Bosch 06008A5870 ART 24 Electric Grass Trimmer, Cutting Diameter 24 cm

I am a brand loyal customer when it comes to Bosch products. I have a Bosch washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, drill etc etc, and I have the Bosch Rotak 43 Ergoflex Lawnmower, which is by far the best lawnmower I have ever owned, and I've owned a few, electric and petrol. I have also owned a couple of Bosch grass trimmers. What the heck were they thinking? The Easytrim 23 was probably the worst excuse of a grass trimmer ever available! Fair dooze to Amazon though, they accepted it back and refunded my hard earned without question. So it was with trepidation that I ordered the new Bosch offering, the ART 35 Heavy Duty. My previous Easytrim wouldn't have even knocked the clocks off a dandelion. This ART 35 knocks them into outer space! It kicks butt! I've owned petrol trimmers from various, shall I say, "top" companies, like Ry...... and McC...... and they were pants. Two stroke engines, stale petrol, dodgy chokes, need I go on, but I did like the power of the two stroke - umpteen kick - trimmers! This new Bosch provides just that - POWER!!! Plenty of it, but not enough to take chunks out of your path and throw hyper-speed chippings into your face and legs. And as a result of this the strim wire lasts much, much better. With my petrol ones I used to have 2.4mm wire and I'd easy get through a spool doing front and back gardens. I have not had a strimmer for nearly a year that actually strimmed anything, so my garden edges had been left to rack and ruin with three foot high coarse grass and weeds with two foot deep borders, so I was a bit concerned that NO grass trimmer would be able to cope too well. My fears however evaporated as soon as I pulled the triggers on my new toy! She purred like a contented lion and off we went to conquer the new world that had been created in my back garden. Humming merrily to herself, she easily consumed ALL that was put in front of her! Even Genghis Khan couldn't have eradicated the huge colony of weeds as swiftly and with such ease! We were done in no time at all, with just a few bumps of the spool required as the 1.6mm wire was lasting an age compared to what my petrol ones used to get through. We even did between the cracks in my path rudely made up of slabs, where weeds had dared to show their mocking faces. Normally, this would be where a full face mask and riot gear would be required for safety when using my petrol ones, but not this time! She did a very clean job without trying to kill me in the process. This grass trimmer is the mutts nuts, the yappers knackers, the dogs bo***x!!! I can't recommend it highly enough. And no, I don't work for Bosch, and no, I don't get out much either..... So now I have the very best lawnmower I have EVER owned, as well as the very, very best grass trimmer I have EVER owned, and lets face it, EVER likely to own! You shouldn't be disappointed with this at all. Bosch, at last, have completely nailed how a grass trimmer should - and does - operate! Team Rock .... Belong

Great for the price, easy to set up and use, however still has the problem with the cable release system, as commonly found on all these automated release cable bush cutters. A better brand that doesn't melt (the cable that comes with it fuses together and causes problems separating). A shorter cable also reduces this problem. The over body strap balances the unit well, and this is important when using the trimmer for more than 40 minutes as the unit becomes heavier in use and causes fatigue. The power cable is shockingly short. I wonder if this was deliberate so that you would buy the wireless version (selling at almost 3 times the price). A simple reel power extension cable remedies this, but it's just extra work. One thing though, with the amount of time wasted on resetting the trimmer cutting cable, the location of the power cable hinders holding the unit upright as such you need to balance the trimmer on a large flat surface (such as the lawn) and bend down to fix the cutting cables each time, which makes a tiresome job more tiring. It try to score it 3.5 out of 5, but as you can't award a half star, I've rounded up to 4.

