DEWALT 40V MAX* XR String Trimmer, 6-Ah Battery (DCST990H1)

Summary: Love it, the best trimmer I've ever owned in 30 years of yard work. Handles everything on our semi-natural acre, from 3 ft tall grass to wiry weeds and the like. Runs 2 hours on low (6amp-hour battery; almost never need to use high, it's more power than either needed or useful). String lasts forever, still have not used up the initial spool full. It's kinda heavy but manageable if you hold it correctly. It gets worked hard -- not just grass blades on a small lawn -- and handles everything it's been asked to do. (If your needs are more modest, look into the 20volt version.) And yes, I bought it (did not receive free).PRO:Plenty of power to eat tall grass, weeds, wiry shrubs, etc. Not quite as powerful as a 'big' gas model but better than the $99 gas models. Having read other reviews about not being able to go through 'coffee stirrer' size twigs, I was concerned - but have had no problems with reasonable sized woody and wiry weeds (and we have some tough stuff growing in Texas).Nicely balanced and angled for most trimming jobs. Easy to handle wearing gloves; switch is easy to work and has very clear 'feel' to it. DEFINITLY need to wear eye protection(!)Very sturdy. Dropped it once already off the storage rack, no problem.The string lasts forever. I was used to going through a spool every 1-2 outings (I spend about an hour each time I trim), but the DeWalt line hangs in there. Usually line breaks when subjected to trimming along brick (our walkway) and stone (our 80 ft driveway and 100 ft stone wall), but the DeWalt just seems to bounce off and keep going. Also is less damaging to stuff like hvac line shrouds, (thick) plastic tree/flower pots, and similar. Bump feed works well.The battery provides lots of power. My latest outing lasted two hours of almost solid running on LOW, working it pretty hard (plenty of thick grass and weeds).It runs cool and quiet on LOW, barely gets warm to the touch. (My old gas trimmer's head got so hot you couldn't touch it.) As I noted, I rarely feel the need for HIGH so don't have any useful experience on running it on HIGH for long periods.The best PRO: no gasoline or oil to deal with. No spark plug to change. No fuel lines to clog or disintegrate. No rope to pull endlessly. Pull the battery and put the trimmer in the rack; cleanup time, 2 minutes. Next week, charge the battery for an hour or so and then go to work; prep time, 2 minutes. Too easy!!CON:It's not cheap, but it's not overpriced (IMHO).Wish it could be lighter. If you hold it in an 'up' position for a while (e.g.,. trimming around oddly-shaped stuff or on a slope), my right arm gets tired. I have found that holding it down at a more natual arms length position is best; in that position I can go for a long time (e.g., 2 hours last time). This 'CON' is offset by the great overall balance of the trimmer, though.I would prefer a bigger (wider) guard to help keep more of the debris from coming back at the operator. I will probably make one out of a piece of aluminum. It will be detachable - there are times when having the small guard is a big advantage, particularly in tight areas like around hvac units and similar spots where a wide guard would keep you out.Have seen some complaints about the handle; did not exerience any problem with it.TL;READ ANYWAYAfter having gone through a seemingly endless parade of gas trimmers, and after struggling to keep them running more than one season, I was ready to try _any_ reasonable alternative. I was skeptical about an electrical trimmer (and especially a cordless one), but I bought a Stihl corded trimmer a while back and have been very pleased with it. Plenty of power and no gas cans, no oil mixing, no mess at all(!) But the penalty of dragging 150 feet of extension cord around had become increasingly unworkable. (We live on about an acre and have a 80 ft driveway than needs trimming, not to mention 100 ft along the road.)So I pinched my wallet and squeezed out the non-trivial price of the DeWalt trimmer (40v 6Ah lithium model). The trimmer came in a well-packed box, all pieces present. The battery charged up in less than an hour and we were off to battle the 3ft high grass and weeds. (This year we have had record rainfall here in Texas, and it shows - I've never had to deal with so much greenery as this year).The convenience of just grabbing the battery and going anywhere in the yard is a dream. The line seems to last forever, so less screwing around with loading line, another bit of maintenance that I can do without. The power and throttle control make trimming much more pleasant than ever before.I have used DeWalt tools of all types and have generally been more than pleased with the performance and satisfied with the prices paid. Keep it up, DeWalt!

