is so powerful it shears the string clean off, meaning I needed to stop, pull string, pop back in twist and go. I was fairly confident I would need more string and figured I'd try another brand and buy some with my purchase just in case (Best decision!) because I didn't finish my yard without running completely out of string on 3 acres. So I can say I'm not a huge fan of the string, but the other brand i bought appears to be heavier but stronger and less likely to shear requiring less bumps and more work getting done. Now for the head design I came from an Echo where I cut off 25' foot of string stick each end in the head and twist until I can cut the remaining loop in half which then creates my pair of strings. This head requires that you remove the head, spool half for one side, then spool half for the other side but one the slots to get started don't hold the string in place so as you start to spool it starts to pull back out (grrrr) but once you get just the right amount of tension you get it going and there are slits to hold the string in place until you get it back in the head (ahh not soo bad). I would buy a new head if they designed a better solution! The best part of this unit is the fact that it feels weighted (not cheap), swings balanced, and has more power than my old gas on LO! The over all function of this unit is 4.5 stars if i could. This is worth every penny especially if you plan on using any other Dewalt products as this came with the Flexvolt 20v9ah/60v3ah battery. ****************************************************************************************** Update 7/19/19: This thing is still the most amazing product I have ever used. I still don't like the head, for ease of use compared to my old Echo, on this unit but the good thing is that with (CY080D1-12) string I may only restring 1 time this season at the current rate. That's with trimming both sides of 170ft run of chain link. The other thing I'm really enjoying, here in GA, is I can mostly thrash through all this Kudzu but if it does bind up and stop the head, I don't have to try and pull start, I just hop back on the trigger and go. Battery power torque FTW! Just a tip for any of you guys/gals just starting to think Dewalt 20/40/60/120V is the way to go, it is! Plan wisely, you can get a lot of tools with and without batteries. Do your math and get the tools at the best price with the biggest batteries and skip the small batteries that won't do you as much good in the bigger tools. ;) Big batteries in small tools might be heavier but not by that much and will run way longer!

I was looking for a replacement for a 2-stroke gas trimmer that I had. I don't have a huge yard now, and I was thinking I could just get one of the cheaper Black and Decker plug-in or battery powered trimmers, but since I like to do things overkill, and because I'm partial to DeWalt, I figured I'd give this a shot. POWER It probably has more power than my old gas trimmer. The benefit of the electric motor is that you get basically instant throttle (potentiometer?) response and immense torque even at low speeds. It has 2 settings, low and high. For my average yard, I kept it in low, and even then, half throttle did basically everything. Only for cutting through tough stuff (small saplings etc) did I have to squeeze it to full power. I tried it on high mode a few times just for fun, but I didn't come across anything that necessitated the high setting. EASE OF USE Just charge the battery and go. No starting, no gas. I put about 2 hours of use on it the first time, and the battery dipped down to 2/3 bars on the pack. I didn't find it to be too heavy, comparable to a gas trimmer. My one minor quibble would be that the shield is a bit tiny, so yeah, you probably get more junk on you compared to others, but you shouldn't be wearing your Sunday best anyways doing yard work. In addition, the battery pack is compatible with a range of DeWalt stuff, so I might end up replacing a few corded tools as well. SUMMARY Definitely a capable tool. Beats any gas trimer I've had. Makes quick work of basically everything. Pros could definitely use this, although you'd probably have to buy and extra battery or two for all-day use.

Ok I'm impressed. Just used this weed whacker for the first time and wile i didn't do the hole yard the part i did left me pretty impressed. A little back story i have 3 acres with averaged sized house. I acutely bought this for my girl friend because me stihl 110 is just i bit to hard to start for my girlfriend for her. My first and only use so far did around the house, shop, bee hives, and front fence. It has more power then i expected even taring through part of my wire fence. Feels quite sturdy and all around well made. Finished with about 1/2 charge still in the battery. I don"t think i put a blade on this and start going after a lot of thick brush but plenty of power for grass even few tree sproughts. It uses a standard 20V charger just like the rest of my dewalt drills i use. That a big pulse for me. Other than that it did Its job quite well. Cons. Its not light. I mean Its NOT heavy either but their again i bought this for my girl friend and she made the comment its heavier then she expected. The front gard could be a little bigger (safety glasses are a must but that should go with out saying) but that would add to the front weight and its already starting to get a bit nose heavy. I noticed it has i split shaft in the picture i though this could be for other attachments like my stihil. I don't think this is case. Their is a wire running between front and back with no way i see to separate the 2. Think the split shaft is just for shipping reasons. Conciliation I think ill be using my self more than i thought an all around good machine (so far). Ill up date this review if something changes my mind about any of this. I would recommend this to any one with a yard smaller then mine . Big yards / property i would still go gas. PS i was not given any thing to write this review.

Got this as a replacement for a gas trimmer. In this capacity, it has served well. Pros: -You slap a battery in it and it goes. -No vibrations. -Quiet. You can talk over it to someone standing 20 feet away, easily. -The battery it comes with is a good, solid battery. Working it very hard, I can run it for about 30 minutes before it's flat. Cons: - You're going to want more than one battery, and DeWalt FlexVolt batteries are absurdly expensive. - It is somewhat heavy and it doesn't come with a sling. - The spray shield is inadequate. If you hit poison ivy, you're gonna be wearing it everywhere. - It is hard to clean, being as you can't just blast it with a pressure washer like a normal string trimmer. - The factory spool is alright for light work, but if you hit anything more substantial than crabgrass you're going to break the string, and unspooling more string from the automatic feed is a fraught affair. After lunching all the factory string, we tried the highest rated heavy duty commercial string we could find, and that was still inadequate. Having tried everything else, our solution was to dump the factory trimmer head and get a "Pivotrim Rino Tuff Universal Hybrid String and Bladed Trimmer Head Replacement". This bolted on in place of the factory spool and since installing it I have not broken a string all summer. I do not run the plastic blades that came with the Pivotrim, not wanting to add a whole bunch more unnecessary load to the trimmer's electric motor. Conclusion: The real reason to get this machine is if you're no longer able or inclined to do the sort of sweaty, tedious labor required to maintain, start and operate a 2 stroke engine, and are willing to pay a premium to avoid it. If that's you, this is your machine. The battery clicks in, you squeeze the trigger and hums happily away until the battery is flat. Invest in the aforementioned pivotrim head if your work includes edging or any foliage more serious than crabgrass.

