STIHL KombiSystem: 1 Multi-Task Tool Set, Many Landscaping Jobs Conquered

STIHL makes a battery-powered multi-task toolset that tackles just about every typical landscaping and yard work task homeowners need to accomplish on a regular basis.

If you haven’t heard of the STIHL Battery KombiSystem, I’m excited to introduce you to it. It’s a system that we have been using since the summer of 2019.

Today, we’re reviewing two new attachments made to attack two common outdoor tasks: trimming and edging. Specifically, we’ll review the FCS Straight Lawn Edger and the FS-KM Line Head Trimmer attachments.

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*This post was sponsored by STIHL. We received STIHL battery KombiSystem attachments in exchange for this content. All opinions are my own. Please read our full disclosure policy here.*

If you have a yard, then you know…landscaping is like laundry. It’s never really done. But with the right tools, yard work chores can be much more tolerable…even fun (at least more fun than laundry, if you ask this gal).

To help you figure out if the STIHL battery KombiSystem is a landscaping toolset you’d like to use for your own yard work tasks, in this post, we’ll cover:

Introducing the STIHL battery KombiSystem:

The STIHL KombiSystem is a battery-powered multi-function toolset. It consists of a motor (KMA 130 R) that can quickly and easily couple with over a dozen attachments. Each of which tackles a different landscaping or outdoor project.

Instead of buying and storing individual outdoor power tools (plus their respective battery chargers, cords, or gas cans) such as a leaf blower, hedge trimmer, tree pruner, edger, string trimmer, etc. the STIHL KombiSystem can handle all of these projects and more.

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Pictured: STIHL battery KombiSystem battery backpack connected to the KMA 130R motor and FCS Straight Line Edger attachment being used to edge a walkway

Is the KombiSystem Only Available as a Battery-Powered Toolset?

Actually, the KombiSystem was originally offered as a gas-powered toolset, and you can still purchase the gas-powered series as well if that is something you’d prefer.

There is a homeowner series motor (KM 56 RC-E) as well as a professional-grade gas-powered series that has 4 different available motors.

What Attachments Can I Get For The STIHL battery KombiSystem?

There are currently 13 attachments (plus 2 shaft extension poles) available for the STIHL Battery KombiSystem. These include the following:

In this post, we’ll review our newest attachments, the FCS Straight Lawn Edger and the FS-KM Line Head Trimmer.

To see reviews of other STIHL KombiSystem attachments we’ve done in the past, just click on any of the following links:

• BF-KM Mini-Cultivator
• BG-KM Blower
• FBD-KM Bed Redefiner
• HT-KM Pole Pruner
• HL-KM 145° Adjustable Hedge Trimmer

If you’d like an overview of the STIHL battery KombiSystem step-by-step assembly (spoiler alert: it’s pretty darn simple) you can check out this video we made when we first got the system…

How To Operate The STIHL Battery KombiSystem:

We’ve covered the set-up and operation of the system in previous posts, but here’s a refresher!

Step #1: Connect Desired STIHL KombiSystem attachment to motor.

The process to add any one of the attachments to the STIHL Kombi motor is a quick, simple, one-step connection.

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Below the black handle, there’s an arrow on the metal section of the STIHL Kombi motor. Align that arrow with the arrow on the shaft of the attachment you want to use (in this case, it’s the bed redefiner). Slide the arrows toward each other and turn the black locking screw to tighten.

Align arrows on the motor and attachment.

Then tighten the handle. That’s all there is to it!

The process is the same for each and every attachment.

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Black locking screw being tightened to secure attachment (in this shot, the blower).

If you want to watch the process in action, it can be seen in the video that is located toward the top of this post.

Step #2: Attach the STIHL KombiSystem motor to the battery power supply.

One plug. That’s basically all there is to it.

The STIHL Battery is a lightweight (12-pound) slim backpack.

There is a power cord on the backpack that plugs into your KMA 130 R motor.Pin

Note that there are handy arrows on all the pieces of equipment which show you exactly how to align the connections (the one on the motor is a bit hard to see in these photos so I’ve circled it, but it’s not difficult to see in real life).

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With the power cord from your backpack now connected to the motor, you are ready to add an attachment.

Step #3: Time to work!

Get on all your safety gear. Cover those eyes, ears, hands, etc.

Now, with your battery backpack connected to the motor and your chosen attachment connected, you’re ready to roll.

There’s a quick toggle on the motor handle to allow you to change the power level on your attachment at any time.

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Once again, a handy arrow points the way. Toggle up to increase power, down to decrease.

In order to turn on the power, you’ll have to release the orange Trigger Switch Lockout (the long, skinny button seen just to the right of my hand above).

Keep this Retaining Latch depressed while using the trigger, located on the flip side of the motor handle.

Step #4: Recharge STIHL Kombi Battery as Needed.

Our AR 1000 backpack lithium battery is said to last up to 7.5 hours without requiring a recharge (when using HSA and HLA attachments…battery-life will vary when using other attachments). Having now worked with this system for a year, I can attest that this is true. It is really, awesomely long battery life (although I guess it prevents using the old “my battery died” excuse for having a nice long break while on any job).

