20V MAX* String Trimmer / Edger, 12-Inch (LSTE523)

This is a great trimmer for home use. It's light, can do both trimming and edging, and has improved significantly over the previous model. The cordless concept gives you a lot of freedom. I have a corded edger with a blade and it's great for the really challenging parts of the lawn, but nothing beats the convenience of this cordless model. How well does it trim? For a home with a front and back yard (probably around 4000 sq ft lawn space) I found the 3Ah battery just enough to cover both yards if using a judicious mix of the two power settings. The low power setting is fine for most of the trimming and even some of the edging, but I use the higher power setting for thicker growth. This is for St. Augustine grass common in the south. If you have hardier substances to cut or if you need to use the higher power setting more than I do you may have to charge in the middle of the job and it does take a while to charge an empty battery. You can also buy additional compatible batteries on the Black and Decker 20v systems on Amazon which I would recommend for those with larger/tougher jobs. Which one is for you? The biggest differences with this model series are the batteries they come with and the string feed mechanism. I've included a chart to help understand the differences between the models. Some thoughts: - The basic 522 and 523 appear to be physically identical trimmers except for the string feed. The 522's is automatic, the 523's is manual. My old 400 had an automatic feed that worked but there were times I would have liked to have been able to feed it when the automatic didn't trigger. - The 523 appears to be sold in two options (at least it was when I bought mine). One option comes with a 3Ah battery, the other comes with a 1.5Ah battery. The bigger battery is heavier but lasts longer. If you have a smaller lawn, or you want the lightest weight, maybe the smaller battery unit is better for you. Although the unit is not heavy, you may feel it after using it for forty minutes. Again, if battery life is an issue, Amazon sells additional batteries separately, and they're compatible with the whole line of Black and Decker devices including cutters, drills, and more. - The 525 seems to be identical to the 523 but comes with a choice of either a 3Ah battery or two 1.5Ah batteries. - The entire 500 series (522, 523, etc) are a big improvement over the 400 series due to modifications to the trimmer/edger conversion mechanism and also the change of the auxiliary handle's friction clamp to instead a fixed pivot point on the handle assembly. This makes the 500 series easier to use and more reliable. 6-Jun-2019 update: Saw a bunch of negative reviews from people that had issues with quality control on their units. I don't doubt them. I had issues with the previous generation of this unit. All I can say is that even with issues, I got four years out of the previous model and this one so far has worked fine. Stories of the awful (and probably outsourced) support from Black and Decker are disappointing, but that's the price of dealing with some corporations.

Very easy to use: twist the shaft to go from horizontal cutting to vertical; battery attachment couldn't be easier. However, recommend larger battery for all but tiny yards and requirements. It is light weight compared to the bulky electric cable or gas edgers. Trims both weeds and borders usually on low power. Has a higher power usage switch for stubborn weeds. This is designed as a grass edger, but as stated does light weeds as well, especially at higher power offering. It certainly would have now replaced my Stihl gas trimmer I needed 25+ years ago where I chopped down 4-6' weeds. Now that I am back to civilization and have just a grass property, this is fantastic. Stores easily in the golf cabinet in my garage that came with the house. I bought extra spools of cutting material, but haven't replaced the original yet after all Summer. The automatic spool advance works without any trouble as does the manual advance when desired. Couldn't be happier unless wife wants to do the outside trimming.

I recently had a two year old, $200 gas powered trimmer go out. Tried to get it repaired, but the motor had lost compression and was not economical to fix. Needless to say, I have been extremely dissapointed at the longevity I got out of that one and decided to explore some alternatives. I have just under a 1 acre lot, so quite a bit of edges to keep trimmed. After researching, it seemed like the main negatives to battery powered models are: 1. Batteries don't run very long in a cycle. 2. Batteries have a short lifespan. I ended up going with this model over the more expensive, but similarly specc'd Dewalt version when I found that there were replacement batteries available on Amazon at a reasonable price. The available/cheap replacement batteries take care of issue #2 for me. As far as #1 goes, the run time I get off a charge is acceptable. I only run it in the high power mode (power issued addressed next) and I comfortably get 20 minutes. I don't generally don't do the entire yard every week, so this is more than enough time for my needs. I presume that it would get substantially longer run times on the low power mode. My main complaint is something that wasn't on the original list -- lack of power. Even when I run it at the high power setting, it isn't anywhere near the level of a gas powered version. "That's not a fair comparison" you say? I disagree -- this is sold as a trimmer tool, and it should meet the performance expectations of that tool. Electric motors should be able to put out plenty of torque. Part of the power issue is that the string dispenser lets out only one strand instead of two that you normally see on a gas powered version. Even if it spun at the same speed/torque, it just doesn't have the same ability to mow down grass. That said, it does get the job done, albeit a bit slower than I'd like. Of course, this version has several benefits over a gas powered trimmer: It's lighter, it doesn't require me to maintain a oil/gas tank, it's easy to start, and the string dispenser is easy to change. Battery charging time is a non-issue for me, and the battery charger included is compact. If I can get a couple years out of this tool, I'll count it as a success.

