Stihl is the one electric trimmer I am aware of with .080 line but it is not cordless. The rest use .065 which is strictly for lawn grass. IMHO, the cordless units are not much good for a large area such as yours.
When we moved in I found a Toro electric trimmer in the shed, it looked unused. We have a large yard and one outlet so I didn't waste time with it. Much prefer my Echo gas job.

I bought the Stihl electric last week and love it. I have about 1/4 acre and it is great. Go ahead and buy a nice 75-100' cable (12 gauge), it is much better than constantly trying to piecemeal a long enough cable together.

I bought the Stihl for $129, I know I know, but I had just bought a gas one a year and a half ago and it only lasted one season (with the correct oil/gas mixture and stabil in the oil) and now I find out that they don't make a carb kit for it! So at least this one should last at least two years. My parents had an electric one that lasted 25 years.

Oh well.

Pros: No gas, no oil, no/less pollution, always works, no pulling to start it, 2-year warranty from Stihl, 14" trim path (largest electric trim path I found), etc.

Cons: Maybe less powerful than a gas trimmer (probably even), corded

For me the scales just finally tilted the other way--AND I LOVE IT.

I have an echo gas unit but my sister just bough the 18V B&D at HD and thinks it does a fine job for her small property. It came with 2 batteries but I think she only over uses one.

Do you have a B & D outlet nearby. They had refurbs at my local outlet w/a full 2 year warranty for $40! (with 2 batteries)

I almost picked one up for myself for in between trimming when I do not want to get stunk up by my gas model.

I have an 18v Black and Decker Cordless trimmer. I didn't want to deal with gas and having to deal with an extension cord made me not want to trim often. Comes with 2 batteries and I get maybe 25-30 minutes per battery.

1/4 acre is a big lot in my neck of the woods but it's not so big you're going trimming brush or tall weeds. Most people use a trimmer for edging and I don't think they are very good for that. Especially the cordless ones with the thinner line.

I think you're better off getting an electric edger that you'll use occassionally and a cordless trimmer that you use more frequently. If you don't mind reconditioned tools, check out thetoolsdiscounters on ebay. They have the cordless trimmers and the electric edger. Getting both from them on ebay will be around the same as the electric stihl but the edger will edge better than the still and the trimmer won't need a cord.

Just my 2 cents.

I've been using a B&D electric trimmer for at least 6 years. I think it's a Grass Hog model with a 5 amp motor and .065 line. It works very well on my St. Augustine grass as long as it's being used in the horizontal position and just for the blades of grass. It is not powerful enough to effectively trim the thick runners the blades grow from. Takes alot of extra line to get that done.

Also when the head is turned to vertical to use for light edging, it's performance diminishes. More line is used in this mode and the line gets jammed frequently.

I'm somewhat embarrassed to confess that I have even "mowed" my entire just-less-than-1/4 acre with it on two occasions when I was without a mower. People looked at me like I was nuts, but later commented that it looked almost as good as when it's really mowed.

Also on the plus side was that when something, I don't remember what it was, went wrong with my first one, the local B&D service center just confirmed by the code # on it that it was just within the two year warranty period and had a new one sent out to me which arrived within a week. No hassle at all.

It starts every time I plug it in and pull the trigger. Moving the cord around has never really bothered me and if I limit the amount of heavy edging I occasionally do with it, I rarely think about upgrading.