Milwaukee Tool has been manufacturing a wide range of products for a wide range of professional users for nearly a century. Now you can add landscape contractors to that list of pro users.
Milwaukee Tool held its ninth annual New Product Symposium June 8 in Milwaukee, WI. Of the dozens of new products that were unveiled, few garnered as much excitement as the new battery-powered string trimmer, hedgetrimmer and handheld debris blower. These three products represent Milwaukee Tool's first stab at the lawn and garden power equipment market.
All three products are powered by Milwaukee's M18 Red Lithium Battery, which the company refers to as M18 Fuel. This 18V battery features a unique 15-cell pack that allows for greater amp-hours and watt-hours, resulting in greater power and longer runtime.
NOTE: Voltage is only one part of the equation when evaluating battery performance. The amount of watt-hours determines power output over a given amount of time, and that is determined by taking the number of volts and multiplying it by the number of amp hours.
In the case of the M18 Fuel battery: 18 volts x 9 amp-hours = 162 watt-hours.
As a point of reference, Stihl's AP 180 battery, which is used to power some of its new battery-powered handheld equipment such as the FSA 90 R trimmer, provides 178 watt-hours on a 36V battery.
Milwaukee Tool's M18 Fuel also features the company's PowerState brushless motor for longer motor life, more power and longer runtime.
Highlights of the three new power equipment tools include:
- STRING TRIMMER – solid shaft with motor in the rear, 14- or 16-inch cutting swath, high and low speed settings to conserve power and improve runtime, full-size head
- HEDGETRIMMER – 24-inch blade, tip guard, more distance at the handle for better operator control
- DEBRIS BLOWER – company says it offers the best combination of power and runtime on the market thanks to its axial fan design.
Since these new products will not be made commercially available until January 2017, Milwaukee Tool is refraining from publishing key specs such as blower mph and cfm, along with runtimes, until further notice, perhaps this fall. A product manager did say that, on average, battery recharge time is approximately 90 minutes when using Milwaukee Tool's rapid charging system.
