The Ryobi ONE+ 18V Cordless Battery String Edger Almost Makes It Too Easy to Take Care of My Lawn (I Save Hundreds Every Month!)

When we became first-time homeowners a few years ago, we knew absolutely nothing about maintaining a yard — as longtime apartment renters, we’d never actually had one before. As soon as the first spring came around, we watched one landscaping company truck after another arrive on our block. Hiring someone else to cut and maintain the grass and landscaping seemed to be the thing to do in our neighborhood. We tried it too for the first year, but quickly realized that the hefty monthly cost — around $400 a month — was money we’d rather spend elsewhere. So the following spring we bought our first lawnmower and decided to mow and maintain our own lawn from then on to save some extra cash. 

Despite our best efforts, our yard is a work in progress and we battle unruly weeds all the time. Mowing our small lawn is a piece of cake, but when we first started doing it, we felt like it never looked quite as polished as when the professionals did it. Of course we expected that, as we’re not pros, but we did miss the clean look and feel of a post-professional yard grooming. It turns out, we were missing an essential tool. One day our neighbor stopped us mid-mow and asked if we wanted to borrow their edger to “add the finishing touches.” Honestly, we hadn’t even thought about buying an edger. We knew what they were, but figured with a yard as tiny as ours it wasn’t really necessary to use one. We couldn’t have been more wrong. Our neighbor suggested we invest in an edger to help us with all of the little weeds that would creep up along the sides of our fence  — we live in a corner house. It was great advice and it kicked off our search for the perfect edger for a small yard like ours. The first few we tried were super heavy or awkward to use, and feeding the string again and again was so frustrating.

But I have good news: We finally found one we love and now swear by. The Ryobi 18V ONE+ 10″ String Trimmer/Edger Kit was the perfect addition to our home landscaping tool box. We’d heard horror stories about string edgers that were tough to reload and too heavy to use comfortably, but this budget-friendly find instantly impressed us.

Typically you might use a lawn edger to neaten up all of the edges where your grass meets other surfaces, like sidewalks, patios, or fences, because these areas can be tough to reach with any sized lawn mower. The Ryobi ONE+ is cordless and the battery lasts over 30 minutes (with a 2Ah battery), so it’s perfect to just grab and trim anywhere in your yard that needs touching up. It’s compact and surprisingly lightweight, but very powerful. It also features an overmold handle and twisting shaft that make it easy to comfortably tackle any spot in your yard without any awkward positioning. My husband is still working on perfecting his “line game,” but says the handle on this edger makes it fun to practice and he’s sure he’ll master it soon enough.

We found this edger to be super easy to reload and it features a self-feeding string. We’ve used it all summer long and had no issues to date with performance or quality of trim.

As a bonus, if you’ve already purchased other Ryobi landscaping products, you should know that this edger is part of the Ryobi ONE+ system and any of the 18V ONE+ batteries you may already have will work with it. This came in handy for us because when the battery dies, we can just grab the one from our Ryobi mower and keep edging.

If you have a small or tiny yard and only need to use an edger or trimmer for quick touch-ups after mowing your lawn, this kit couldn’t be a better fit for you. It’s been an excellent choice for beginners like us who are only just learning the importance of adding an edger into our landscaping routine. It gets the job done every time and is a breeze to use and store away. If you’re more serious about edging dos and don’ts and need a powerhouse edger for a larger yard or more frequent landscaping, you may want to try one of the more advanced models — this might not be for you.

What’s in your yard maintenance tool kit? Tell me about your favorite products below — I may just try them out next!

Buy Now: Ryobi ONE+ 18V Cordless Battery String Edger Kit, $89

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