Tool companies are making battery-powered tools as part of a family. Sometimes it’s a very large family. Milwaukee, for example, boasts that its 18-volt brushless battery chainsaw is part of a system that includes more than 250 tools. Makita has a system that it says includes 350 pieces of equipment.
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Each system is what’s known as a battery platform: a line of tools and equipment from the same brand that relies on a battery (or set of batteries) of the same voltage, specifically designed for it, that can be swapped into and out of tools. You also need only one type of charger, which simplifies things considerably.
If you have a few yard tools from one battery platform, the idea is that you can power your leaf blower, string trimmer, and lawn mower with the same battery. (Some tools, like a lawn mower, may need multiple batteries, while a string trimmer would likely need only one battery.) If you’re using that string trimmer and run out of juice, you can have another battery on the charger ready to go.
But remember that the tools must be designed for the same battery—and voltage, generally—and that batteries are proprietary to brands (and sometimes to a brand’s very specific system). So your Greenworks 60-volt battery will power any other Greenworks tool that needs a 60-volt battery. But it won’t power a Greenworks 80-volt lawn mower, nor will it power a DeWalt 60-volt lawn mower.
Investing in one battery platform can offer not only convenience but also savings. If you buy one tool with a battery, you could potentially buy a “bare” tool, without a battery, in the future from the same platform. So if you buy the Ryobi 40-volt chainsaw this spring, which comes with two batteries and a charger, and you find you want a leaf blower in the fall, you can buy the blower on its own and save more than 30 percent.
As a first step, you’ll want to think about the tools you need and how often you anticipate using them. Also, think about the scale of your projects and how long they might take (meaning, how long you’ll need to use a power tool continuously). Got a small yard to mow? Planning to build a deck or take on another ambitious project? How often will that chainsaw be pressed into service compared with, say, the leaf blower that you may also need? Once you’ve considered these and other questions, you’ll be better prepared to match tools to your projects.
Then we encourage you to use our new ratings of battery power tools by brand. The ratings provide an Overall Score for a battery platform, plus information on individual products. Here are some things to consider when shopping for a battery platform and reviewing options in CR’s ratings.
Tool performance: Look at the offerings in a brand’s battery platform and make sure the platform has the tools you need. You can then use CR’s ratings to get a sense of how each individual tool performs. For instance, if you notice that a brand’s platform gets great Overall Scores for its leaf blower, chainsaw, and lawn mower, but doesn’t make the hedge trimmer you also need, then you may want to consider a tool platform that does.
Weight: Consider the weight of a tool and how it feels in your hand. CR’s individual product pages for handheld tools include information on weight.
Cost: Choosing a battery platform will depend on your budget. Remember that the cost of an individual battery can range anywhere from about $50 (less, in some cases) to more than $300. That’s just the battery. You also have to factor in the cost of the tool.
Pay attention to the battery’s voltage and capacity. The battery platforms in our ratings range from 18 volts to 80 volts. If you are buying multiple tools in a battery platform, they will all require the same battery voltage. Generally speaking, the more heavy-duty the task, the higher the voltage required for the battery.
While the battery voltage for all of the tools must be uniform, the capacity of the battery may vary. A battery’s capacity refers to the amperage and is measured in units called amp-hours. Ultimately, it reflects how long a battery will last before needing to be charged. For example, Ego’s 56-volt lawn mower has a battery capacity of 6 amp hours, but the battery that comes with Ego’s 56-volt string trimmer has a smaller capacity of 4 amp hours.
The larger the battery capacity, the larger and heavier the battery. So in this example with the Ego, you could technically use your mower’s battery for your string trimmer, but you might not want to do that every time (for the sake of your arm carrying the weight).
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And one more note: Stay away from knockoff batteries. You can really only be certain that a lithium-ion battery made by a tool manufacturer has been tested for each of the products in its tool platform. There are counterfeit batteries out there, which could cause problems for your tools and be a danger to you or others. The Power Tool Institute warns that any lithium-ion battery that’s not intentionally designed to work with a specific tool or charger can result in a number of issues, including damage to the tool or charger. A bad battery could potentially burst and cause a fire.
Our testing teams at Consumer Reports test battery power tools at our facility in Yonkers, N.Y., as well as in Florida (where there’s grass year-round). We do not accept products for testing from manufacturers. Instead, we send out shoppers to purchase equipment in stores and pay the retail price, just as consumers would.
To come up with our ratings of battery platforms for power tools, we pulled together data from CR’s individual product tests, and averaged the scores of a brand’s highest-performing tools for that platform. We included a brand’s highest-performing string trimmer, leaf blower, chainsaw, hedge trimmer, lawn mower, drill and impact driver. Not every brand offered each of these products (we chose platforms that offered at least three), while some brands offered more than one model in each category.
For our individual product tests, we measure for performance, how easy the tools are to handle, and noise at ear. Plus we compare battery yard tools with gas models to determine whether battery tools can pack the same punch. Here are more details on what the tests look like for the tools that factor into our battery platform ratings.
For string trimmers, we test how evenly a model trims high grass, yard weeds, and even dense brush. We also test for how effectively it edges along a walkway. We look at how easy each trimmer is to hold, maneuver, and operate, noting how difficult it is to start up or feed extra line through the cutting head.
For leaf blowers, we measure how long it takes for each blower to move a large pile of leaves, and how well they loosen leaves and other debris that are stuck or embedded in grass.
For chainsaws, we time how long it takes for each to work its way through a 10-inch-thick oak beam. We consider how well they cut and take note of how many cuts the saws can make on a single charge. We also consider key safety features.
For hedge trimmers, we test for cutting capacity, handling and safety. And we put these tools to the test against the huge swaths of invasive bamboo that we have at our New York campus. Testers start with small growth, about a quarter-inch in diameter, and work their way up to thicker shoots. We take note of how quickly and cleanly each tool works.
For lawn mowers, our testers and engineers work in Florida in the late winter to test new models on lawns that we specially prepare. We then put the mowers to work, cutting identical swaths of grass in every cutting mode—like bagging, mulching, and using the side discharge—to see how well models handle each task. We also assess how evenly each mower cuts.
For drills, we run them through a series of tests using a device called a dynamometer, which measures torque under different loads. We translate those readings into scores for power, speed, and run time.
For impact drivers, we use dynamometers to measure both the torque the impact driver can generate and the number of impacts per minute. To assess run time, we measure how long a single battery can power the unit under a standardized load on our dynamometer. We also run tests to see how long it takes to fully charge the battery.
For snow blowers, not all snow is the same, so we make a mixture of sawdust saturated with water for test consistency. This mixture can simulate a standard snowfall or be molded into a mound that simulates a plow pile, like the ones left at the foot of your driveway by a plow truck. We time how fast each blower cuts through the dense mixture. We also note how far the sawdust is thrown and how clean the surface is. We do not include snow blowers in our battery platform ratings but do note whether a brand has one that we’ve tested.
For pressure washers, we measure how much pressure each model can produce in pounds per square inch, then use the pressure washer to strip paint from plastic panels, timing how long it takes. We also measure noise and size up ease of use. We do not include pressure washers in our battery platform ratings but do note whether a brand has one that we’ve tested.
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