Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 50
 belt and drive melted September 1, 2010
Hooman101 (San Francisco, CA)
Stay away from this trimmer... it looks cool, the shaft spins and may be ergonomically sound, but beware because like you'll see in all the reviews, the belt and the plastic gear all melt after a spirited time in the back yard. I'm giving this product a 1 star rating because there is no 0 rating. I wish manufacturers would stop replacing metal parts with plastic.
 Not Happy... August 30, 2010
B'ster
Bought this B&D trimmer locally, not from Amazon. Used it 1 year with no problems... powerful, reliable, quiet, worked well. Had to reload the trim string head quite often, but figured that was the price of an electric trimmer that ate everything in it's path.
2nd year... the drive system inside the handle self destructed. The motor would spin, the trim head would not. Upon disassembly, found the drive belt burnt, melted, almost in 2 pieces, the plastic / composite drive gear melted and 90% of the teeth gone. The metal motor gear was fine. My opinion, for the most part... cheap components.
Researched buying replacement parts to discover the gears are only available as a complete unit with the motor... $50. Belt is $4. Add in shipping and it's like buying a new unit all over again.
Warranty is 2 years, but it has to be returned to a B&D service center, then they will determine if it was mis-used or not, then they determine if they will repair or replace, then you still have to pay shipping both ways (nearest repair center is 50 miles away for me). Inconvenient and going to cost more money just to get the same thing back.
B&D lost my future business on this one. I'm going shopping for another electric, corded trimmer, but it will not be a B&D.
Beware of flying parts! August 18, 2010
mskagb
I purchased this string trimmer several years ago, but have had problems with the cap flying off, and the spool following right behind it. As a previous reviewer said, half of the time spent trimming was spent looking for the cap and rewinding the double-string spool and trying to get it set up properly again so that both strings would feed out properly. I fixed part of the problem by spray painting the cap fluorescent yellow on both sides so it was visible under shrubs and in the garden, but still wasted a lot of time fiddling with the cap instead of trimming.
I requested a recall package from B&D, but it took forever for them to send me a kit. FIrst they sent it to the wrong address, then told me they were out of kits, then finally sent me a kit consisting of an orange cap of stiffer plastic and a new spool. My recall kit did not contain a spring that I have seen in other kits (?). After 2 minutes with the new parts, the cap and spool flew out again, so there was not much improvement. One of the guys who helps with my lawn came up with an idea to use ~1/4" wide tie wraps inserted in the string slots instead of the string and spool, and it seems to work remarkably well, as long as my supply of tie wraps lasts. But not what I had anticipated when I bought a product with the Black and Decker name.
Powerful, maneuverable, but bad line feeder & lousy quality August 17, 2010
L. Ohlsson
Bought this weed whacker a little over a year ago.
I really liked the power and maneuverability of it, but soon noticed that the line feeder was kind of tricky. You have to wind the string on really tightly and preferably in a perfect coil. Fortunately I don't have a lot of stuff to trim around the house, or the constant stops to extricate the string from the spool might have caused me to get a nervous breakdown.
However, even when it's working correctly, it is really annoying to have the line magically pop out an inch, just as you are edging near your favorite little tree, the one with the sensitive bark... Ouch!
Last week it broke. The motor still runs, but the string is not spinning...
I opened it up to see what was wrong & found the plastic gear (and the belt) completely shredded.
I'm not a trimmer designer, yet even I would hesitate to use plastic gears to try to transmit this much power!
On a positive note, when I called B&D they said they'd send me a new one! Woo hoo!
 Stellar August 16, 2010
Corey
I have to believe this product has been improved since it initially came out. It seems the bad reviews are several years old so it stands to reason they improved on some of the issues. I am very impressed with this weed trimmer. I have had it for 2 years now and I really like it. I will admit I have had some issues with the dual line feeding properly but the Grass Hog is an absolute brute. The motor is very powerful and I have cut down some stout overgrown weeds without a problem. I would venture to say that this trimmer should be able to handle anything the average homeowner can throw at it and then some. It also has great balance and is not very heavy. I believe it is lighter than the cordless model due to not having the battery pack. The cord is a non issue as it plugs in the back and is never in the way of the cutting area although it is something you should be aware of. I use the Black and Decker MM875 corded mower (also a winner) so I just unplug the mower and plug in the trimmer. The 4 star review is due to the feeding issues I had. I am hoping it had something to do with the 1-2 ft high stout weeds and brush I cut down when I first bought it. Now to order some more line.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 50
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