Einhell AGILLO 18/200 Cordless Scythe review: strimmer and brush cutter in one

The Einhell AGILLO 18/200 cordless scythe can do both strimming and brushcutting and is a member of Einhell’s Power X-Change series – a group of cordless tools which can share batteries.

I am lucky enough to already be in possession of a cordless lawnmower from Einhell, which I love, so I was eager to try another machine from the same series. We have a split-level garden, with lots of borders, low-level walls, a fence at the bottom and the new addition of a kids' climbing frame, so there are many obstacles to navigate a mower around. We knew the best strimmer is a must have for this garden.

Our bottom lawn is maintained by a robotic lawnmower and we use the cordless mower for the top two levels, but neither are able to mow closely around the edges, borders, steps, fence line or climbing frame. We also have some borders with thick foliage, which was getting very tall and unruly – so I was hoping that the Einhell AGILLO would be ready to tackle the borders and leave our lawn edges looking pristine.

Einhell AGILLO 18/200 Cordless Scythe product specs:

• Power type: 18V 4.0Ah Li-ion battery
• Battery life: 30 mins
• Charging time: 1 hour (for full battery from low – first charge is longer)
• Best for: trimming and cutting Cutting width: 20cm (blade) 30cm (spool)
• Spool length: 8m
• Weight: 6.45kg

First impressions

I must admit, that I was a bit confused by the name of this machine – ‘cordless scythe’ conjures up images of a modern-day tool for the Grim Reaper. It’s also referred to as a ‘brushcutter’, which is another term I was unfamiliar with, so I was hoping the contents of the box would offer me clarity.

I have used a cordless strimmer before, so I was surprised that the box was quite heavy. It comes with four booklets of information, as well as some information tags attached to parts of the strimmer too, plus a rather serious looking harness.

As I have used another Einhell product, I wasn’t surprised that the cordless scythe comes partly unassembled. After looking through the booklets of information, I found I only needed to keep two, as the others are an extension of the instructions in different languages and the last is a note on stability checks that Einhell perform, before sending out your tool.

Getting started: setting up the Einhell AGILLO 18/200 Cordless Scythe

The operating instructions have numbered illustrations at the front, which demonstrate what should be in the box, how to assemble the scythe, how to attach and adjust the harness and how to operate the machine. After checking I had all the correct items supplied, I put the supplied battery on charge (note that batteries are not included by all suppliers) and set to work assembling the machine.

The first step is fitting the guard hood which involves removing and reattaching a screw. Pleasingly, no extra tools from your home tool box are needed, as Einhell supplies you with a multifunctional tool, fit for purpose. You then fit the two handles and secure the cable to the handle. As I’d hoped, the instructions include a description of ‘proper use’ which tells you that when used as a cordless scythe (brushcutter), the blade can cut young trees, strong weeds and light undergrowth. When used as a grass trimmer (strimmer), it can cut lawns, grassed areas and small weeds. The machine comes with the spool already attached, so I opted to trim the garden first.

Overall set up took me about 15 minutes. I found that I had to keep going backwards and forwards between the written instructions, the illustrations and the page which listed all the numbered parts, as the written instructions are slightly confusing and I had trouble fitting the guard hood and trying to work out where the additional handle should sit.

Using the harness
Once the machine is assembled, it’s time to don the harness. As the equipment is rather heavy, you need to wear it with the harness to help with handling. The instructions are not very helpful for this as it just says 'Fit the harness', with a hint to look at figure nine. This just shows how you clip it on round your waist. 

Luckily a little common sense goes a long way and I soon worked out that the harness goes on like a backpack. Then you adjust the waist strap and shoulder straps. You hook the strimmer to the harness and adjust the handles and strap attachment until you find a comfortable working position. This took me a good 10 minutes as it was a lot of trial and error, moving the strap attachment up and down and tweaking the angle of the handles, until I found the right position for the harness to take the weight of the strimmer. The instructions recommend making some swinging movements without starting the motor, to make sure you’re happy with it.

