Hedge trimmer reviews

[pip1954]

Hi I would like to ask people's view and experience on hedge trimmers
Has any one got a hedge trimmer looking for a new one as my cheapo has bite the dust ,just wonder if the old saying you get what you pay for , so if you have any experience's good or bad I would like to hear them to help make my mind up .
Many thanks for any help with this
Cheers pip

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I would generally defend the viewpoint that you get what you pay for.....buy cheap, buy twice etc but I have both a hedge trimmer and a leaf blower made by Black and Decker over 20 years ago that are still going strong. And I'm talking about the green range here ie non professional. Bullet proof with amazingly reliable motors so not all rubbish tools are completely rubbish it seems. There are clearly different degrees of rubbish-ness!

Having said that, Silverline do normally define the lower degree on my personal rubbish-ness meter! (Though I make an exception for their chainsaw grinder which is just dandy)

 

[bugbear]

I have a Makita UH6570 Electric Hedge Trimmer and love it.

It's pretty much the top end of electric trimmers, since I have a rather large beech/hornbeam hedge.

Whilst petrol types are excellent for full time use, expecting a petrol motor to enjoy only being used once a year is optimistic.

Power is excellent, balance & ergonomics are excellent.

Strongly recommended

BugBear

 

[Harbo]

I have got through 2B&D's in the past but 3yrs ago I bought a Stihl and it is fantastic.

Rod

 

[Woody2Shoes]

I hired a Stihl petrol jobby for a weekend to try it out - very nice bit of kit - and realised that a harness is very helpful in saving arm-ache from holding the thing up to the hedge. I'm not sure what your requirements are - hand shears keep you fit, electric ones are pretty quiet, reasonably light and are effective but obviously tethered (I think that cutting your own cable is definitely a hazard!) and petrol ones are noisy and smelly but the most powerful (and probably heaviest). A name brand is worth it if you're serious about buying, but don't ignore the hire option - especially as a trial run. Cheers, W2S

 

[RogerS]

It really does depend on your personal circumstances. How big is the hedge? How long/tall? Do you need to be going up and down a ladder ? Is the hedge very thick and if you need to do the top can you reach it all - from both sides if necessary ? As others have said, try hiring a couple.

We have a laurel hedge which we let get out of control. It's so wide now that even with hiring a long-reach petrol hedge trimmer there is still one part that is just too wide to cut all the way over. I swear they can see it from space.

 

[DrPhill]

We have a laurel hedge which we let get out of control. It's so wide now that even with hiring a long-reach petrol hedge trimmer there is still one part that is just too wide to cut all the way over. I swear they can see it from space.

FWIW Laurel is a tough plant. Hack it back to where you want it, give it six months, and it will look as good as new, but thinner.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Yes ditto that. I've never had a garden without Laurel for some inexplicable reason and the reason it always looks fabulous some time after pruning is that new shoots grow directly out of nodes on the stems that are usually hidden. What this means is it doesn't matter where it gets cut as just below the cut will always regrow really well. So the bottom line is you can prune with impunity anywhere on a laurel

 

[DrPhill]

And 'pruning' includes lopping off anything above ground level even several (6+) inches diameter. It will even regrow happily from a stump. I know this :wink: .

 

[Sheptonphil]

My third one a Ryobi, (previously had an electric b&d and a petrol qualcast), became like the qualcast, really difficult to start.

I big the bullet and bought the Stihl HS46C-E

Starts every time with at most two pulls, usually only one very light pull due to the ergo start. Lighter than the others, balanced, powerful.

Just wished I'd bought quality first time round.

Now have the Stihl chainsaw, hedge trimmer and Strimmer.

All well worth the money.

Phil

 

[Limey Lurker]

I bought my Black and Decker in 1977. We had a total of just over 200 feet of hedge, mostly privet but about 50 feet of hawthorn, all of it over 6 feet tall. Now we only have a few shaped yews which get trimmed up to 3 times a year. That hedge trimmer, still going strong, is the best value power tool I have ever had.