UPDATED REVIEW: I was finally able to find a 'how to' video online that demonstrated how to remedy the faults of the machine. Consequently, it is only fair to update my review because when the machine is working, it is a great tool, and now I know how to rethread the wire/cable in minutes, it is not such a big deal. This strimmer works like any strimmer, in terms of the cable sometimes autofeeding, sometimes not autofeeding. Nevertheless it is a great tool, and does the job with ease. I would have dropped a star becuase even though I now know how to deal with most problems, I still think the 'instructions' (if they can loosely be described as such) are absolutely hopeless! It is such a shame to find so many quality manufacturers reducing their product instructions to 'generic' forms of pointless images. Worse still, having no supporting videos describing how to do simple maintenance (that is required) of their products. So still a big disappointment in these terms. But the strimmer is a 'Bosch-quality' tool, so it gets all 5 stars. If you are not already familiar with a Bosch strimmer tool when you purchase this tool, my advice would be to watch a video by eSpares, where Amy explains, and demonstrates how to deal with the wire/cable (very quickly, in only 3.50 minutes!). Go to Youtube and enter the search term: 'What to Check if Your Grass Trimmer Line Doesn’t Feed Through or Breaks' Bosch are great tools, after watching the demonstration, you'll have no problems changing, or checking the cutting line. PREVIOUS REVIEW: ...literally!...copy n pasted from 'Mary Ann II' review, as covers all my points: I am generally a big fan of German products, and have happily bought Bosch tools in the past. However, I am shocked by the uselessness of this grass trimmer. Indeed, what other people wrote in their negative reviews is 100% true. Let's list the points here: 1) No English instructions, but just a series of obscure drawings to interpret. I tried to find some written instructions on the Bosch website, but no. 2) The booklet in the package shows some kind of hook on the back to keep the cable in place, but there is no such thing. 3) You cannot use it for more than a few SECONDS before the plastic line/wire breaks. The wire did not last, not even a whole minute! 4) You want to fix the broken plastic wire? Good luck finding out how, based solely on the obscure drawings. I will be writing to Bosch for some instructions at some point, but no hurry as summer over and reverted back to using appropriate hand tools. I am still a fan of Bosch, my home is full of their tools...but this has to be the most frustrating tool I have ever purchased from Bosch...or any brand if it comes to that! Message to any Bosch readers: this tool is not fit for purpose. If you must retail it as is, proper instructions on disassembly of the cord unit and reassembly should be included in the packaging with the unit.

Much better trimmer than what I had previously at half the price. I’m happy and delivery was convenient and when expected.

A very robust lightweight strimmer with An Extendable handle and easily changeable Strim cord And powerful Motor

My old strimmer had given up the ghost so I needed another, and having looked around I chose to buy this one. Previous experience with Bosch garden tools has been positive so I felt confident that I was making a good choice, and in many ways I was right. This is a well-made tool with good features for domestic use and it feels fairly solid compared to other strimmers in this price range, giving the impression it’s going to be robust and last a while. I’ve had mine over a year with no reliability trouble whatsoever, which I’m happy about. The only thing I am less keen on is the usability of it when strimming edges as I find that it struggles to cut the grass sometimes, leaving me frustrated with the results. It doesn’t seem to be underpowered, it just won’t cut it particularly when the grass is against solid edges such as bricks, fences etc. I haven’t been impressed with its strimming results and it has put me off buying another from this brand.

I bought this in desperation having tried and failed to get our petrol strimmer going and the weeds and brambles were out of control. I selected this model even though it was very new to the market and there was only one review at the time as it was claimed to be heavy duty. I was very pleased with the power of it which overcame the obvious inconvenience of an extension cable to haul around a large garden. My one single disappointment was the "bump & feed" business end. The line itself has a maximum diameter of 1.6 cm - not very thick and wears down quickly but the main problem is getting it wound evenly which is fiddly, time consuming and not successful 9 times out of 10. This is not specific to Bosch or this model. I just think it's a shame when there are more user friendly and simpler designs out there that Bosch has not offered an alternative accessory. There may be some universal heads that will fit the bill but I would need to do some research and meanwhile I need to keep on top of the gardening. That aside I am very pleased I bought this strimmer and would recommend it for anyone considering buying one.

After having a Flymo strimmer finally give up the ghost, I looked for an alternative. Looking at strimmers and thinking of how many times I'll have to rest the cutting cable was not my highlight of the day. After looking at quite a few different brands and models, I eventually decided to go with the Bosch. I liked the fact that I could easily chop and change between standard and heavy duty cutting cables. It arrived on time and was easily put together. It's got a fairly decent powerful motor, nice build quality which you expect from Bosch. It handled all the long grass in my garden with ease, with no stopping to reset the cutting cable. It's reasonably lightweight, just a little heavier than my old Flymo (but it does have a more powerful motor). Having the ability to to set and change the forward handle, made for improving the ability to manoeuvre / control the strimmer. The other bonus point was the ability to extend the warranty from 2 years to 3 years if you complete the warranty registration within a couple of weeks of getting it and it free of charge.