I purchased the 6 AH model and once I got it unpack-aged and battery topped off I put it through its paces. It feels great and balance is good as any other trimmer I've owned. I live in a residential neighborhood on a corner and have quite a bit of trimming to do perimeter fence, house, rear slab for parking, driveway, trees etc..I wasn't sure how much I would be able to get done, but I finished all my trimming and trimmed the neighbors front yard also. Still running strong I returned to trim a part of the drainage ditch normally where I mow just to see how long It would last and there was more juice in the battery than me as were in a heat wave here in Texas at the present time. I operated it on the low setting the whole time I have ran it.I've most all the critical reviews and I'm happy with the battery life so far as it is new and read about complaints on the narrow guard it comes with.I found the narrow guard actually was a plus as you can slide in behind of the A/C condensing unit between it and the house with ease. Normally my two previous trimmers guards were so large all I could do was turn vertically and beat the grass to death. It also trims around my power pole with 6" clearance in the corner of my property with ease also. So someone was thinking when they design the guard, you where safety glasses when you trim and I was no dirtier using this trimmer than any other.I know as others what a pain it is to not have the spool not feeding the trimmer cord properly as I replaced my spool head on my Troy-built with a Stihl head which worked better. The spool head on this Dewalt works with ease and gently press it on the ground while running and the line feeds great, It came with .080 cord I used that and then started using the .095 cord I have on a bulk spool, it feeds that great too. I know in time the spool heads will wear and start causing problems as I've replaced them on previous trimmers.I did read of some complaints about the top vents an the motor getting grass build up and mine did also during use, but I got my shop vac and cleaned it free of debris after I finished. There is a small screen mesh under the vents which prevent the clippings from getting into the winding's and the vac cleaned it and any dust that may have gotten in it. Time will tell if this will be an issue. I did purchase the Square trade 4 yr.extended warranty just to protect myself worst case scenario.Anything you own has to be used properly and maintained properly so I expect to get years of use out of the trimmer as it has preformed well and gets all the work done I need, quietly, no gas, no oil, no cranking, no carburetor problems. If I do have problems down the road I will update and post the results as I wont be starting my gas trimmer anytime soon...

The trimmer is heavy if you're going to be cutting back heavy grass and weeds for an hour, and at the high setting the trimmer lasted about exactly an hour for me. When the battery went dead the timing was just right since I was dead tired too. If you can hook up a shoulder strap, I would recommend it. Found that it cut through pretty heavy, thick grass and tall weeds, except the small hardwood trees (3 ft. high or less) were too tough to cut through, so for those I had to use a hand chopper to nip them off at the bottom. Using the lower speed wasn't enough to get through the thick stands of grass and weed growth, but at high speed it did the trick, but I did follow the the suggestion to cut them down from the top in about 12" swaths, which made taking them down take longer, but it proved effective for almost anything I was trimming down except the little hardwoods. Most of what I was cutting down was 3 feet high or more. So far the battery has proven long lasting and overall the trimmer is powerful enough for my needs, but I will be looking for blades that might fit the trimmer head so I don't have to stop occasionally and use the hand chopper since that is a bit of a pain. Overall the trimmer happily lives up to expectations, and I'm glad to not have another small engine tool that causes fussiness every time I need to start it, especially if its has been a while (like when I use my chainsaw only occasionally). Hopefully the battery will last me a couple of years or more so I feel like I got my monies worth before it needs replacement. Only 4 stars since it's missing a shoulder strap, really needs one for comfort if you will use this for more than a few minutes at a time.

I can just say wow wow.Amazing quality and tremendous power!!Light and easy to use ... I will never buy gas treamers again.

Tired of wasting money on gas trimmers and after a far bit of research, I landed on this trimmer from Dewalt. My fear was that it was not powerful enough (vs gasoline models) to handle thick long grass (like 12" high) and would constantly jam like the gasoline model it was replacing. My other concern was battery life, I have gardens to trim, a long driveway and about 1000 linear feet of chain link and PT fence (1.5 acre property). It has exceeded my expectations thus far. Lots of battery life left after trimming everything and only jammed once with the grass wrapped around the trimmer head. I wish I had done this 10 years ago. Also a lot quieter than gasoline models, and although the 6 amp battery is heavy, the trimmer is well balanced and no fatigue completing all trimming in one shot. A lot less vibration vs the gasoline model it replaced makes it a lot more comfortable to handle. Cannot say enough good things about this trimmer. Expensive but worth it in the long run.

This trimmer is great. Lots of power and is decently balanced, albeit a bit heavy overall. The only problem I've had is, when I used up the original string in the drum, (which worked fine and lasted a whole season) I bought a spool of replacement string from DeWalt and it has a tendency to snap off at the opening of the drum. Every time this happens (which is usually less than 5 minutes if you don't remember to feed it out first) you have to dismantle the drum, feed the strings though the holes and reassemble the drum. This operation is easily done by anyone with 3 hands, but a bit of a pain for us 2 handed people. I would have given this trimmer 5 stars if not for the string issue. If I can find a better quality string to replace the OEM stuff next time, I will be much happier. That said, I would recommend this trimmer.

Finally a gas-powered-efficient battery-powered trimmer!

Super powerfull and awesome battery life.Terrible ergonomics. Super uncomfortable.Guard is too small, debris flys at you constantly.