Black & Decker sent me the new NST1024 24-Volt Cordless String Trimmer/Edger last month to review. I am a gas trimmer guy and I have never found a cordless trimmer that I liked so I was very interested in putting this new trimmer/edger through it paces.
The model they sent me was a production run item in the retail box. So what I tested is what you can buy. No special souped up model for me, just the real thing.
Black & Decker NST1024
It came with all the parts, one 24 volt battery, a 24 hour charger, and a full spool of line. The manual suggested I charge the battery before use so I left it on the slow charger until the next morning.
Specs: Read the specs here at Amazon.com
Black & Decker 24-Volt Cordless Trimmer
First Time: Time for the first test. Julie had just mowed, so the timing was perfect. Off she went and less than 10 minutes later she was back. The battery was dead.
I thought, “Well a typical cordless trimmer, all hype…” I looked closer though and I saw that the turbo-boost was activated. Hmmm, I guess I’ll give it one more try.
Well we charged the battery and the next day tried it out again. This time I made sure the switch was in normal mode and Julie trimmed the entire yard without a problem.
Note to self: The Turbo mode is great for really heavy grass but it will completely discharge a battery in 10 minutes. The normal mode is strong enough for just about all tasks and the battery will last 25 minutes or so.
Using the NST1024 as an edger: All of our landscape beds are “dug” beds. The edges are basically a trench about 4 inches deep and 6 inches wide. The grass grows into those edges like it over grows on your sidewalk so about once a month we have to go around and either spade the edges clean or edge it with an edger. A gas powered edger doesn’t work well for this because the bed edges are ALL curves. My old Stihl FS-76 does not convert to a stick edger (It was made back in 1995) so it has always been a lot of work to edge these beds. The NST1024 easily converts to an edger (just twist the middle) It really works great for edging these beds. The edger has plenty of power in regular mode to cut through the over growth.
Note: If you have a lot of edging to do or you leave your edging to once or twice a year chore, a convertible string trimmer is not the best choice. The NST1024 works very well for every other week edging but the really heavy work will use line up really fast. Buy a separate steel bladed edger if you have a lot of sidewalk and driveway edging to do.
Videos:
I made four videos. I could have shown you the trimmer simply trimming a lawn or edging a sidewalk. Things the NST1024 is meant to do. Instead Julie and I trimmed weeds and grass that haven’t been mowed at all this year. Grass 2 feet tall and weeds 3 to 4 feet tall just to show you what it really can do. Some of the taller weeds you see are actually 1st year raspberry bushes. No woody stalks, but tough enough just the same.
SAFETY: I’m just a homeowner…please remember to always use safety glasses, gloves and preferably long pants when string trimming. The grass, weeds and other material flying around can easily hurt you. The NST1024 has a good debris shield, but always take safety precautions when using a string trimmer.
The first video shows the new Black & Decker NST1024 24-Volt Cordless String Trimmer/Edger in regular mode trimming heavy weeds and grass. Even with the .065 line you can see it has plenty of power to cut down tall grass, weeds and even raspberry bushes. It is light weight and the 24 v really has extra power compared to the 18 volt models. Yes, the trimmer is dirty, we use it a lot.
The second video using the new Black & Decker NST1024 24-Volt Cordless String Trimmer/Edger in heavy grass and weeds. As you can see this trimmer has no problems cutting down this heavy grass. I am really impressed that it does this well with only .065 line. This part of the video was taken with the trimmer in regular mode. There is a turbo boost mode I’ll show you in the next video.
Here is the new Black & Decker NST1024 24-Volt Cordless String Trimmer/Edger in turbo mode. You can hear the extra power when it is switched over. I like the turbo mode, but it does go through the battery quickly. In regular mode you can easily trim a normal sized lawn. In turbo boost the battery only last about 9 minutes. I highly recommend buying a second battery and quick charger if you have a lot of heavy grass to trim and you want to use the Turbo mode.
One last video showing the new Black & Decker NST1024 24-Volt Cordless String Trimmer/Edger cutting heavy grass and weeds. This trimmer really does an incredible job and is cordless!
Summary: I really like this trimmer. In normal mode it has more power than any cordless trimmer I have used. In turbo boost it has as much power as the current crop of gas powered consumer string trimmers (No, really, it does!).
I highly recommend this trimmer/edger. It is well worth the extra $20 over the 18 volt model currently on the shelves in most retail store.
If you have more than a normal city sized lawn, buy an extra battery and quick charger. The spool is easy to rewind, but an extra three pack of spools is cheap. Might as well have a few extra spools laying around and rewind them at your leisure. You can buy the spools, battery and charger through Amazon.com
Buy Here: Sears.com
Buy Here: Amazon.com
Black & Decker NHT524 24-Volt 24-Inch Cordless Electric Dual-Action Hedge Trimmer
If you decide to get an extra battery a good way is to buy the Black & Decker NHT524 24-Volt 24-Inch Cordless Electric Dual-Action Hedge Trimmer. Basically you get the Hedger trimmer for $50 this way.
Here is the link for the Hedge trimmer at Amazon.com
Related posts:
- Black & Decker NST1024 24-Volt Cordless String Trimmer/Edger Review
- Introducing Black & Decker 24-Volt Cordless String Trimmer/Edger
- Win a new Black & Decker 24 Volt Cordless String Trimmer/ Edger
- Craftsman 19.2 volt C3 Cordless Hedge Trimmer – A Commercial Trimmer at a Homeowner’s Price?
- Craftsman 19.2 volt C3 Cordless Yard Tools