I’m 5ft 4in and the handle is quite long, so I found I had to adjust the shoulder straps and waist strap until the harness clip was sitting on my hip. This left the strimmer hovering just above the ground when I held the handles. My partner is 6ft 4in so he had to extend all of the straps and the handle, so he could work comfortably. It’s good that the handles and harness can be adapted so much, to suit all users.

Once you’re happy with the equipment, all that’s left to do is to insert the battery and you’re ready to go.

What is the Einhell AGILLO 18/200 Cordless Scythe like to use?

To switch the equipment on, you have to press the safety lock on the bike-like handles, at the same time as pressing the on/off trigger. You can adjust the speed by squeezing the trigger to a greater or lesser extent. To switch off the machine, you just release the on/off trigger. There is an extensive safety booklet that I recommend reading – especially if you are a novice user (like me).

Use as a strimmer
The instruction manual promises that when the equipment is correctly assembled, it will cut weeds and long grass in places which are difficult to access. The strimmer I used before had a plant protecting guard, which meant that you couldn’t accidentally damage plants you were strimming close to. A great feature, but it also meant that you couldn’t get right up to fences or walls, which left the edges looking untidy.

The Einhell AGILLO 18/200 Cordless Scythe, has a safety guard at the rear of the strimmer, to protect you, but is free at the front, so I hoped this meant I could get into the corners around the fence posts at the bottom of our garden, as well as next to the walls, steps, climbing frame and borders.

I started at the top level and then followed the borders, down to the bottom of the garden, around the fence posts, climbing frame and silver birch, then back up along the steps and border walls, until I was back where I started. This took a total of 25 minutes and I was very impressed. You can glide the strimmer slowly into the nooks and crannies of your garden and it manages to reach every blade of grass. I was careful not to go in close too quickly, as you can hear when the spool hits hard objects, which ultimately results in more wear of the spool line.

Another great feature of this strimmer is the semi-automatic line extension system (automatic jog line feed) which extends the spool line as needed. To activate, you run the motor and tap the line spool on the ground, which automatically extends the line. There is a sharp blade on the guard hood, which cuts the line to a safe length. This system ensures that you are cutting your lawn with the optimum cutting width at all times, which will ultimately make the job quicker.

When trimming or mowing grass in open areas, you just swing the strimmer from side to side, keeping the spool parallel to the ground at the desired height. This is where the harness really helps as it takes most of the weight allowing an easy continuous cut. The harness is actually very comfortable, as the shoulder and back straps are padded, so I found that it made handling the strimmer a breeze.

Additional to trimming, mowing and cutting along edges, you can also use the strimmer for low trimming and mowing to the ground. To do this, you hold the it at an angle of 30 degrees for mowing to the ground. This will cut any vegetation right back to surface level.

Use as a brushcutter
The Einhell AGILLO 18/200 Cordless Scythe can also be used as a brushcutter. This means it will deal with dense grass, weeds and annoying undergrowth.

To switch to operation as a brushcutter, you must change the spool to the cutting blade. First remove the spool by pressing the locking lever and turning the cutting line unit at the same time. You can then lift it off the motor shaft. You also have to remove the cutting line cover on the guard hood (whilst being careful of the line cutting blade). This is a bit fiddlier and the illustrations are not the most helpful for this either.

Next, you have to slide the cutting blade, pressure plate and pressure plate cover on, securing it all with a hex nut (provided). You press the locking lever, tighten the hex nut and make sure the blade can rotate freely. This took just over five minutes to fit, but now I know what I’m doing, it hasn't taken as long on further uses. There is also a useful label attached to the brushcutter blade which shows illustrations for the order the parts go on and reminding you that the blade must be aligned on the motor shaft.

Now secure, I referred back to the instructions for tips on using the blade. Unfortunately, there are only specific instructions relating to operation as a strimmer, rather than a brushcutter. The only instructions for the blade are for what to do if the blade jams and how to prevent recoil. There is a sentence and illustration on how to cut dense stalks, but for a novice user such as myself, a section on brushcutting would have been very useful.

As there was lack of instruction, I searched on my phone for how to use it and came across a handy video from Einhell on YouTube (although not on the Einhell UK channel). This also shows how to change the spool too. It would be useful if Einhell included a link to this in their instruction manual, like many other manufacturers now do.

