Stihl FSA 57 Battery String Trimmer Review

[@EclecticLibra-xv4em]

I spent 17 years doing commercial landscaping working for a landscape company and about 20 properties a day 6 days a week. My body said no more and I got into a new career choice and now that I finally own just a basic home with a regular yard I sold all of my personal yard tools off because they are just ridiculous for what I need done for just me these days. I gave this model a shot and frankly it blew my mind. The first ever battery operated lawn tool I have ever owned and I can trim around the house and back yard fence 3 times before it needs to be charge. I cant speak about the life of the battery as I have not had it long but I do have the stihl 3 year warranty that came with the stick and battery so I figured under 200 bucks for a 3 year guarantee was not a bad deal. Ive used it on wet grass and some harder weed and shrub areas and it does ok. Not as clean on the thicker stuff but does work. I recommend so far if you dont need something stronger. Mind you this is not a tool to go make money with. Its for a basic yard and does just fine. Yes you can edge with it if you tilt just like any other strait shaft

[@TheLawnEngineer]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience!

[@jduub10]

Couple questions, What’s the battery recharge time? And, does the manual say whether it’s a brushless or brushed motor?. Thanks

[@TheLawnEngineer]

I did charging time in this video Stihl HSA 56 Hedge Trimmer Full Review- Unboxing - Trimming Plants for winter kzbin.info/www/bejne/rKiyZZhodtBljtU Unfortunately there is not motor information/specifications in the manual.

[@patdelvecchio5645]

can you use this for edging along driveway and walkways? meaning, is it easy to position it to be perpendicular vs horizontal? thanks

[@TheLawnEngineer]

It’s not the best but you can hold it upside down and get it done.

[@jeroen2082]

Thx for asking. I had the exact same question. Too bad it can't. I'm deciding between this one an the Stiga GT 500e. Hard choice.

[@EclecticLibra-xv4em]

Yes but you have to tilt like any other strait shaft. However it won't do as good of job unless the driveway edge has already been maintained before. Will do good for clean up of grass and weeds but not digging a clean line

[@morte2195]

After using it for a while, how do you like that 'autocut' line feed mechanism? If it works, it might be a pretty big deal. Every single line feed mechanism, on every single string trimmer I have ever used, in my entire life, regardless of price, has been a giant pain in my ass.

[@TheLawnEngineer]

The auto cut has worked very well so far. I see that you have to buy pre wound spools that you pop in. I heard of some people having trouble but they we’re trying to wind it themselves.

[@johnb307]

I also have one of these machines and so far the line feeder has worked with no problem at all. Yes, it is a first as like all the others I have had they were all useless. So far well done Stihl.

[@richardc6932]

After buying an FSA80 R I am going to pick up the RMA 460 with an additional AK30 battery. Sthil will send me that trimmer for on a promotional for free so I get another charger and battery for the 57 for my wife to play with. Offer ends here on July 31st. Great deal and the size will better suit my wife’s smaller size when she wants trim her flower beds. Happy wife, happy life and I get my mower. 🇨🇦👍👍👍👍👨‍🦳

[@TheLawnEngineer]

Awesome, that’s sounds like a good promotion. Thanks for sharing.

[@spg5658]

Made in VA Beach, USA! 🇺🇲👍

[@TheLawnEngineer]

Awesome, can’t beat that!

[@earlebaker2440]

An authorized dealer would never let anyone assemble their products, that is one reason you’ll never see STIHL products being sold at large box stores

[@TheLawnEngineer]

Great point, thanks for sharing.

[@BC-vh2ik]

Not true. I just bought one at Runnings....a big box store....and assembled it myself. And they have all Stihl products from chain saws to trimmers to hedge trimmers.

[@itsnot1673]

I dont mind battery tools for the most part but a battery string trimmer doesn't make any sense to me. Run time and weight are 2 reasons also locking you into a battery platform a big problem and also what happens when your lights go out for what ever reason, your out of action then too (no power to charge) I have the ego multi tool and i must say the hedger is pretty good but the chainsaw sucks

[@TheLawnEngineer]

You have valid points. I think battery energy density is good enough the relatively low power requirements of a string trimmer, but we don’t have to agree on that. I do agree with you on chainsaws. They have very high power consumption with a very small chassis. That is not a good match for battery power. They haven’t even gone away from two-stroke engines yet.

[@itsnot1673]

@@TheLawnEngineer yeah also not that its important but the pole saw is bad as it is literally junk very poorly made / designed i've warrantied it twice with exact same problems so have given up

[@TheLawnEngineer]

@@itsnot1673 that sucks. I think my father in law has the EGO pole saw, I’ll have to ask him if he has had any issues.