I believe both are new for 2012 ... anyone have either of these yet ??

I've had a smaller Toro 51556 7" 6V (Lead Acid battery !!) version since 2000 and it still works great except I've finally decided it is really too small for me and my yard ... feel I could do it in half the time with a bigger & more powerfull model but don't want to go gas powered.

Of these new Toro Cordless models, the 24V model is 8 lbs. and the 20V is 6.9 lbs ... my old one weighs 7.7 lbs so the 20V would actually be 8 tenths of a lb. LIGHTER where the 24V would be only 3 tenths heavier.

Lots of reviews on the 24V model, not so many for the 20V ... they both can switch to edging mode and it sounds like they work real well for this too.

The 24V is $149.00 at Home Depot & most places online
The 20V is currently on sale for $119.00 at Menards (reg $139)

The B&D and Worx competition seem to get relatively poor reviews (amazon anyway), so it looks like either of these Toro's may be the best in cordless trimmers.

Doug

Did some more research comparing other Lithium-Ion models, replacement battery costs, other tools that the same battery can be used with, etc.

While checking out the Toro 20 & 24V models at Home Depot & Menards, I also looked at the Black & Decker LST220 (20V) and LST136 (36V). Menards had the LST220 on sale for $119 (same as Toro), Lowes had it combined with a Blower for $129, and both H-D & Lowes had the LST136 for $169.

The 24V Toro Battery (88504) is labeled 88.8 W-Hr (3.7A-Hr @ 24V) and best price found was $99.

The 20V Toro Battery (88502) is labeled 48 W-Hr / 2.6A-Hr but I had no luck finding this part number anywhere on the web.

The 20V B&D Battery (LBXR20) is labeled 1.5A-Hr (30W-Hr @ 20V) and can be found for as little as $40.

The 36V B&D Battery (LBXR36) is also 1.5A-Hr (54W-Hr @ 36V) and can be found for as little as $90.

The only other tools Toro makes for use with their batteries is a Hedge Trimmer (both 20 & 24V).

B&D however has a dozen different drill kits as well as 6 other yard tools that run on the 20V battery. The 36V is new so there is just the string trimmer, a hedge trimmer and a cultivator ... a blower/vac will be out next year.

With the higher Amp-Hr batteries, the 20V Toro SHOULD outlast/outperform the 20V B&D and the 24V Toro would be a pretty close match to the 36V B&D. The non-existant 20V & higher cost 24V repl. Toro batteries bothered me though.

I ended up picking a "lightly used" LST220 at Lowes for $116 and talked them into throwing in a extra spool of line as well ... figured if I did not like it, I would not be giving Lowes back another USED one to try and re-sell !!

Did some trimming with the one battery that had juice left (partial or full, no way to tell / other needed a charge) and got about 3/4 through my yard with it. I'll know better next week how long a fully charged battery lasts.

With it's 12" cut and 0.065" line, it trims much more effortlessly & faster than my old 7" 0.050" line model ... I'm real happy so far. Really liked the "Auto Line Feed" feature (all 4 of these new models have). Only down side is the LST 220 charger takes "8-Hours", however B&S has a fast charger available ... both the Toro models as well as the 36V B&D claim to come with "Fast-Chargers".

Put it on the UPS Scale at work today and it is only 5.42 lbs with battery (B&D claims 5.2), so it is quite a bit lighter than my old Toro (7.7 lbs) as well as the 2 current Toro's or the 36V B&D.

We'll see ... there is a 20V drill kit that includes a "Fast Charger" and I've seen another one that comes with "2 Batteries" so if I can find either of these on sale somewhere I may pick one up to add to battery & charging capacity and gain a drill at the same time.

Doug

Blower did what I needed it to do, but obviously no where near like what my "Corded" Weed-Eater one can do. This was not a bad thing though ... much, much "quieter" and freedom from the "cord" far outweighed the loss of blowing power.

Did not try to "edge" with the trimmer yet either, I'll give that a shot next weekend !!

Doug