*Atlas Brand Cordless Yard Tools*
By: John1lt
30 August 2021
I purchased the atlas 80V push mower and weed eater at harbor freight. Used both today only draw back I found is the need for extra batteries. I bought a battery with each tool and a standard charger and a rapid charger. Mower was about $250, 80V/40V batteries are $110 and the standard charger $30, rapid charger $60. Harbor freight usually runs a special buy a tool + battery + charger get $30 off if you get harbor freight coupons you could combine the 20% off coupon with it for a better deal. I charged the batteries on the standard charger because I read somewhere the slower charge was better for batteries and the rapid charge is hard on batteries.
The mower only needs 1 battery to work but has spots for 2 batteries for double the run time. I opted for the two batteries and almost finished my front and side yards before the batteries ran out and needed charging. I ran 1 battery in the rapid charger and it took about 1 1/2 hours to charge the other battery in the standard charger took over 2 hours to charge. After the 1 battery charged I ran the weed eater while waiting for the second battery to charge. I edged the front yard and most of the side yards before running out of juice. By this time the battery on the standard charger had charged so I used the mower to finish the small spot in the side yard, 10 x 10 foot, and then used the battery to finish edging. My wife wanted the leaf blower and a third battery so I went down to harbor freight and bought 80V leaf blower $125, 80V battery $110 and another standard charger $30 with the $30 off the charger was free.
The mower powers up when it gets bogged down in tall grass. I think I could've done more lawn but the lawn was tall and should've been mowed 4 days ago. it only requires one battery to run but if you put in 2 batteries it automaticly switches to the second battery when the first is run down. The mower is a lot quieter than a gas mower and even quieter than my neighbors corded electric mower. My wife can even push this mower though she struggle in the tall grass.
I like the batteries even though heavy, these batteries will work on the Atlas 40V or 80V cordless tools 40V is 5 amp hours and 80V is 2.5 ah. I like the fact these batteries have a "fuel gauge" so I don't mix up batteries when swapping them at the charger and I know how soon I need to change batteries if I check the battery before starting a project. I think I got a decent run time out of the batteries, I have one of the larger yards in my neighborhood part of why I bought this house was the big yard.
The weed wacker is lighter and way quieter than my small gas powered ryobi weed whacker. No vibration with the cordless weed eater. The 80V weed eater is a little too heavy for my wife to handle but it didn't strain me using it. The weed whacker can be a 14-16 inch depending on which way you face the cutter on the guard. Ad says more run time with the shorter string setting or wider cut with the longer string setting. I know professional landscapers who skip the guard and cutter all together but that's a different animal so we wont get into that.
It is well balanced even with the big heavy 80v battery on one end. It is easy to load string into, they recommend 13 feet of the .080 line or 10 feet of the .095. You just line up two arrow points on the cutter head, feed the line in on one side, says line in here, slide thru till both sides are even. Then twist the knob on the head to load the dual line string. Once loaded your set to go wack weeds. bump the trimmer head while at full speed to feed more line when needed.
I went with the 80V leaf blower tho I think the 40V when have been plenty for my city yard, more power is always better right. I used to clean up the lawn debris from the side walks with a water hose and nozzle but the city took away the summer spinkler water rate so I'm paying full price and sewer rates to water my yard now. So the blower will save me a few dollars on my water bill and it cleaned things up nicely, I even blew off the lawn mower instead of hosing the top and underside off like I did with the gas mower after it cooled and before putting it away. I'll need to scrape some of the stuck on grass at the end of the season before putting the tools away for winter.
The blower is a little heavy for my wife but I think it's light and quiet. It has a turbo nozzle, the end narrows to restrict flow, and a variable speed switch with a lazy lock so you can lock the switch at any speed from just on to full blast. It also has a turbo switch so if full on isn't fast enough push and hold the turbo switch for super wind speed leaf blowing. Box states clears a 1/2 acre before needing a battery change/charge I don't think I even used a 1/4 of the battery doing the driveway sidewalks and part of the street. I was happy with all the tools. I plan on getting the 80V chainsaw in the near future so I'll have 4 batteries when I get that. I'm still considering a couple of extra batteries just to have on hand.
So this weekend I did the yard work with my new tools. Since it was only 6 days since last mowing the yard, instead of 12 like last time, I was able to mow the front yard, side yards and half the backyard before the 2 batteries in the mower ran out of juice. last weekend I only got the front and most of the side yard done before I ran out of juice. I figure if I don't skip a week the mower will be able to keep up with my large yard.
John1lt
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