Jronman

Here is a picture showing a side by side look of the 1st and 2nd generation Ego commercial string trimmers. The most notable differences visually are the guards and the motors. If you have any questions let me know.

More updates The riding mower supposedly has a 4th slot for a big battery under the seat. I can't confirm nor deny this claim. I think the kit comes with 2 of the big batteries. Ego wants the price to work with the user. Some users don't need all 4 batteries and therefore Ego has a more affordable option. Ego claimed built in batteries are more expensive because you have to pay for the max runtime regardless of if you need it or not. I also like removable batteries in riding mowers because you can swap in a fresh set if you need to keep mowing versus a built in solution you would have to wait for the machine to charge. The battery slot for a regular battery is to use the mower as a charger for regular batteries. The 20 inch chainsaw has a screen on it (never thought I would see a chainsaw with a screen on it). You can also set the rate of flow for the oil system for the chain. the new 22inch commercial walk behind mower has height adjust in the front separate from the back. This will allow for adjusting the rake of the mower. It also has lights standard like many other Ego tools. I forgot to mention the deck is aluminum and the motor fits 2 batteries. There is also a similar metal deck residential model coming but it fits only one battery. The new 22 inch mowers will have the ability to run at a blade tip speed of 19,000 feet per minute. This is the legal max speed limit for mower blades. The residential model kit will cost roughly the same as the commercial model bare tool. All the initial gen 2 commercial products announced last year except the backpack blower were considered prototypes. About a year later and all of them are now available to purchase at some places. The chargers and big batteries are not available yet. I don't know when those will become available. Sounds like every tool will have some kind of bluetooth features. I am not sure what all the bluetooth features will include but I know it will be able to track charge cycles of batteries and other important information. It will even know when batteries are ready to be replaced.

My theory is DeWALT takes average user preference for the intended market and what is expected to net the most profit for the intended market. With that information they determine one design will sell better in one market while a different design might sell better in the other market. It is annoying but it has happened for years. One example is sell canvas bags or cheap blow molded cases with kits for North America and sell quality modular cases in kits for the European market.

Ideally I start the entire saw on the guide rail to prevent this issue. I understand that sometimes the rail is barely long enough and you gotta do what you gotta do. the first inch or so on each end of the guide rail I didn't worry about cutting with the saw. I haven't had a precut splinter guard before. I'm surprised this was done because the splinter guard should be calibrated with the blade you are using and not the blade the factory wants you to use.

The new Ego commercial products I ordered arrived a little bit ago. I have gotten some use with the string trimmer but not the hedge trimmer yet. Possibly after I finish picking up leaves in 3 to 4 weeks I can get some use with the hedge trimmer.

I had some smoked turkey last year. My cousin-in-law got into smoking meats a number of years ago and has actually made a few diy smokers. The turkey he smoked was the juiciest turkey meat I have ever had but also the skin was the toughest i have ever had. He also made some chicken wings and they had garlic and I don't know what else but they were good as well. Maybe turkey seasoned with garlic would be good.

I decided to order the new EGO commercial 17.5 inch string trimmer STX4500 and the commercial articulating hedge trimmer HTX5300-PA. I got $20 off but still pricey. The place I buy replacement parts had them in stock. I have been waiting for them for over a year. Next spring I will probably pickup the commercial edger and if it is out maybe the commercial PGX charging setup.

What do you feel is not completed? There might be some items missing like most notably something to compete with Milwaukee's garage packout storage wall system, but to have 100 or more StackTech compatible products available within the first year of launch is quite impressive. Many existing brands don't even have 100 products in their modular storage lineup.

Looked like a commercial 20 inch chainsaw is coming. I have updated information on other products. The PGX controller hub will be priced at $400 and the charging modules will be $200 each. No batteries included. The charging modules will be e-track compatible. The commercial 22 inch walk behind will be $1300 bare tool (about the price of an equivalent gas unit) and have an accessory for side discharge. The zero turn will have a powered bagging system available eventually. The zero turn will also work as a charger and plugs in like the residential zero turn mowers. The slot on the mower for the regular batteries is for charging the battery.

Most brands have a limited warranty. This means if the issue is deemed not a manufacture defect they can reject the claim. I believe Flex is a limited warranty. Two brands that I know of that have a wear and tear no questions asked warranty is Hilti and Festool.

Ego released more information regarding the upcoming commercial range of products. Last year they announced a bunch of handheld products, a backpack blower, and a charging system. Apparently most of what they announced last year was prototype stage. The backpack blower has been on sale for a bit. The handheld tools are rolling out to stores currently and should be available very soon. The new charging system now has a name called PGX or Power Grid X. Feature wise it seems basically the same except it is advertised as being able to charge 70 batteries instead of the 96 they advertised last year. They said you can buy the main hub and one 3 bay battery module for around $600. Extra battery modules will be lower priced. The biggest expense is the hub which controls the whole Modular charging setup. The hub also will have an app to manage the chargers and batteries and more it sounded like. I don’t know when it will be available. They also have more information on the portable charging setup and the new large form factor battery. The new large battery will be 40 amp hour at 56v. It will work as them means to charge the regular batteries when mobile. The charger, one large battery, and two regular batteries will be sold for well under $2500 Ego says. Release date is unknown. The large battery will also be able to power a new commercial zero turn riding mower. They mower can fit what’s looks to me like 3 large batteries and one regular battery. The new mower will come with deck sizes from 48 to 60 inches. It is also described the motor will have more power than the hybrid system on the Ford f-150. In terms of accessories for the zero turn, Ego did not give any information. Also they did not give information on release date that I know of. Another mower they announced is a 22 in commercial walk behind. They claim it is the most powerful walk behind mower gas or electeic in its class. They also talked about how their mower torque is rated at running speed and not at idle. I don’t recall any estimated price given but it is expected to come to stores January 2024. I am wanting to get into the PGX charging setup myself. Nothing much just one hub and maybe two charging modules. I also want a few of the handheld tools. The rider is a no from me. The push mower could be a possibility but I don’t have much need for one. Regardless demoing each could be fun.

