Black + Decker 18V PowerConnect Cordless Strimmer 28cm review: A lightweight trimmer with a shot of turbo power

The Black + Decker 18V PowerConnect Cordless Strimmer 28cm might look like an ordinary grass trimmer, but don’t be fooled. On its 1 or Eco setting, it’s a mild-mannered strimmer for small to medium-sized gardens, tackling lightweight lawncare and border edging jobs with ease. 

On its 2 or Turbo setting, it’s a bit of a tearaway, ripping through clumps of thick grass or chunky weeds as if they were nothing. Put the two together and add a clever adjustable design, and you’ve got a great all-rounder that should make short work of tidying many gardens.

Black + Decker 18V PowerConnect Cordless Strimmer 28cm review: What do you get for the money?

Put simply, you get an 18V cordless grass trimmer using Black + Decker’s PowerConnect battery family. It runs a 1.6mm cutting line from an auto-feed spool, with the line spinning at a maximum 11,500rpm. It also features an extending shaft and a flip-to-edge mechanism that rotates the shaft by 180 degrees for edging. You can buy the tool on its own for £65 if you have existing PowerConnect batteries, or as a kit with a 2A battery and basic charger that costs £99.

The strimmer comes pre-assembled except for a black plastic guard, which needs to be fitted and screwed into place, and after that all you need to do is remove the tape that holds the line in place, rotate the top handle into position – it clicks into a range of different angles – then extend the shaft until you reach an ergonomic height. The shaft extends from roughly 82cm to 103cm in length, and is locked in place or unlocked by twisting a cuff below the orange control section. This also makes it easier to pack away and store; just reduce the length and move the top handle until it’s flat against the body, and the tool will take up very little space in your shed or garage. 

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Black + Decker 18V PowerConnect Cordless Strimmer 28cm review: How easy is it to use? 

It’s not as well balanced or supported as the Bosch UniversalGrassCut 18-26 (£186) or Gardena EasyCut 23-18V (£80), but at 2.33kg the PowerConnect Cordless Strimmer 28cm isn’t too heavy, and the chunky top handle takes much of the strain from the grip. My left arm was a little tired after 20 minutes of continuous strimming, but not unusually so. It helps that the strimmer is easy to activate – just press in the lock on the side of the handle then squeeze the trigger – while you can shift between the Eco and Turbo settings using the sliding switch above the grip.

There’s no wire plant guard, so you’ll need to be careful when you’re cutting around borders, trees or shrubs. Otherwise, there’s not much to it. The flip-to-edge mechanism works smoothly, and puts the head in a comfortable position where it can roll next to your border, trimming grass and weeds along the edge and leaving you with a nice, crisp line. My only serious grumble is that the auto-line feed isn’t flawless, and once or twice left me without the full length to work with. Sometimes bumping the reel on the ground seemed to fix this, though there’s no mention of any bump feed mechanism in the instructions.

Either way, it’s not a serious problem, and Black + Decker actually earns some Brownie points by providing clear instructions and even diagrams for replacing the line when it eventually runs out. You won’t be forced to buy pre-filled spools with this one.

Black + Decker 18V PowerConnect Cordless Strimmer 28cm review: How well does it strim?

I didn’t expect great performance from the PowerConnect Cordless Strimmer 28cm when I turned it on in Eco mode, yet it turned out to be very effective, clipping through scruffy areas of grass next to walls and garden furniture with ease, and handling some unruly sections of lawn in my back garden without any issues. Black + Decker claims that its E-drive system adjusts the speed and torque to match the current conditions, and it seems to do a decent job. Even areas of quite thick grass and sneaky thistles were sliced through without posing much of a challenge.

When you do meet something tougher, the Turbo setting will often tackle it. Thicker thistles on the edges of my back garden, and even some quite woody weeds, were dealt with without any difficulties, and only tough brambles and patches of long and wiry ryegrass proved resistant. Even there the line kept going in a bid to cut through, rather than stop or get tangled up, as was the case with the Gardena EasyCut 23/18V when I tested it earlier in the season. In Turbo mode, the Black + Decker can give it some serious welly.

It is fairly noisy, however. I measured 89dB in Eco mode and up to 92.5dB in Turbo mode, so you’ll want some kind of ear defence while strimming. Perhaps the biggest issue, though, is battery life. Even in Eco mode it lasted just 22 minutes, dropping to 18 minutes in Turbo mode. What’s more, the bundled charger in the kit version is painfully slow, taking 4hrs 53mins to recharge the 2A battery from empty. Black + Decker’s BDC1A fast charger can do the job in just under two hours, so it’s definitely worth getting if you’re investing in the PowerConnect ecosystem.

Black + Decker 18V PowerConnect Cordless Strimmer 28cm review: Should I buy it? 

Quite possibly, if you have a small to medium-sized garden. It’s not just an affordable trimmer, but a really versatile all-rounder. It will cover all your basic lawncare and edging needs, but it’s also got enough power for light weed-whacking duties, provided your garden isn’t really overgrown. It’s not quite as good for comfort or convenience as the Gardena EasyCut 23/18V or Bosch EasyGrassCut 18V 230, but it’s slightly cheaper once you factor in the price of batteries and charger, and it can handle tougher jobs. Battery life could be better, but for smaller gardens this is everything you need.