Makita new vs old cordless grass trimmers

[kat]

I noticed that the new grass trimmer (DUR369) has the motor on top, which means that the line is ultimately driven by a shaft, which means some power is lost though the shaft. On top of that, the shaft is most likely flexibile => wears out over time. Cheap Stihl gas trimmers have flexible shaft, while the quality expensive ones have solid shaft.

 

But old Makita trimmers like DUR368 have the motor on top of the line feeder so it drives the line directly, no need for a shaft.

Normally this should be more power efficient and more reliable because there's no shaft... but for some weird reason, Makita lists them at 550 W power, while the new trimmers are listed at 1000 W. I am confused... How come the new ones are more powerful if the overall build seems to be less efficient?

[stefcl100]

The EGO trimmer with the motor on the rear is much more powerful than the regular version that has the motor located in the head. The power head from Makita (DUX60) also seemed insanely strong compared to the DURXXX equivalent. I also noticed that the most powerful battery trimmer from stihl (Kma 130) and the newest husqvarna (325ilk) both use a rear-mounted motor.

 

I am no expert but my guess is that having the motor on the rear removes some size constraint and offers more options when it comes to gearing (gear reduction? not sure how exactly it is called in english but you'll get the idea). They may be less energy efficient, but ultimately superior when it comes to speed and raw power.

 

[kat]

Well for multifunctional power heads it makes sense to keep the motor in the power head, and not in the attachment, because attachments would be expensive if every one of them had a motor .

BTW, DUX60 is listed with 600W power, almost half of DUR369, but much higher RPM (9700 vs 7000) which is weird again..

[QuasarCZ]

9700 RPM is speed of DUX60 motor itself. Attachments have gears inside to lower this speed. For example, EM404MP trimmer attachment has 13:21 gear ratio. 9700*(13/21)=6000 RPM

[ToolFanJohn]

I’m deciding between DUR368 and DUR369 at the moment. I’m struggling to understand the pros and cons of the two setups. Motor at the bottom seems simpler and makes sense- no shaft etc, and it’s been like that for several models now -  so why have they moved the motor up and added a shaft? Is it fundamentally better? More powerful perhaps and worth adding a shaft?

 

 

 

dur369 is $100 more expensive.

 

any insights would be great! Anyone used both??

[QuasarCZ]

The only one reason I can imagine is that DUR369 motor is considerably heavier and bigger than DUR368 one (1kW output vs. 0.55kW). String trimmer with such a motor mounted at the bottom would be not balanced well i think.