Makita Brushless Line Trimmer Kit DUR189RM
VerifiedMPN: DUR189RM13 reviews
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easy to use, and lightweight, except for reloading the line cartridge – This is a good line trimmer in general. It is also fairly light. It did pack up a week after its use by date (end of guarantee period) and Bunnings told me to drive it 35 km west, accross Adelaide to some service centre. They repaired it as if under guarantee, which was decent. Now that I have excellent green Stihl line in it it works well… Read more
on long grass. The Stihl guy in Mt Barker kindly loaded it for me. It is very difficult to replace the line. A really fiddly job that also requires strong hands to get the line cartridge out of its socket. I highly recommmend the bright green Stihl line as the unit works much much better with this line, rather than what it comes with.
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Makita batteries not compatible – Just bought a Makita DUR189RM Brushless Line Trimmer after returning a RYOBI thinking Makita is better quality and batteries are compatible / interchangeable between all Makita battery powered tools . . . apparently not! Pretty disapointing since the Ryobi was over $100 cheaper for the equivalent size / power. Then making it worse the reviews… Read more
here are not good for this Makita trimmer. Think I might be taking it back. Anyway just check your batteries are interchangeable as my 18V Makita Impact drill batteries wont fit the line trimmer even though they are identical apart from one very minor detail where the drill battery has a full length outer slide rail and the new trimmer battery doesnt - refer to pictures comparing the two - hopefully this prevents others from making the same mistake. Trimmer battery fits the drill but drill battery wont slide all the way into the line trimmer. Bugger!!
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Don't waste your money, – Brought it today and returning today, Just got it to do normal house yard and I tried it for a few minutes and I gave up would've of taken for ever, It's just too gutless. I even read the manual to see if I can turn it up, but I was on top speed already, I'd hate to see that the bottom of the line of makita trimmer is like. Show details
it works ok, but has a lot of shortcomings – This is my first electric line trimmer. My previous trimmer was a Talon petrol model, which was an excellent unit. However, Talon no longer exists and nobody makes replacement heads for it, so I had to look for another trimmer. As I've gone with an electric mower, I thought I'd also go electric with the line trimmer. Motor seems adequate in power… Read more
for what I need. Battery life is nothing like they claim. I get maybe 25-30 minutes tops out of the supplied 4Ah battery with medium thick edges to trim, albeit Kikuyu grass. Not a big deal, especially with a 6Ah battery. But some misleading claims there.
It has 3 speeds that can be manually selected (which I like) and a an auto speed function which isn't much good. Always runs too slow to cut efficiently. And the head won't bump feed on 1st speed. So I usually run it between 2nd & 3rd speed. Would be nice to have the option of the trigger controlling the speed like the petrol trimmers, so I don't have to keep fiddling around with the controller swapping between the different speeds as required.
It's not overly effective on Kikuyu grass, then that probably comes down to the chord. Won't cut through the thick stuff.
Compared to my Talon, I have to get a lot closer to the edges I'm trimming. Like the cutting radius is small. The fold down metal/wire guard is apparently designed to protect the head from contacting the ground. But with this folded down, you can't get close enough to cut properly. So it remains permanently folded up.
Loading the line trimmer head is confusing for the first few times and very fiddly. My Talon was easy, almost fool proof. Fit both ends of the chord into the holes and spin the top of the head automatically loading the chord on. Cut the chord in the middle and it's good to go. The Makita is terrible in comparison. It's feels cheap, difficult to get apart once it's got dirt etc in the release tabs. They provide you with an allen key that slots back into the top of the unit that you slide into a hole, to lock the head, so you can loosen it. Seems like a strange afterthought and it's easily lost. My Talon just had a button you held in to lock the head.. The instructions are confusing how to wind the chord on. There is a left & right hand direction arrow which would suggest you can wind it on either way (for whatever reason), but it will only work if you wind it on in the right hand direction. And because you have to wind the chord on yourself (unlike the Talon which fed the chord in as you spun the ratchet top), it is easy to get the chord crossed over itself, which will jam the chord and prevent it from self or bump feeding. Requires pulling the head off again and reinstalling the chord. Gets very frustrating after a while. It's already showing signs of needing replacement only after 12 months use. I had my Talon for over 10 years before the head needed replacement.
Today I found the cutting blade under the metal shield which keeps the trimmer chord at the right length has fallen off somewhere.
