# Milwaukee M18 String Trimmer and Blower



## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

The wife just bought me an (early) birthday present, a new Milwaukee trimmer. I got just the tool as I have plenty of m18 batteries I can use and since my yard is small a 4 Ah should be enough to do all of it.

In order to test out the new toys properly, I took them to my parents house with lots of edging and some thick weeds. trimmer handled everything with ease and didn't bog down even through the thick stuff. Its got a professional head on it with an autofeed that works alright. a bump feed head is also available and i'll probably get it at some point.

long story short it performs just as well as gas powered units i've used and much better than any battery or corded model i've seen. plus its quiet and doesn't smell. After spending a few hours getting all of the father-in-laws yard tools fired up after not winterizing them properly the battery power has some serious appeal.

my favorite aspects of the trimmer are the balance of it and the precise throttle. no problem feathering it around wooden posts or while edging. That, and that I can use the same batteries as my other tools including my favorite impact wrench.

my 4 Ah Batteries lasted a solid 30 minutes edging and trimming on a partial charge. I feel bad for anyone thats trimming for more than a half hour at a time. durability remains to be seen but Milwaukee's reputation is great so I'm not worried.

All in all, I love the trimmer and can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the line.


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

Thanks for the review. Any interest in picking up the leaf blower? I am interested in the leaf blower as I have an extra M18 battery I can throw at it.


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## Ballistic (Mar 19, 2018)

ericgautier said:


> Thanks for the review. Any interest in picking up the leaf blower? I am interested in the leaf blower as I have an extra M18 battery I can throw at it.


I got the blower about 6 months ago, got it for blowing the water off my truck after a wash/detail. I can do that then blow the driveway and still have 2-3 bars left when i use my 9.0 batteries. Thought about buying the Gen2 they just came out with a month or so ago. The Hedge Trimmer works pretty well to, only used it a few times but hasn't disappointed yet. (got it free when i bought some other Milwaukee tools)


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## Jconnelly6b (Mar 4, 2018)

@ericgautier they just came out with the Gen 2 blower and it's a bit lighter and more compact than Gen 1, with same power and output. Check out a few youtube videos for comparison. I believe Stanley Genadek did one of them if I remember.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

ericgautier said:


> Thanks for the review. Any interest in picking up the leaf blower? I am interested in the leaf blower as I have an extra M18 battery I can throw at it.


Its on its way and i'll give it a thorough testing when it gets here (no idea when that will be, shipping times direct from milwaukee are all over the place, trimmer wasn't supposed to be till May).

@Ballistic How well does it work at moving water off the horizontal surfaces? I plan on using mine for detailing and the lawn and whatever else i can think of.

Hedge trimmers are on the list too. Though they won't get as much use.

Rumors from my buddy that works there (thats why all my tools are Milwaukee) are that we should be seeing some more lawn tools soon, including a light use chainsaw. trying to convince him to build me a battery sprayer.


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

@OnyxsLawn thanks! Will wait for your review. Our local HD has the gen2 in stock if I pull the trigger on one. I have a gas powered leaf blower already, but sometimes, I do not need to run the blower for that long.


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

@Jconnelly6b I was checking it out at the local HD. It felt nice. Has the mode to change up the speed and trigger lock. Really thinking about pulling the trigger on one.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

@ericgautier HD had a good deal on the trimmer and blower combo last year around June. Almost down to the at cost price. Don't know if it's a seasonal thing or if it was just because they were new. Might be worth waiting for.


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## Ballistic (Mar 19, 2018)

OnyxsLawn said:


> ericgautier said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks for the review. Any interest in picking up the leaf blower? I am interested in the leaf blower as I have an extra M18 battery I can throw at it.
> ...


I love it for my after washing, but i got my vehicles ceramic coated so it blows of real easy.

Ill have to try blowing some water around to see, cant really recall.

Most of my tools are Milwaukee as well, got a friend who has a friend that works there so get the homie hookup sometimes. He told me the same thing about more lawn care gear coming too.


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

Ballistic said:


> He told me the same thing about more lawn care gear coming too.


Powered reel mower maybe?


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

Ballistic said:


> OnyxsLawn said:
> 
> 
> > ericgautier said:
> ...


Good to hear can't wait to try mine out.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

ericgautier said:


> Ballistic said:
> 
> 
> > He told me the same thing about more lawn care gear coming too.
> ...


I wish! Probably not though. They cater more to working tradesman needs. I plan on building one this winter though so stay tuned. We'll see how much electrical engineering I remember.


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## ABC123 (Jul 14, 2017)

Anybody try fitting a landscape blade onto this yet?


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

ABC123 said:


> Anybody try fitting a landscape blade onto this yet?


I could try to see if an echo one would fit in the off season. Not too keen on tearing down a brand new trimmer right now though.


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## Shindoman (Apr 22, 2018)

I picked up an M18 Trimmer yesterday. Gave it a test run and performs as good as my Stihl, 
but a whole lot quieter. HD messed up with their pricing tags so I got the kit with tool, battery, and charger for the price of the tool only! Picked up the blower too! Now I have 15 cordless Milwaukee tools.
I really don't use a trimmer that much. I use a old school Power Trim lawn edger for trimming the lawn. 
Edger does a far better job.


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## glenmonte (Sep 15, 2017)

I can attest to the value of the blower. I have the smaller round one (not the fuel). Believe it or not, I got it for my son to help out with cleaning the deck, driveway, etc and I already had plenty of batteries. He loves to use it, but I've found that I use it a lot too, over the backpack. I clean out the bed of my truck, the garage, blow fertilizer back onto the lawn, light coating of snow on the truck, etc.