 

[Paul Chapman]

I have a Stihl electric hedge trimmer and it's superb.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[misterfish]

+1 for Makita UH6570 Electric Hedge Trimmer that we bought years ago from Axminster if I remember rightly.

Found it works well and comfortable to use. Just have to make sure the cable is well controlled. I use it to cut back bay, privet and tough brambles (upto 65 metres from the house) with a long extension cable and it has never missed a beat.

Misterfish

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Has anyone used one of those modular pole systems where you can fit different attachments to the same pole, and engine like trimmer, chainsaw etc. I've been pondering on getting one as they look useful for difficult to reach/high areas.

 

[Beau]

We have a cheapish Tanaka. Been faultless

 

[paulm]

Has anyone used one of those modular pole systems where you can fit different attachments to the same pole, and engine like trimmer, chainsaw etc. I've been pondering on getting one as they look useful for difficult to reach/high areas.

I've had a Stihl Kombi engine unit and attachments for some years now, top quality bits of kit.

The engine unit has never missed a beat and powers mainly the hedgecutting attachment which as you say is extremely useful, as well as strimmer and cultivator attachments etc. If I hadn't already got a separate Stihl leafblower I would have picked up the equally powerful blower attachment for the Kombi also.

You can also further extend the reach of the hedgecutter with an additional extension pole that adds I think about an extra metre in reach, makes it difficult to handle but on occasion is a god send.

I went for the most powerful engine unit, not wanting to be restricted as to any future possible usage, but it is pretty heavy to use for long and drinks fuel at an alarming rate. In retrospect I may have been better going for the next model down, or the middle of the range, as I'm not sure the extra power mine has is actually that important for hedgecutting and strimming which are it's main uses, although possibly important if you wanted to use it as a blower. The more modest units are a bit lighter and use less fuel I think.

Other brands may be available too I'm sure, but Stihl are about as good as it gets, except for chainsaws where I prefer Huskies ! :lol:

I also have a separate "normal" Stihl hedgecutter that I bought before and used extensively before getting the Kombi for extra reach and utility, and it rarely gets used these days as the Kombi is great even for "normal" hedging and the like.

 

[bugbear]

Back when I had a company do my hedge, they used a petrol driven pole style tool to do the top.

There were two young blokes, and they alternated between cutting and clearing - because the pole cutter was very fast (since it saves moving/climbing/descending ladders) but VERY strenuous in use (weight + leverage).

BugBear

 

[Beau]

Back when I had a company do my hedge, they used a petrol driven pole style tool to do the top.

There were two young blokes, and they alternated between cutting and clearing - because the pole cutter was very fast (since it saves moving/climbing/descending ladders) but VERY strenuous in use (weight + leverage).

BugBear

They needed one of these http://www.easyliftharness.com/

Looks ridiculous but tried one at a show and it would be the dogs danglies if you had to use a pole trimmer all day



Not tried one but for a cheap kombi have heard good things about the Mitox ones

 

[bugbear]

Back when I had a company do my hedge, they used a petrol driven pole style tool to do the top.

There were two young blokes, and they alternated between cutting and clearing - because the pole cutter was very fast (since it saves moving/climbing/descending ladders) but VERY strenuous in use (weight + leverage).

BugBear

They needed one of these http://www.easyliftharness.com/

That looks like an interesting idea - but I'm instinctively turned off when their page says " is a power assisted lifting harness ".

What "power assisted" ? It's just a harness (which is a good idea).

"As seen on YouTube" = "we put a video on YouTube"

It all feels wrong.

BugBear

 

[paulm]

The pole trimmers do give your forearms a good workout, mine usually seize up for a couple of days after !

Tried using the supplied simple loop harness and it does take a lot of the weight but I found it very awkward and restricting, although if you had a long stretch of cutting to do in largely the same kind of position it would be helpful I suppose.