HGV driver shortage

[Harrison]

No chance of me swapping out my petrol garden tools either. I'm on a half acre and the thought of pissing around swapping batteries is really not for me (plus I only recently bought a ride on mower)

I thought that a couple of years ago when someone I know said they had swapped to a rechargeable mower. But I've recently changed my mind.

I used to go for petrol garden tools because you always consider them the most powerful and quickest at refueling to keep going.

But I've got a 1/3 acre garden and with 2x 6Ah 18v batteries the 36v Makita lawnmower might actually do thr while thing on a single charge. If not I have 2 3Ah batteries to do the last bit.

I've not bought the most yet, but I'm really impressed with the Makita chainsaw I just bought. More power and torque then my petrol one and easily managed to do enough logs to fill the woodstore by the house. No more hassle buying fuel and mixing it.

There is still something about petrol tools though. That loud engine and all that power. Electric is a bit quiet. 😄

[Harrison]

Regarding petrol. It seems the south east and London still have an issue. Must mean there are more idiots down here panic buying then the rest of the country.

I needed diesel yesterday and it took me 2 hours to find any! Every garage was either shut completely as they were out, or they only had petrol. Finally one of the supermarkets had a delivery mid morning so I had to queue up. But as I drive quite far to work each day I did have to fill the tank right up. Should last me 2-3 weeks though, then I'm on holiday for a week. So hopefully the situation should be back to normal by then.

[J T]

I've not bought the most yet, but I'm really impressed with the Makita chainsaw I just bought. More power and torque then my petrol one and easily managed to do enough logs to fill the woodstore by the house. No more hassle buying fuel and mixing it.

There is still something about petrol tools though. That loud engine and all that power. Electric is a bit quiet. 😄

Interesting points. I do tend to think of electric tools as expensive; well, the good stuff is.... I once, when I had a tiny garden, had a real cheapo battery whipper snipper (that's a strimmer or 'line trimmer', slang fans) and it was shit.

I wonder how the cost, including purchase and petrol, over the years would compare between the two.

Even my petrol tools are budget stuff really, but they do the job adequately. I don't mind the mixing and filling too much but petrol tools are hot and smelly to use though.

[Harrison]

With electric tools the bare tools ( without batteries) are similar prices to petrol tools. The chainsaw was £194, whereas my petrol myhusqvarna chainsaw was about £185 a couple of years ago. The batteries are an initial big investment, but if you pick a good make they normally fit and work with all their tools, so it's a one off purchase, and you can then expand your tools and keep using the same batteries.

I went with Makita when I bought a bundle that included 2 batteries, charger, drill and impact driver. I've then expended my tools but used thr same batteries.

But for thr new chainsaw I've actually bought some third party compatible 6Ah batteries that were far cheaper than the real Makita ones. Will they play as long? No idea, but 1 Makita 5Ah battery is about £60. Whereas 2x 6Ah third party batteries were £54, so I thought I'd take a chance.

Some of the older battery powered tools were underpowered as they used either 10.8V or 18V batteries. What Makita and a couple of others are doing now is making tools that use 2x 18v batteries at once, so you have 36v power and it makes a huge difference. My brush cutter is easily as good as my older petrol one. But these tools have only really reached this point in thr last couple of years.