EGO ST1521S vs Ryobi RY402110

Both of these are carbon fiber flagship trimmers with 0.095 inch line, and the temptation is to call it a coin toss. The spec sheets say otherwise: they are built around two different ideas of what goes wrong with a string trimmer, and they publish almost opposite sets of facts.

The short answer

The two spec sheets, side by side

The runtime gap is mostly the battery, but not entirely

Sixty-seven minutes against thirty looks decisive until you notice the packs are different sizes. Normalize for that and the gap narrows a long way — though it does not close.

The head is the real difference

Ask anyone who owns a string trimmer what they dislike about it and the answer is rewinding the spool. EGO's POWERLOAD threads the line through the head and winds it for you at the push of a button. Ryobi uses a conventional bump feed, which works perfectly well and which you load by hand.

Neither maker publishes a reload time, so we cannot put a number on the saving. What we can say is that this is the only meaningful mechanical difference between two otherwise similar tools, and it is worth deciding on deliberately rather than by price. The mechanisms are explained in trimmer heads explained.

The weight nobody can rank

Ryobi publishes 8.8 lb bare and 12.9 lb with the 6.0Ah pack fitted. EGO publishes nothing. That is an awkward gap on a tool held at arm's length: 12.9 lb at the end of a 72 inch shaft is real leverage, and a buyer with wrist or shoulder trouble needs the figure from both makers to choose.

We are not going to guess EGO's weight from a smaller battery and a shorter swath. The whole ranking of lightweight trimmers on this site carries the same hole — see best lightweight trimmers.

Who should buy the EGO ST1521S

Anyone already on EGO 56V, and anyone who wants one power head to do four jobs. The split shaft takes EGO's edger, hedge trimmer and pole saw attachments, POWERLOAD removes the job everybody hates, and the lifetime shaft warranty covers the component that snaps.

Buy it knowing the kit pack is 140Wh and 30 published minutes, and that EGO publishes no weight for it.

#ad Check the EGO Power+ 15" POWERLOAD Carbon Fiber ST1521S price on Amazon — how we're funded.

Who should buy the Ryobi RY402110

Large gardens with a lot of edge, and anyone already on Ryobi 40V. Sixty-seven minutes is more than double the EGO kit, the swath dials from 15 to 17 inches so tight borders and open verge get the same tool, and it is the more efficient machine per watt-hour.

Buy it knowing it is 12.9 lb with the pack in, that the head is a bump feed, and that Ryobi publishes no charge time, noise figure or attachment fitting for it.

#ad Check the Ryobi 40V HP Whisper 17" Carbon Fiber RY402110 price on Amazon — how we're funded.

Deciding between them

1. If you already own one of these platforms, stop. Neither difference here justifies stranding a battery collection.
2. If you have wrist or shoulder trouble, take the one that publishes a weight and check 12.9 lb against what you can hold.
3. If you want a trimmer that becomes an edger and a hedge trimmer later, take the split shaft — see multi-head attachment systems.
4. Otherwise, buy on runtime, and that is the Ryobi.

The EGO has a full review in the EGO ST1521S review, and the wider field is in best cordless string trimmers.

What we cannot tell you

We have not trimmed with either machine. EGO publishes no weight and no length for this configuration, so two rows of the table are blank on its side; Ryobi publishes no charge time and no warranty term on the page we cite. Neither publishes a decibel figure for these models. Neither states the grass or weed type behind its runtime claim, and neither publishes how long a line reload takes — which is the one number that would settle the POWERLOAD question.