Just bought the above item last week
I have the original small 18volt single cord snipper which was and is not very strong or good for any higher grass BUT
As I said just bought the expand-it brushless and what a difference this thing is awesome it cut through the yard like butter, absolutely no problems at all
I have an expand-it edger as well that when the weather is better am going to trial but at this stage I don't see it having any problems
I used a 6ah battery and it only used about half of charge in approx 1 hr of snipping
So in closing I could not recommend this any higher one of the best pieces of ryobi equipment I have bought and it was only $199 au (skin only)
Edit: in MY