The drawer offerings are really good. 7 different options by end of next year. Also the transportation options is going to be a good amount too. 4 wheeled transportation products, a towing hitch mount, and a racking system that works in vans. We will also have 4 different coolers, 2 first aid kits, and more.

ToughBuilt is launching their own modular storage line called StackTech. It looks to be a direct competitor with Packout and others. Feature wise it looks on par or in some cases better than Packout. It has a single lever release mechanism that also will auto latch when trying to connect items together like Packout. The products with lids have a single latch system even for full width boxes. I am unaware or another modular storage system with a single latch for the lid of full width boxes. The system will initially launch in a month with 8 products and be available at Lowes. I wouldn't be surprised if Menards started carrying the line since they already sell some other ToughBuilt products like the modular toolbelts. This could be huge for Menards because they don't really sell any pro grade modular storage products except maybe a Craftsman box here and there. The initial launch is nothing exciting but 2024 will be quite ambitious. Spring 2024 will see 29 additions to the line, and Summer will see 15 more additions. These are mostly major items like boxes, organizers, etc. throughout the year we will see 15 products listed as StackTech accessories, and the existing ClipTech tool pouch line will also be compatible which has or will have over 50 products. ToughBuilt is advertising there will be over 100 products available in 2024. Toolguyd has a good article on it with more information.

The reddit post includes the Russian picture you mentioned. What doesn’t make sense is why are two pictures English and the third Russian within the same post?

After examining the pictures some more, I am not seeing the autolocking lid latches from 2.0, but I see the interfacing points on the bottom of the box that the latches would lock into. Maybe there is a new type of latching system?

I saw some pictures that look to be a Tough System 3.0. It also looks like a product similar to the ds carrier of the first gen Tough System is coming too. I can’t confirm or deny if this is legitimate or not. It looks like comments are not sure either. A tool blog site mentioned something big is coming in the tool storage world but of course was not able to give any more information. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was it. It looks like there is a larger difference in design between 3.0 and 2.0 than there was between 2.0 and 1.0. I am seeing a rail system for holding stuff on the outside like Flex StackPack and an emphasis on more durability. It looks like there is more metal components on the boxes. The drawers look to have been beefed up a bit.

Many of the Packout mods are 3d printed in fact there are print farms dedicated to specifically Packout.

I am unfamiliar with a C12 line from Milwaukee. Did you mean M12? What tool is it that you are wanting to find the name of?

I ordered a Prusa mk4 3d printer today. It should arrive in 2-3 weeks

You might find similar bits here. https://www.woodpeck.com/routing/ultra-shear-router-bits.html In regards to the respirator you might be thinking of the Trend Airshield if I remember the name correctly. There is also one from 3m that is full face coverage and powered like the Trend.

I am a bit late in posting this but Ego has announced a bunch of new tools for their non commercial lineup. We are getting a Power Washer, Vacuum, Earth Auger, Tractor Style Riding Mower, 180W Nexus Escape, Smaller Light, Solar Panel, Mini Bike, and 20 inch Chainsaw.

When the gen 2 stuff finally releases my plan is to start with the regular handle string trimmer and one of the modular 3 bay chargers. I would also have to buy the charging controller to get the modular charger to work. My second purchase I will get the straight shaft edger and a second 3 bay charger. Further down the road I will pickup a hedge trimmer and a pole saw. Those are the lowest priority since they are not used as often as the edger and string trimmer. One thing I would like to see is kits not for the tools but for the modular chargers. I think it is unrealistic to have kits for the tools if Ego is to use a charging product from the commercial line. Maybe you get one of the 3 bay chargers with either 3 batteries in 5ah capacity or a higher priced kit that comes with 3 batteries in 7.5ah capacity Maybe they could have ones for the other batteries but the 2.5 ah is too small for commercial use and the 10 ah or 12 ah might be too big (currently). Maybe we will see commercial mowers and snowblowers that could utilize the bigger batteries but right now everything is handheld except the backpack blower.

I have some updates. The site I found the new commercial offereings has some of the product listings for the new commercial offerings posted again. There is a slight difference. There is no longer a price listed. They just say coming soon where a price normally would be. A few other things I noticed were the lack of kits vs bare tools. Each tool only had one listing but what is interesting the bicycle handle trimmer shows a battery in the product image but says tool only. I don't know if we will see any kit options or not.

@Eric - TIA I would probably avoid these for nuts and bolts. I would upgrade to the metal frame options. The all plastic don’t perform well with a lot of weight from what I heard. All my sorting will mostly be plasic parts so I should have zero issues with on of these. Another option if you have the time and know how is build or 3d print something custom to fit your needs.