Greenworks 24V 13-inch Brushless Torqdrive string trimmer review

The Greenworks 24V 13-Inch Brushless Torqdrive is a simple, no-fuss electric string trimmer that offers decent performance at a good price. It isn’t the cheapest or the best string trimmer on the market, but it has an excellent balance of price and performance for those with smaller gardens.

Greenworks 24V 13-inch Brushless Torqdrive string trimmer review: design and build quality

I tested the 13-inch model, but Greenworks also offers a range of models from 10 to 15 inches for smaller or larger gardens respectively. A 13-inch cutting path is a good compromise for all uses, though.

The 13-inch Torqdrive model is a well-constructed string trimmer that feels robust. It should stand up to the bangs and bumps that it will encounter in use. The speed control falls nicely under the index finger, with the lock button under the thumb – both have to be pressed for the motor to start. These buttons have a smooth, positive feel. You aren’t likely to press the lock button by accident, and the speed control is responsive so you can use a slower speed for light foliage and save some battery power.

The Greenworks string trimmer is powered by a PowerAll 24V battery that comes with a charger that took about an hour and a half to charge up. The PowerAll name means that it works with any other Greenworks device that can run off 24V, which includes drills, saws, and even a range of wireless lawnmowers. It can’t drive devices that use the PowerAll 40V or 80V battery versions, though, so that rules out devices like the Greenworks chainsaw. A spare 4AH battery will cost you around $65.

One unusual feature here is a USB port on top of the battery. Plug in a charging cable and you can use this to recharge your phone, tablet, or other electronics. That’s a nice touch that could be useful in a power outage – just leave the battery on the charger and grab it to keep your phone going when you need it.

The business end of the Greenworks string trimmer has two lines coming out of it for a total cutting width of 13 inches. To spool out more line, you bump the bottom of the spool on the ground and it lets more out. This required a firm bump to trigger, though. It didn’t work on the soil, so I had to find a rock or piece of wood to bump on when the line broke.

Reloading the spool is a bit of a pain. You must remove the entire spool assembly to replace the line. You get two options here: you can either buy a pre-wound spool or replace the line on the existing spool. If you want to just replace the line, you need to remove the spool cover, remove the spool itself, hook the line through the clip then wind it onto both sides of the spool. Then you can replace the spool and replace the cover. This trimmer uses two lines, which come from either end of the same piece of line. It isn’t that difficult to do, but it is a lot more hassle than the Powerload feature of the Ego or the autoload feature of the DeWalt which don’t require you to remove the spool at all.

This trimmer has a telescoping shaft. Press the button on the head and the shaft telescopes down to make the trimmer easier to store in the off-season, or to adjust the length of the shaft for your height. The same button also allows you to rotate the head of the trimmer, turning the trimmer into an edger.

Greenworks 24V 13-inch Brushless Torqdrive string trimmer review: performance and accessories

The Greenworks string trimmer had moderate cutting power, but I found that it didn’t have enough oomph to get through anything thicker than a half-inch or so. It cut through grass and light foliage with ease, but even relatively soft plants with thicker stems like some large weeds in my yard were enough to stymie it. I ended up pulling them out and using the trimmer to clear the smaller plants that grew around them when trying to clear a wild plant bed.

I found that the 4 AH battery lasted about 35 minutes of moderate to vigorous use. That’s long enough for most uses, but it might be limiting if you are looking to clear a large area covered with heavier foliage.

Greenworks 24V 13-inch Brushless Torqdrive string trimmer review: verdict

The Greenworks 24V 13-inch Brushless Torqdrive is not the greatest string trimmer. It lacks the lower to cut through larger plants and has a slightly shorter battery life than some larger models. But it is also a lot cheaper, at less than half the price of some of the models I’ve tested. It is good enough for a small yard or lighter tasks like trimming edges and the odd weed, but I would suggest going up to one of the larger models if you need to clear a larger area on a regular basis.