Petrol to Battery – Just bought and used out of the box: After a lifetime of using many brands of “petrol” Line Trimmers/Whipper Snippers, I finally had enough of mixing fuels..having to go get gas/oils for them..pull starting..(swearing and seeing how far I could throw them lol), I decided to make the transition to battery powered. Well I’m impressed..of course… Read more · 1
they lack the grunt and smell of the petrol but.. with this model I’m glad to say I am at peace.. i have a 930sq yard and trim right around every edge from front footpath to backyard garden edging. I used the auto speed and it worked..I used slow/medium/fast speeds..it worked…cuts the same as my old Stihls just not as strong so be advised..go with the flow and adjust to it. Yes the old body aches still kicked in but not as bad as before..it was quieter and lighter.
My overall opinion.. yet to see how it stands up after time but for now I will adjust to the transition and enjoy more time cutting grass rather then chasing up fuel/oil and “HULKiNG OUT” trying to get the thing started.
FIRST USAGE: Operation…easy Restringing…easy (used a full spool out of the box) Battery 4ah…still full (new battery though) and expect that to change over time
Old saying “you get what you buy” so do some online research and choose well… GOODLUCK
Can't trust Makita line trimmers – My Makita line trimmer was subject to a recall and Makita are disgraceful the way they deal with recalls. I’ll never buy a Makita product again because of the way they dealt with my situation. I bought a Makita line trimmer from Bunnings. I used it a handful of times, 5 at most, until I realised it was defective a couple of years later and… Read more
found there was a recall notice on it.
I took it back to Bunnings to have it ‘repaired’ by a Makita authorised repairer.
After I got it back, I spent months trying to get it working without any success, then just started borrowing line trimmers from friends and family.
I tried to get it going again this year and took it to a Makita service centre at Keilor Park in October and they said an angle grinder had been taken to it and that's why it’s not working. I dealt with a donkey who was the service manager who just had a good laugh at my predicament and suggested I did the damage – brilliant customer service! Yeah, so every tool I have that doesn’t work, I unscrew the casing and go to work on it! Don’t have an angle grinder also by the way. What a drongo!
While Makita think it’s a joke and have no concept of customer service, $200 is a lot to families who have little to no additional income to spend these things.
My advice is to avoid Makita like the plague.
Almost perfect – Bought mine from Bunnings for $299 with a 4amp/hr battery and charger, really good deal. It is so light and easy to use and cuts through nearly all the grass and weeds on our 1 acre semi rural block. It runs for at least 45mins before the battery is empty. My only complaint is how it throws most of the cut grass/ weeds onto the motor. It ends up… Read more
being stuck to the hot motor and is very difficult to get off, particularly as you can’t use water on the motor. Really poor design, a built in shield could have been incorporated on the safety shield to fix this problem. Don’t know why Makita didn’t address this issue, but hope they do on future models.
Dur 189RM Great Line Trimmer but has it's bump feed head problems – Hi yes it is Makita 189RM or 189Z for australian trimmers RM is with a charger and battery Z is skin only.. i have owed this for 1.5years now and although the 189rm has performed great and replaced my ryobi 2stroke of 20years, it does come with some problems, let me explain my bump/feed spool pn 456642-2 or whole bump pn 198972-2 came with a LH… Read more · 3
and RH Arrow of how to spool wire and is extremely confusing as it will only work if done RH arrow so i scratched the LH out on spool after a few hit and misses.. bump feed head Tread is 8mm-1.25mm pitch, RH.. threads on spindle right orientation.. trimmer line i advise not to go over 2.0mm and keep bump system inside free from soil and grass as it tends to build up inside spool section so it stops bump feeding properly..
if makita reads this, umm design problem with 198972-2 ?? bump feed head..whats my alternative?
yesterday i discovered my bump tip had a hole in it and spool spring had dropped out..1.5years of use,hmm no happy about that, ordered new bump feed head from bunnings at $31.66 as 456642-2 cant be bought separate at bunnings? my ryobi bump lasted over 18years before i replaced it..
The 189rm, motor is tough and rest of unit has been great and trims about 800m2 with a lot of edges concrete/driveway strips and grass every 7-10days in wetish boggy sandy soil of central coast nsw, whole job takes me 2hours with mowing. trimmer works hard at my house so claimed endurance of battery time is not on par with what makita states? i use the 4ah genuine and a ebay 5ah aftermarket to do my yard no dramas and have 2bars left.. i use high setting on trimmer Dur 189rm always and just let the motor do its job without labouring it. means i guess let it build up max speed.. over all im happy with makita 189rm unit except bumpfeed head life span caught me out by surprise as i love makita tools. i hope this review will help someone out there from what i have learnt from 1.5years of ownership.
