“Breaking” it in

A couple of days ago we bought a new weed trimmer made by Echo. While we were looking at the display of 58-volt tools, the store manager came by and filled us in on their advantages. He said The Home Depot store managers gathered in Las Vegas (tough duty, I’ll wager)* where the Echo company extolled the new line of tools' virtues, so he really gave us the  pitch. Mostly it comes down to power and duration of charge.

 So far I’ve put in over two hours of continuous use with the trimmer, and it still has nearly one-third of a charge remaining. In the photo the four red lights indicate that it's fully charged. In only forty minutes! Slave-driver!  At least with our old gas-powered trimmers, you have to refill the tank after just under two hours, giving you a nice break.

When I go to put the trimmer away on the back porch I carry it vertically. The spinner end is up in the air and has a tendency to hit the hanging lamp. I hit it once yesterday, breaking it a teensy bit. Then I whacked it again today and that did the most damage. Fortunately I was wearing a hat so when the glass came down it landed on the hat. Only one little piece hit my arm and the loss of blood was so tiny even a mosquito would starve if that’s all it got for a meal.




While at the store, Karla spotted the 16-inch (41 cm) chain saw that uses the same battery. “I want it,” she said, complaining about how hard it is to start a gas-powered saw after it’s been unused for months. That idea sounds good, since I can’t remember ever breaking a hanging lamp when putting a chain saw away.

*Get it? Wager, Las Vegas. Heh heh.