Equipped with the knowledge that you use it pretty much the same as the strimmer, I set to work trimming some of the thick, dead plants in our borders. Again, the Einhell AGILLO ripped through them with ease and what would take a few minutes with some shears, took seconds.

Image 1 of 3

Tackling overgrown ornamental grass with the Einhell AGILLO brush cutter: scroll for before and after

Tackling overgrown ornamental grass with the Einhell AGILLO brush cutter

Tackling overgrown ornamental grass with the Einhell AGILLO brush cutter

Ease of use

Once the Einhell AGILLO 18/200 Cordless Scythe is set up and the harness is adjusted, it is very easy to use. Unlike corded machines, moving round the garden with this strimmer is a piece of cake. There’s no faffing around with extension cables or sockets either, which saves time. I was also able to do the whole garden in one go, without having to change batteries, or wait for a battery to charge.

I’m not sure how much I would use the scythe as a brushcutter, as we don’t have many things in our garden which would require a heavy-duty blade that often. I think I’d probably opt to always keep the strimmer spool on, for use fortnightly to go round the edges after the lawn has been mowed. In the time it takes to swap the spool over, I could probably do a quick job with some garden shears. However, if you had a lot of thick foliage in your garden, which a strimmer couldn’t tackle on its own, I could see how swapping to the brushcutter might be very beneficial.

Additional features of the Einhell AGILLO 18/200 Cordless Scythe

Like some other machines in Einhell’s cordless tools range, the AGILLO is driven by a brushless front motor, which means it has more power, better weight distribution and a longer life than carbon motors. This also means less maintenance. To add to this, I found that the strimmer is fairly quiet, compared to other lawn mowers and strimmers.

The bump feed system for lengthening the spool, which is cut automatically, is a great feature and saves you having to fiddle around with it manually, mitigating a safety risk.

For optimum handling, the comfortable harness and two-hand bike handle mean that operation is ergonomic and tireless. Plus, it’s easy to store as the shaft unscrews and splits in the middle and there is an integrated wall holder for easy and tidy storage – it will certainly not take up much room in your garage or shed.

Einhell Power X-Change
The cordless scythe is part of Einhell’s powerful Power X-Change family, which means that if you own other Einhell products in the same range, you can interchange the batteries. As we had been using a Einhell cordless mower too, we could keep one battery on charge whilst using the other one and then swap them over.

The batteries themselves come with three LEDs to show how much charge they have left. All you need to do is press the button on the battery indicator switch and a number of LEDs will light up to show you if there is enough battery to complete the task. The battery charger also has indicators and there is a full indicator guide in the operation manual as well as a handy troubleshooting page.

How does it rate online?

I have rated the Einhell AGILLO 18/200 four and a half stars. I would have rated it five, as it does a great job, is efficient and powerful, but it is on the heavy side, the instructions aren’t the best, plus it doesn’t do edging like some strimmers of the same price do.

Once I had translated the reviews (most are in French or German), the majority of users rate the Einhell AGILLO five stars. They agree that the harness is comfortable, it’s fairly quiet, the Power X-Change system is great and the battery lasts long enough to complete most jobs. Most users comment that they found it easy to set up, with the exception of changing the spool to the blade and a few have also mentioned the trial and error that comes with adjusting the harness.

In terms of price, it is midrange compared to similar models, but if you have any other Einhell products in the same Power X-Change range, you will save on having to purchase batteries as these don't always come included. In conclusion, I would highly recommend the Einhell AGILLO 18/200 Cordless Scythe for not just a medium-large garden with lots of borders like mine, but for sprawling plots with loads of grass, too.

About this review and our reviewer

Bethan Davis is a PR Officer and mum of two from the West Midlands. Her family garden is a terraced on three levels with a large lawn at the bottom and plenty of borders. There is a field at the end and the wire fence separating it can be difficult to mow up to, so a strimmer is needed for lots of jobs around her property.

She tested the Einhell AGILLO 18/200 Cordless Scythe over several weeks this spring, in conjunction with an Einhell GE-CM 18/33 Li cordless lawn mower that uses the same batteries.