Excellent tool, easy to use. I use it for my lawn edging and to get rid of weeds, it makes weeds vanish in a click. What I love the most about this tool are the followings: 1-Smart Design: I can turn the header the way I want to, and the hand is adjusteable, the length of the tool is adjustable but I choose the longest option. 2-The feed line is easy to adjust, there is a button that you push to extend the line, or simply just pull it manually, it never got stuck to the cartridge so it is easy to pull. 3- The battery is just powerfull, after full charge I use it for my front and back yards, and it still has juice left. 4- It is by Black and Decker, yes when it comes to tools Brands matter, I never had any issues with any of their products. 4- The Price, I just LOVE IT! less than $90 for a tool that is worth everey penny.

I bought the LSTE523 which comes with a single 3.0 Ah battery instead of the LSTE525 which has a pair of 1.5 Ah batteries. The main reason is because I have a bunch of the 1.5 Ah batteries for my other Black and Decker 20V Lithium Max devices. The 3.0 Ah battery comes with a 400mA charger, whereas the normal charger is 200 mA. So if you wanted a higher capacity battery to use for other devices (like a leaf blower/sweeper), this is the model to get. That being said, I ran my LSTE523 in Mode 1 (power saving) with one of the 1.5 Ah batteries I had (not fully charged) and was able to clear up my yard of weeds and even edged the front lawn on that single battery. So I am unsure why others said their batteries only lasted 5-20 minutes. I was able to run it longer than 20 minutes on a half charged 1.5 Ah battery, basically doing the front and back yards without any hassle. The unit is very lightweight and easy to use by anyone. Switching to edger mode takes half a second by using 2 knobs. The unit takes 0.065 string and comes with a small spool of clear trimmer line. I didn't really need to extend the trimmer line during operation. What impressed me the most was the power of the motor on the lowest power setting. It make short work of thick grass that my mower couldn't reach. I hated using the gas trimmer, especially the 2-stroke trimmers. They were heavy, finicky, hard to start, and smelled terrible. I recommend the 3.0 Ah just to get the bigger battery and faster charger.

Bought this trimmer because we were limiting our battery operated items to two brands to eliminate so many batteries and chargers. For the bigger items we went with Greenworks but figured we would try this Black and Decker to match our other tools. We were not disappointed. My husband thinks it is very powerful and likes that you can push the button to feed the line and that he can buy the string already ready to install. He has always hated wrapping the string. Anyways it has more than enough power and now that it comes with a bigger battery it seems to last for almost all of the yard. We have a second larger battery as well in case he runs out of juice before he is done but he has never used up both of the bigger batteries. We use the smaller 1.5 AH batteries for the drills and saws etc... but I would suggest if you are going to use the yard tools which seem to take more energy I would recommend having a couple batteries with 3AH or higher run time. I will say I wish the offered a curved shaft option as well. The last trimmer we had had this and for me I seemed to be able to use it without getting tired of holding. But my husband does not seem to mind and maybe for him it works a little easier because he seems to like it a lot. So I just pretty much leave it for him to do. I do know the shaft does adjust for length and maybe it is just not short enough for me but I have not really played with it too much as long as my husband is willing. It is lightweight and easy to use.

It worked very well for five months. The spinner stopped rotating. It did a decent job until then.not too powerful . Have to watch out for using in longer durations. Would only buy if your yard is very small and runs for less than 10 minutes in total. I smell something burned inside.

I bought this since I was looking for something easier to use and lighter to use. I have an excellent Stihl gas powered unit, but you have to use the shoulder strap AND as I get older and not in greatest shape, i have trouble pulling the cord to get it started. After reading the reviews, I took a chance on it. Great tool for doing trimming/edging. very light weight so easy to handle and hold and carry around. I have 1/2 acre and a lot of landscape blocks around trees and the house and all, so a lot of trimming to do and this trimmer did the job very well. I had not trimmed in a few weeks so the first time use it was a little slower than normal, but no problem. Now it is so easy and quick doing it every week, I am even edging the driveway weekly! Flipping it to edger is soooo easy and it works sooo well. I bought the unit with the 3.o battery, and the battery did not last the entire yard the first time (since the grass to trim was several weeks tall and I edged driveway and patio). I have since bought a 4.0 battery and between the two batteries, it works so very well, easy to use, weighs a lot less than the gas ones, and most of the other battery ones (and so easy to start!). I am planning on taking a look at the other Black and Decker yard tools, since same battery and I am impressed with this tool.