By the way, if you already have a tool platform and are looking to add on, try CPO Outlet. They have New and certified pre owned tools which I've never had an issue with.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

The blower showed up this morning so I found as much material as I could that needed moving.



I unboxed it popped the nozzle in and went right to work. Immediately i was a little disappointed. it had no problem moving the grass and dust off the driveway but didn't feel much better than most other battery/electric blowers i've used.

Then I found the power button... it was on low. Flipped it to high and started shooting sticks and chunks of dirt flying. Much better.

In comparison to gas power handheld blowers, I found the Milwaukee to have a more comfortable handle and trigger not to mention being lighter and much much quieter. Plus the air intake at the back mean you can use your left or right hand without it sucking up your pants.

Slapped a fresh battery on and put the trigger lock on. on high with a 4 Ah battery it lasted about 15 minutes before it lost most of its power. I don't have the patience to figure out how long it will last on low. Good enough for my yard. Might need the 9 Ah battery if you have a long driveway or use it for leaves in the fall.

I'll test it out tomorrow drying off the cars after a good wash.


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## TigerinFL (Mar 29, 2018)

OnyxsLawn said:


> @ericgautier HD had a good deal on the trimmer and blower combo last year around June. Almost down to the at cost price. Don't know if it's a seasonal thing or if it was just because they were new. Might be worth waiting for.


I saw that deal is going on currently at HD for $299.00

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-M18-FUEL-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Brushless-Cordless-16-in-String-Trimmer-9-0Ah-Kit-with-M18-GEN-II-FUEL-Blower-2725-21HD-2724-20/304160604


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

Quick update after a lot more use:

Trimmer is great and can take down some serious brush, I started mowing a neighbors yard that needs a lot of love so the trimmer gets a workout. Works especially well when you figure out how to bump feed properly  I love the light weight of the smaller batteries. The instant spin up and low noise are nice too. 
For the blower i'd really love to get my hands on a 9 or new 12 Ah battery as i can easily drain the 5 doing my driveway and the neighbors but other than that it performs great. 
The trimmer I could easily use commercially. The blower however, doesn't compete with a backpack blower.


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## LIgrass (May 26, 2017)

OnyxsLawn said:


> Quick update after a lot more use:
> 
> Trimmer is great and can take down some serious brush, I started mowing a neighbors yard that needs a lot of love so the trimmer gets a workout. Works especially well when you figure out how to bump feed properly  I love the light weight of the smaller batteries. The instant spin up and low noise are nice too.
> For the blower i'd really love to get my hands on a 9 or new 12 Ah battery as i can easily drain the 5 doing my driveway and the neighbors but other than that it performs great.
> The trimmer I could easily use commercially. The blower however, doesn't compete with a backpack blower.


Is the one you have the Gen 2 blower?


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Wow, voltage apparently isn't an important factor. If they made this using an 18v battery and it works as well as gas, why are there so many higher voltage trimmers out there I wonder how they did it.

@OnyxsLawn: You said you've used several battery and corded trimmers. I recently bought a Greenworks corded 18-inch 10-amp trimmer. I got the corded model because it was a lot less expensive than the battery models and you can go forever...with the hassle that comes with using a cord, of course. Have you ever used that model? I also use a Worx 40v battery model.


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## MSLiechty (Apr 23, 2017)

Ivhave the 18V blower with 9.0 and 2- 5.0 batteries for my job as a carpenter and i'm really happy with it

MSL


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

@LIgrass yes its a gen 2. straight from the factory.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

@Green I'm no electrical engineer but power is just a function of current and voltage so they just pull more current to make the same power as higher voltage systems. the one downside that comes to my mind is more heat but apparently they've worked around that.

I haven't tried a greenworks. the other ones i've tried are black and decker and dewalt. B&D function but aren't good both corded and cordless. dewalt was good but I like that milwaukee's uses the same batteries as their hand tools, and always will.


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## vuphil (Jun 14, 2018)

I use the blower 2-3x/day to clean out my garage. It's one of the most used piece of equipment in my collection. I like the variable speed control button the most. I put it on low to blow soap bubbles for my sons. They loved it


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## erad213 (May 11, 2018)

I have had the trimmer and blower for about a year now with the 9.0 battery (bought on HD website when the blower was "Free") . I have always used gas powered stihl and don't notice much of a difference. I would recommend upgrading the trimmer line to the size up if you are edging with it. It is really balanced with the 9.0 battery, when I use my other batteries it feels weird, same with blower. The blower is certainly not a backpack level, but I heard the 2nd gen model has a higher speed. Last week I pulled the trigger on the hedge trimmer. Now that is a relief compared to corded or gas hedge trimmers. I stole my dads gas hedge trimmer and fought to get it to start, replace air filter, clean carb, and finally just bought the Milwaukee online(amazon had the lowest price). Overall I am very happy with all three. I was able to do about 100 ft of hedge trimming boxwoods, edge, trim, and blow about 6500 sqft of lawn, and still had a 1/4 battery life. Typical edge, trim, and blow never uses more than about 50% battery. Cant wait for the 12.0. In the process of fixing a fence and building planter boxes, I used the Milwaukee 6.5in circ saw and the 9.0 battery was awesome. only use my smaller batteries in drills/drivers now. Oh, and the charger that comes with the 9.0, will charge your smaller 2.0 in about 10 minutes! maybe less.


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