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makita 36v or ego 56v trimmer


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I'm thinking the same as you Joe, would love to pick up a Makita 36v blower (I have the batteries) or do I jump on the Ego bandwagon? 

Joe, I believe the EGO tools with the battery & charger are still cheaper then the Makita 36V bare tool? That could be a deciding factor? 

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I love my EGO blower, the power on it really is impressive and it's necessary. I don't think the Makita is as powerful but I've never used one, just seen a review or two. I think it depends on what you're using it for and how many batteries you already have. If you're using it off pavement and might be moving wet grass/leaves, I think you need to go with the power. If you have a large area but it's rather dry you'll want to go with runtime(Batteries).

 

For moving wet leaves/grass, you need to push the tool pretty hard. In boost mode the Ego will drain the battery in like 12 mins. For dry blowing(I hate when she does that) you can use low power and it will last significantly longer.

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1 hour ago, MikeyB said:

I'm thinking the same as you Joe, would love to pick up a Makita 36v blower (I have the batteries) or do I jump on the Ego bandwagon? 

Joe, I believe the EGO tools with the battery & charger are still cheaper then the Makita 36V bare tool? That could be a deciding factor? 

Yeah I noticed  that I might jump on the ego wagon

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48 minutes ago, joemontague said:

Bmack  how about the trimmer know anything  about that

 

About the same as the blower. The Makita is smaller if I recall correctly, sorry, I got a bit off-topic there. You might be able to find the original Ego trimmer on Craigslist for rather cheap, they were clearanced at HD for like $48(Around here they were gone when I tried to buy them at $80). From what I hear they have been slow movers from the resellers just because people don't really know the Ego name yet. Those trimmers are 12" I believe.

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If you're already in the lineup, I think that's the smart choice. As great as the Ego stuff is, the batteries aren't cheap and the runtime isn't long enough that you can count on one battery for extended use. Makita's X2 is a genius idea, I'm surprised other brands haven't followed. Dewalt did a different battery platform(40v) instead of the X2, though it seems they like adding platforms. I guess the 60V is a X2 system for the miter saw.

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On 8/10/2016 at 9:04 PM, joemontague said:
makita 36v or ego 56v trimmer

Actually it's not 36V vs. 56V.

In reality it's 36V vs. 50.4V.

Makita use the the nominal voltage (real world voltage) of 3.6V per cell, while EGO only use the so called 'max' voltage (American marketing voltage) of 4V per cell, which is never specified in battery cell datasheets unlike the nominal voltage.

To convert from Vmax to Vnominal, just multiply by 0.9.

Makita has 10x 3.6Vnominal cells in series to create 36Vnominal.

EGO has 14x 3.6Vnominal cells in series to create 50.4Vnominal.

 

The nominal voltage can be used to calculate the max energy storage in a battery: Vnominal * Ah = Wh.

The 'max' voltage on the other hand is useless for anything but fooling customers and for d**k measuring contests.

However be aware EGO use the Vmax voltage instead of Vnominal voltage to calculate a fake Wh number for all their batteries, so the EGO batteries can never store as much energy as they claim they can.

They still make great tools from all I hear, but I'm not a fan of false advertising like that. One thing is to use Vmax voltage, but it's a whole other thing to then use this Vmax voltage to claim a false energy capacity.

For example EGO claim their 56V; 7.5Ah battery has an energy capacity of 420Wh, but this is outright lying! Under no circumstances can an EGO 56V; 7.5A battery store 420Wh of energy.

The real energy capacity is not 420Wh, but only 50.4V * 7.5Ah = 378Wh.

So EGO claim their batteries can store 11.1% energy more than they actually can.

Not all tool manufactures who use the Vmax voltage to market their tools use this to state a fake energy capacity like EGO does. Most still use the nominal voltage to calculate the energy capacity even if they use Vmax in their marketing.

And Nowhere in their marketing does EGO mention that the claimed 56V is just the Vmax voltage. But everyone who opens up an EGO battery can see it only has 14x 3.6V 18650 li-ion cells in series, meaning 50.4Vnominal.

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1 hour ago, Nordraw said:

I'll put in my vote for the EGO, I have the Trimmer, hedge trimmer and the blower. They all work great with the possible exception of the string bump advance on the string trimmer. EGO is a great way to go though.   

What's the issue with the string bump advance?

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I have the original string trimmer and they have come out with a new one and they may have improved or fixed this issue. But on mine quite often the string does not advance when you want it to or need it to. I have tried to rewind it looser, tighter just about anything I can think of and it is still a problem. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I hope they addressed this on the new model. It works great other then that.

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On 10/11/2016 at 6:07 PM, Nordraw said:

I have the original string trimmer and they have come out with a new one and they may have improved or fixed this issue. But on mine quite often the string does not advance when you want it to or need it to. I have tried to rewind it looser, tighter just about anything I can think of and it is still a problem. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I hope they addressed this on the new model. It works great other then that.

 

I have EGO's 15" trimmer and the bump hasn't misfired on me yet.

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I've used the original for a while, the 15" brushless for a while, and now just started using the newer 13" brushless from EGO. Never had a problem with any of them. Highly recommend the 15" brushless.

 

ProTools did a pretty comprehensive comparison, and gave it the Number 1 spot:

https://www.protoolreviews.com/tools/outdoor-equipment/best-battery-powered-string-trimmer-shootout/21505/

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Awesome guys, what's the best way to go about buying ego since I don't have a place closer by selling these? Try to go somewhere that has one or online retailers? I gotta come up with a game plan to get the ego or the Milwaukee(or maybe something else entirely) and figure out how long a battery will last(I need about 45 minutes of runtime and I don't want to need 2 batteries)

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The best bet is probably online through Home Depot or Amazon. They both sell Ego online. Home Depot also sells Ego in stores. You might want to wait and see what the run time is with the Milwaukee trimmer and the 9.0ah pack. Unless you plan to buy into more Ego tools it makes the most sense. I'm not sure if the 2.0 or 2.5ah battery will have the runtime you need with the Ego

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7 hours ago, DR99 said:

The best bet is probably online through Home Depot or Amazon. They both sell Ego online. Home Depot also sells Ego in stores. You might want to wait and see what the run time is with the Milwaukee trimmer and the 9.0ah pack. Unless you plan to buy into more Ego tools it makes the most sense. I'm not sure if the 2.0 or 2.5ah battery will have the runtime you need with the Ego

 

I wonder if the M18 9Ah will give more runtime than the EGO 2.5Ah? It has around 29% more total juice.

18V x 9Ah = 162Wh

50.4V x 2.5Ah = 126Wh

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I wonder if the M18 9Ah will give more runtime than the EGO 2.5Ah? It has around 29% more total juice.

18V x 9Ah = 162Wh

50.4V x 2.5Ah = 126Wh

Tough one.

There would be significant demand constantly starting and stopping. That inrush current adds up fast and would likely cause the 18v to not last nearly as long. 60% reduced electrical pressure makes a huge difference.

Constant speed would edge out the 18v but that wouldn't reflect real world usage.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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9 hours ago, HiltiWpg said:

Tough one.

There would be significant demand constantly starting and stopping. That inrush current adds up fast and would likely cause the 18v to not last nearly as long. 60% reduced electrical pressure makes a huge difference.

Constant speed would edge out the 18v but that wouldn't reflect real world usage.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Except I'll be using it in a cemetery, so it would be real world for my use, it would be running continuously, making it easier on the whole trimmer and battery probably

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I think even 'continuous' use for a line trimmer would involve letting go of the trigger regularly though? This is really true of most tools. You can't use a drill full time, even repetitive drilling involves constant stop start.

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