Let’s be clear: this is the best string trimmer I have ever used: No mixing oil... I don’t understand why 2 strokes trimmers are still a thing. It’s costly, wasteful, and requires separate fuel supplies to be kept. Even better than a 4 stroke, the Dewalt flexvolt string trimmer requires neither oil nor gas. There’s no idling engine, the Dewalt flexvolt trimmer only makes noise when you’re using it and it makes less running noise than gas models. It is extremely power and doesn’t get bogged down. No pull start. Once the Mbte starts to get to small engines and they require several pulls to start, it’s a miserable thing. No hokey drill starters either, just pull the trigger on the Dewalt and it spins. No compromises. The dewalt flexvolt string trimmer lasts a long time on a charge. It’s light, well balanced, powerful, and competitively priced against 4 stroke models and other cordless models. There is a little to be desired. A larger deflector is needed. You will get completely covered head to toe in debris using it. Also it’s motor in head design makes future attachments impossible, although string trimmer attachments are almost always obsurdly overpriced and wonky. So why one star? The battery dies. I’m told they’re dropping like flies. When mine went, it claimed a full charge in all my dewalt chargers but it was discharged. No big deal right? There’s a generous 3 year warranty. Dewalt, however, hates their customers and would like to discourage you from claiming a warranty. They will make you jump through absurd hoops... they really are obnoxious. I called dewalt about the battery and they said that it had to be replaced at a service center; that it can’t be cross shipped. Annoying, but probably quicker. Next annoyance: the closest service center is 45 miles from me. Sounds like a Saturday trip... The service centers are closed on Saturday. Also they’re closed on Sunday... also they close at 5pm during the week. They do this because they hate their customers, the overwhelming majority of whom work for a living. So I used some sick time and left work early to make it to the service center. The employee was nice and knowledgeable. She quickly diagnosed my battery as completely dead. Again the $209 3/9amp 20/60v battery was completely dead... after 11 months, only 3 of which it was used... even then biweekly for about an hour at a time... always charged to full and then removed and stored in a cool dry room. Clarifying: there was 6 cycles on this battery last summer and maybe 2 this summer. 8 cycles, never left discharged, never run down to empty, never abused. Fine: it’s a defective battery. There’s a slight inconvenience swapping it out. There is, again, a three year warranty. There’s more: the dewalt service centers do not have this battery because of excessive problems with it. So one would have to be shipped out... so there was absolutely no point going to the service center. So after dewalt sends me through these hoops they will ship me out a battery in what? 2 days? 3 days? 5 days? No. 8 weeks. That’s no joke. They took my battery and I can expect a replacement, which may last another 8 cycles, in 2 months... it’s the end of July... so I can trim my weeds again in October? No offer to buy back their defective product, no offer to swap it with 2 6 amp batteries or their new 12 amp. 8 weeks. 8 summer weeks with no string trimmer. That’s acceptable for dewalt. They’re proud of their customer service and I’m important to them. Perhaps I should buy a second failure of a battery for $209, in stock oddly at my local hardware stores but dewalt can’t get their hands on one for 8 weeks. 8 weeks.

I purchased both the Dewalt lawnmower as well as this string trimmer. The mower has decent performance except for pretty bad battery life: I cannot even do my entire (small) lawn with it. In contrast, this string trimmer is really excellent. I am very very pleased with it.

Used couple times to cut grass in yard, nice and powerful. No more gas!

impressive. this thing has power... a lot of it. I gladly got rid of my gas powered string trimmer. It is heavy but well balanced. Battery life is actually pretty good, should last for someone up to 20K square feet lot without problem.

First of all, this thing is powerful. I can take it and bury the head in weeds, and it clears them out no problem whatsoever. I spend most of my time in low setting simply because the high setting be overkill, resulting in more thrown debris. That brings me to my second topic: the guard. The guard around the action end is completely insufficient for normal use. You MUST wear safety glasses with this guy, and pay close attention to what is on the left side of the head because that's the side that is spinning TOWARD you, and that stuff gets constantly thrown into your left foot and shin. Like, literally, the stuff to the left comes directly straight back at the same angle as the shaft and completely misses the vestigial guard - who thought that was a good idea? My last point is about weight. Now, this isn't too heavy to pick up and do spot clearing here and there, but the weight of this guy is definitely noticeable. It's not something you'd want to use for half an hour straight without switching it up. I got it on Amazon.ca in April 2017 for 248.00 CDN.

I’m writing this edited review as I’ve now had the pleasure of using this trimmer over the last year. We have approximately an acre lot that we keep we’ll groomed, we have a pretty deep and steep ditch where I need to use the trimmer on as it’s too steep for a mower. As I mentioned in my initial review, I can confirm that this tool is well built, well balanced and easy to use. The battery life has actually surprised me in a positive way as I’ve never ran out of power. I do recharge it after every use. To my pleasant surprise this tool came with a 9AH battery and not the 3AH as advertised. I’ve used this battery on a few other Dewalt 20/60 volt tools I own and it works great. I strongly recommend this trimmer for all home owners, it can do much more that trim around a few trees and edges.