When it’s time to recharge, it’s as simple as plugging the backpack into a charging station. STIHL makes a couple of different charging stations.

We have the AL 500 series charger, which is the fastest available. It charges 100% after 120 minutes.

Review: FCS Straight Lawn Edger Attachment – Professional Looking Edges At Home

Dave has always had this thing about lawns with crisp, straight lawn edges.

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He loves seeing a straight, thick edge around lawns, sidewalks, etc. To be honest, I hadn’t really ever noticed this kind of thing before I met Dave. But now that I know what a good, super professional-looking edge is, I gotta say, they are an amazing landscaping detail when you see them. Where can you see them? Next time you’re at a resort (especially the fancy ones) or at a golf course…check out their edging game.

For a long time, we didn’t really know how to get this kind of look. We had a gas-powered line head trimmer, and we’d just use that for the edges of our sidewalks and the driveway, but it really didn’t give that super profesh effect.

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Now we understand that using a trimmer to do the work of an edger isn’t really a great strategy. Trimmers, it turns out, are for maneuvering around obstacles, whereas an edger is for just that…creating a really straight, professional edge between your yard and a walkway, driveway, or planting bed.

What can I say? It takes a long time to learn what tools you need as a homeowner, doesn’t it?

It’s not like something we learned in high school. Maybe Landscaping 101 should actually be a thing (along with Budgeting 101, Housekeeping 101) but I digress.

Dave was like a kid on Christmas when this attachment arrived. He couldn’t wait to try it out along our sidewalk and driveway. Here’s what the sidewalk looked like before he edged it…

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It’s a long sidewalk. Probably close to 100′ from one end to the other. Dave attached the FCS Straight Lawn Edger to the KombiSystem motor, and was off and running (ok, not running) along the sidewalk.

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It took him about 10-minutes to finish edging the sidewalk…and I’d expect as he gets more familiar with edging, he could end up getting even speedier. Not only did he say it was quicker and easier than he thought it may be,

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but it immediately revealed that super professional, resort-like edge that he had always wanted to have. He was grinning ear to ear.

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Truthfully, it made me want to go out and weed the planting beds to make his awesome edging look even more polished. But then I decided that was way too lofty a goal, and chose to simply be happy looking at the amazing edge 😉🌱.

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After his 10-minutes of work along the sidewalk edge, Dave got out the KombiSystem blower attachment and blew the debris from the sidewalk. That’s one of the coolest things about this system is that it’s so quick and easy to change the attachments and move between your yard work tasks!

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Now we’ve never had or used one of these types of tools in the past, so we can’t review it in comparison to other similar products on the market. But what we can say is…

I already know I’ll be seeing a lot of this STIHL attachment around here for a long time to come. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if Dave wants to reboot his old high school lawn mowing gig and instead offer edging services around the neighborhood.

He likes this thing that much.

Review: FS-KM Line Head Trimmer Attachment – Awesome Trimming Accomplished Without Gasoline or Oil Smell ⛽️

The FS-KM line head trimmer attachment is the first battery-powered trimmer tool we’ve ever tried here. Dave is the trimmer in our family, and he’s used a gas-powered unit for years. Frankly, I thought this battery-powered STIHL attachment may be a tough sell since he’s been pretty happy with his other one.

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His big concern about using the STIHL battery KombiSystem FS-KM line head trimmer was power. He didn’t want the tool to feel underpowered as he worked. But he quickly realized that wouldn’t be an issue at all.

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He said that besides being MUCH simpler to get up and running (no gas, pull start, choke, etc) it is just as powerful as our gas-powered trimmer.

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I don’t think it took more than a few minutes using the tool for him to be a true convert.

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He loves that there’s no oil or gas, so no smell while he’s working. That’s a big bonus!!

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And even though we have a pretty big yard (over 2 acres) and lots of places that need to be trimmed, the battery life of the STIHL KombiSystem is long enough that we can do all our trimming, edging, blowing the debris…heck, even pruning some shrubs while we’re at it and we’ll STILL have plenty of battery run time left in the backpack (it lasts 7.5 hours, fully-charged (when using the HSA or HLA attachments, other attachments will alter the total battery life a bit).

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And with the KombiSystem, all that needs to happen in order to accomplish any of those tasks is to switch out your motor attachment, which takes less than a minute to do!

Having these two new attachments added to the STIHL battery KombiSystem arsenal just increases our already high opinion of this toolset even more. Now, instead of storing many tools for our landscaping and yard work jobs, we are down to nearly needing this one power toolset. It’s ONE charger…that’s it! And no need to walk around inhaling gasoline as you work.

The power is equal to gas-powered rivals, the battery run time is amazing, the ease of changing out attachments is fantastic, and the curb appeal results this system yields are undeniable! Definitely give it a look if you’re in the market for upping your landscaping game!

Pin this post for later! And if you decide to buy a STIHL battery KombiSystem, we’d love to hear what you think! Leave a comment (or better yet, a photo) on the pin! That helps others know whether they want to try this toolset, too!

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