DeWalt Split Boom DCMAS5713X1-XE

Avoid - buy a fixed shaft – Lasted less than a month As with other reviews small button sheared off leaving device unusable. The mechanism is clearly not up to dealing with rotational force. Both sydney tools / dewalt needed threats of consumer action for refund. So 1 star for sydney tools and 1 star for dewalt customer service / this tool. Because I already had dewalt… Read more

batteries I purchased the split shaft device (which only folds) - this works very well for line trimming however the brush cutting attachment provided by sydney tools didn't fit.

Worked very nicely… for a couple of hours – I'm reviewing this tool as a brush cutter, so I'm really reviewing two Dewalt products together, the Power Head (DCMAS5713N-XE) and Brush Cutter Attachment (DCMASBC1N-XE). (Dewalt doesn't sell these as a single package, so I have to post my review on the individual parts.) I'll cut straight to the punchline. This tool didn't last out a single day… Read more

of use. Within a few hours it had broken. What broke was the tiny spring-loaded button on the shaft of the attachment which pops through the corresponding hole on the shaft of the tool, to make sure the two are aligned properly. I realised something was wrong when the whole attachment started to turn on the shaft. Upon inspection, I noticed that the button had completely broken off.

I went back to Total Tools and (after arguing my case) was given the choice of a refund or replacement. I took the refund, explaining that I had completely lost confidence in the tool.

Here's why I think the design is flawed…

I was cutting through scrub comprising mostly of thin wattle saplings, and the tool was actually working very nicely. I quickly gauged the ability of the tool, good for cutting through stems up to around 2 cm maybe. Somewhere around that point, the tool would struggle or cut out, so I was focusing on the thinner stuff. My point is, I was using the tool responsibly—it should have been able to cope with the workload I was putting it under.

There is obviously a fair amount of torque at the point of connection between the two shafts, especially when the tool encounters thicker material. Where the shafts connect, there is a thumbscrew which I had fully tightened. When that little button broke, the thumbscrew was not enough to stop the shafts turning and coming out of alignment. In other words, that little button is doing more than aligning the two shafts—it's clearly absorbing much of that torque. I'm not convinced such a tiny, delicate part was designed to handle that.

The sales guy at Total Tools said that they sell hundreds of these things and very few come back, but he did concede that he had seen the broken button before. Perhaps most other customers use it for less demanding work? Maybe I was just unlucky? Maybe a replacement would have lasted a month, or a year, or several years… but I reckon it was bound to break sooner or later, which is why I took the refund.

(Oh, and the harness is a pretty bad joke, as other reviewers have already mentioned.)

Nifty line trimmer and brush cutter, an upgrade from your petrol model – I had to wait about two years for the DeWalt Split Boom Power Head Multi-Tool (not sure exactly what to call it) to come out, as I wanted a brushcutter but DeWalt didn’t have any in their range! Then the arrival of this tool kept getting pushed back, presumably due to Covid disruptions. I bought mine as soon as it became available, in February… Read more

2022.

I’ve used the tool on a number of occasions now, with the string trimmer and the brushcutter, and I’m quite pleased with it. It has plenty of power, and it’s great not to have to worry about the hassles of a petrol whipper-snipper. With this one you don’t have to mix two-stroke or use petrol, you don’t get exhaust fumes, it’s much easier to start, there’s less vibration and it’s much quieter, though still warrants the use of earmuffs. For me it’s also important that I’m not burning a fossil fuel or emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. I’d say this battery powered tool could match or exceed the performance of most petrol powered equivalents, so there’s no longer any excuse to be using the petrol powered versions.

I used the string trimmer to cut some very thick and tall grass. It was slow going and I was burning through the batteries and cord, but the tool performed well. The bump mechanism on the string trimmer works quite effectively for releasing more cord, and saves the hassle of having to stop and release more by hand. On the downside though, I did find I accidentally released extra cord a number of times when I hit a rock or bump with the bottom of the spool. This meant I had to stop and wind the cord back in to avoid it being cut-off and wasted by the little blade on the guard that cuts the cord to length to ensure it’s not too long. My manual also states that 2.4 mm cord can be used instead of the 2.0 mm cord that is primarily recommended, and I believe it performs better with the larger cord.

I used the brush cutter attachment on thick grass, blackberries and gauze, and it worked pretty well. It’s slower cutting through grass than the string trimmer. It had no trouble with the blackberries except that I found it a little difficult to get some of the loose hanging canes into the blade to be cut without them bouncing out. It cut the gauze better than I expected, though the motor did cut out a few times when it hit the larger gauze stems. It can’t really handle stems more than about 25 mm I guess. I noticed that the blades were quite blunt when I got them, and I wonder how much better it’d perform if they were sharpened. I was also hoping to be able to fit a circular saw type blade for larger trunks, but the instruction manual forbids this.

The biggest shortcoming I found with this kit was not with the tool itself but that the harness that came with it was way too big. I’m actually exactly average height for an Australian man (175.6 cm), and a healthy weight of about 70 kg, so I would have thought I’d be somewhere in the middle of the range of the harness adjustability, and yet even when it’s as tight as it can go, it’s still super loose on me! I tried shortening some of the straps but it was still a bit out of proportion and didn’t work well. Thus I have to use the tool without the harness. At least it’s reasonably light, so it’s not too much of an issue.

I can’t comment on how well the power head works with the hedge trimmer or pole saw attachments as I haven’t used them. I probably won’t get the pole saw attachment as I already have the 18V DeWalt pole saw, though I may get the hedge trimmer attachment at some point. It’s neat to have the options at least, though the attachments don’t seem particularly cheap. Overall I’m pleased with the tool, and it seems like a good idea to have the options of running different attachments with the one head, to save on the number of full tools you need to buy, and save a bit of space. If you’re still using the petrol equivalents of these tools, I’d recommend switching to this one.