This is a bit crap – The box says" two hour running time 5 amp hr battery 4 amp hr supplied" so you would expect 80% of two hrs, that turns out to be 96 minutes(1 hr 36 minutes) I am lucky to get 45 minutes of cutting time. Seems like two hours running would be on a bench under no load. Not really honest advertising. This is not as powerful as my old 2 stroke Homelite… Read more
the cutting circle is smaller and it struggles with Kikuyu grass. The spool has two arrows to indicate direction of winding, they point in opposite directions and are labeled LH and RH, so no confusion there. Yeah mine came with crap line as well.
Adequate entry level trimmer – DUR189RM. This is my first Line Trimmer and overall it does the job on my average size suburban block with it's share of challenges but perhaps not suitable for bigger heavy duty jobs. Although it's no beast it does quite a good job on general grass and heavier weeds, so I really can't say I'm disappointed for what I'd expect at the price paid.… Read more
It's powerful enough for my needs.
The handle grip can be adjusted along the shaft and rotates too, helping with edge trimming, which is doable with practice but one feels that other trimmers (perhaps straight shaft) would be more suitable.
The runtime from the 18V 4.0AH battery is adequate for my block but would not want a lesser battery. The wire guard seems a little gimmicky and something I could easily forego but I have used it occasionally such as where I wanted to avoid the noise form hitting against a colorbond fence. The variable RPM settings is a useful and excellent feature.
Initially I had some concern with it's overall length. I'm 5'11" with good arm span and although the shaft length is adjustable I felt it was ergonomically a bit short but have since found that perhaps this is more a case of getting experienced with how best to hold it? Perhaps still something to consider if you are really tall.
Overall I'm satisfied with this unit and the yard is certainly nice and tidy now, which basically is all I wanted from a $300 dollar purchase. Four stars.
Doesn't do the job, hard to work with – I had the similar issue, only used it 3 times with grief! Went to bunnings to refund or exchange, but they didn't accept refund, not even exchange! They said Makita device doesn't have an exchange policy unless something mechanically wrong with it. But they mentioned Ryobi would have had!!! Now i am stuck with it and probably need to sell it online somewhere! Show details
Makita lost the plot – I bought a brand new unit, $299 at a Bunnings near me. Had great expectations after reading glowing reviews from punters. I was greatly disappointed when I found what probably was a good unit had line that disintegrated under its own weight or at the sight of a fledgling blade of grass. Some clever person at Makita China thought it a good idea to… Read more
put crap line in the cutting head. If you pay $300 for a unit, u expect to get something better than rubbish. I have returned the unit and got a refund. I needed the unit to do a job, it failed, it got returned. This review may cost Makita sales, someone should have thought of that b4 they put crap line in their units.
Ticks All the Boxes – Having spent a couple of days reading specifications for various battery-operated whipper snippers and reading variable reviews for many brands, I settled on the Makita DUR189 Cordless Grass Trimmer. I bought it from Bunnings yesterday for $299, put it together last night (a relatively easy job) and used it for forty minutes this morning. … Read more
Obviously it hasn't been tested for durability, but it ticks the boxes in all other aspects - which has prompted me to express my enthusiasm here.
Firstly, it is under 4kg and has an adjustable shoulder strap, a telescopic shaft and overall ergodynamic design, making it a pleasure to use - it is not tiring to use. As the specifications indicate, it is quiet compared to petrol machines (65db ?). The line is 2 mm, which is sturdy enough to cut well. An excellent (and unique?) feature is the wire guard. I could move along walls at a good rate with the wire guard sliding along the walls at the right distance so that the cutting twine wasn't damaging the walls or being worn down from hitting them. I was surprised at what a good feature this is. There is a simple press button on/off switch and a trigger and there are three speeds. I decided on this first use to leave it on the maximum speed. That gave me 40 minutes which included doing garden edges, along retaining walls and a bank with tall weeds (which it cut without any problems). I imagine in future I will be able to use the slower speeds for some areas, giving a longer battery life.
Incidentally, the kit comes with an 18V 4.0 Ah battery and rapid charger. It takes about 40 mts to charge. I should also mention that the spool is very easy to remove so rethreading it will not be difficult when the time comes.
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