The Edge July/August 2025

equipment entails push-button ease. Less noise, zero emissions: Beyond these perfor mance and productivity gains, battery-powered equipment improves worker health and well-be ing. For one, removing gas from the tool equation eliminates emissions. That’s good not only for the environment, but also for the hardscape profes sional’s respiratory system. “You wear a mask, but it’s still not enough,”he says. “With cordless, no one has to worry about the fumes, including our customers, because they don’t have to smell gas going into their homes,”a common frustration expressed by homeowners. Battery-powered equipment is much quieter than their gas-driven counterparts. Consequently, productivity should be better because the quieter environments make it easier for equipment opera tors to communicate with one another. But worker health is also enhanced, Gassib says. MAXIMIZED PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH ONE BATTERY PLATFORM One of the biggest reasons for Gassib’s enthusiasm for MX FUEL™ is the critical advantage of battery compatibility across the entire system. All MX FUEL™ batteries are compatible with all MX FUEL™ equipment and chargers. Instead of managing multiple gas types for multiple pieces of equip ment, hardscape contractors can streamline opera tions by using MX FUEL™ to power more than 20 solutions on the same battery platform. “We have two different job-site trailers,”he con tinues, “and I am working to have both carry the same equipment. Using the same batteries with all those tools and equipment makes it a lot easier to manage what we need on the job each day.” At the same time, Gassib is making room for these solutions on the trucks by removing the older, gas-powered equipment and the gas cans once needed to keep them operating. Not long ago, Gassib was making a sizable purchase from a local vendor where he buys equipment and masonry products. A fellow cus tomer skeptically commented on how much he was investing in battery-powered equipment. “I told him, think about how much I will save over the next two years on gas and oil, on air filters and strings, and how much time I will save not cleaning carburetors or draining the fuel to winter ize the equipment,”Gassib says. “With all that savings in time and money, these purchases will pay for themselves,”he says.

explains. “Its side handles make loading and unloading much more efficient. The guys are not killing themselves by wrestling a 400-pound machine into the truck.” Gassib also likes how easily the plate compactor can reverse its movement, providing a unique for ward and reverse directional movement capability. Simply hit reverse and back away from the wall, corner, or narrow area without having to pull the plate backward and causing it to dig in. “No more dragging the machine in reverse,”he says. As his crew learned the capabilities of the new battery-powered equipment, Gassib recognized the payoff potential. Freedom from gas-powered equipment would ultimately generate “tremen dous savings”in time and money, he explains. “My guys can just change the battery and keep moving on the job,”he says. “Over time, the MX FUEL™ system will save us time beyond belief.” WHY GO BATTERY-POWERED? Gassib cites several significant improvements that these MX FUEL™ solutions have provided his company to date: No more gas and maintenance frustrations: Moving from gas to battery power allows Gassib’s crews to avoid the tedious task of carefully mixing gas and oil when fueling their equipment. “At least two or three times a year, the oil for each machine needs changing,”says Gassib, reciting his litany of maintenance routines. “Same with the air filters. Plus, the belts might pop off two or three times throughout the year, so you need to buy new ones. Then there are all those times you’re cleaning out the carburetor because you bought some dirty fuel.” With battery power, the Gassib crew is spared all such upkeep hassles and the accompanying productivity-draining downtime. Lithium-ion bat tery power involves minimal maintenance while starting even the most heavy-duty piece of power

RAPIDSTOP™ Brake not only boosts user safety by stopping the blade in three seconds but preserves the saw’s blade by reducing unnecessary rotation or manual dragging to stop. The unique AUTOST OP™ Kickback Control will automatically shut off the saw whenever it senses severe kickback. Gassib’s second key acquisition was the MX FUEL™ 20”Plate Compactor to help make the crit ical task of site preparation through compaction faster and easier than gas-powered equipment. Engineered for compacting flatwork, foundations, and utility trenches, the cordless Plate Compactor compresses and removes entrapped air from soil, sand, gravel, and other aggregate materials to increase the site’s strength, stability, and load-bear ing capacity. It is the only plate compactor in its class with the ability to move in both forward and reverse directions. When paired with the MX FUEL™ REDLITHIUM™ FORGE™ HD12.0 Battery, the Plate Compactor delivers 35 minutes of continu ous run-time — or 5,000 square feet per charge. Milwaukee Tool’s fastest charger, the MX FUEL™ Super Charger, further enhances productivity with this equipment. It recharges the MX FUEL™ REDLITHIUM™ FORGE™ HD 12.0 batteries to 100 percent in only 65 minutes and, even faster, the XC8.0 in only 45 minutes. Featuring the innovative COOL-CYCLE™ Active Cooling System built into both the Super Charger and MX FUEL™ REDLITH IUM™ FORGE™ XC8.0 and HD 12.0 batteries, users are provided high-speed cooling to allow sustained productivity while swapping batteries. Using two batteries per piece of equipment, a landscape contractor can dramatically minimize downtime on the job site. Gassib reports that his crews have been im pressed with the performance of these MX FUEL™ products. Gassib acquired the 20”Plate Compactor after making a week-long, side-by-side, job-site compar ison with his existing, gas-powered machine. “That plate compactor is awesome,”Gassib

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