Hedge Trimmer advice

Half-cocked

Looking for some help picking a petrol hedge trimmer. I will be cutting back mature privet hedges. Can anyone recommend a low to mid-priced make/model, or more importantly, any that should be avoided. Thanks.

celticmicky

Half-cocked wrote: »

Looking for some help picking a petrol hedge trimmer. I will be cutting back mature privet hedges. Can anyone recommend a low to mid-priced make/model, or more importantly, any that should be avoided. Thanks.

In my experience either Tanaka or Stihl are the two to go for. Both are well balanced and will last years. Tanaka are a Japanese brand a lot of gardeners go for (we hire Tanaka THT210s hedge trimmers and can keep them 5-6+ years).

Stihl are also a brand a lot of gardeners go for. Stihl tend to focus on more high end and expensive hedge trimmers but they do a domestic hedge trimmer (HS45) available in either 18" or 24" blade lengths.

Details and pictures can be found below.

http://www.esaleslocal.com/hedgetrimmers.htm

Many of the cheaper makes will do you a turn, however they won't last as long as Stihl and Tanaka and some can be quite heavy and awkward.

Half-cocked

Thanks Celtimicky, I'll be dealing with these hedges for years to come, so I will be looking for a long lasting model. Will certainly check out your recommendations.

Aiden7

I do gardening for a living, My experience is mainly Stihl (have used other cheaper brands in the past) (have not used Tanaka so cant comment on that) Stihl I have found to be a good reliable brand I have a domestic one similar to the HS45 Celtimicky mentioned, it is approx 6 years old now and still works fine, I have kept it in good condition and get it serviced. The other hedge trimmer I have is also Stihl and is a long reach HK95 135 degree adjustable approx 3 years old this is one I now use 90% of the time, due to the adjustable and have never had a problem with it.

prospect

I went for a Stihl myself. I got the engine with the interchangable heads (small chainsaw, strimmer & hedgecutter).

I have it 4 years now and it is a been very good machine and 100% reliable.

It was out of my original budget (about €800 iirc), so I went 50:50 with my Dad, which works well as neither of us require the machine for prolonged periods.

John T Carroll

Half-cocked wrote: »

Looking for some help picking a petrol hedge trimmer. I will be cutting back mature privet hedges. Can anyone recommend a low to mid-priced make/model, or more importantly, any that should be avoided. Thanks.[/QUOte
Dont know if this is the right place for this post but here goes. I recently bought a Qualcast Battery driven Pole Hedge Trimmer, this has a reall long reach of around 9 Feet but has a short battery run of about 30 to 40 mins, about 1 hour of practical cutting, it is grand for my duty as I have a griselinia hedge. The reason I'm posting this is for a word of caution, the instruction manual states that a RED Charging indication Light will extinguish when the Nicd battery is fully charged....well it does NOT ( i've confirmed this with customer help at Qualcast UK), in my experience, 4 to 4.5 hrs is just about right from a fully discharged condition, any further charging tends to start heating up the battery pack which certainly wont do it any good. The model number is MOE-7ET-410. JTC

paddylonglegs

Was talking to a landscaper about this, he said that realistically I'm only going to be using a hedge trimmer twice a year really. He also said it would be better off just renting if using it on one garden.

Anyone else think the same? Unlike a lawn mower which is used every 2 weeks for 4 months

blackharvester

i am gardener myself. i ve been using many different hedge trimmer in past few years. stihl is the top brand so it is most expensive, but worth the price. tanaka/hitachi is good made as well, bit cheaper than stihl but does the job, efco, kawasaki, husqvarna are simillar quality and price to tanaka/ hitachi. once you look after your tools keep them serviced, use right mix (oil/petrol) they will last many years specially if you use them two - three time a year for day or two. some people prefer to have own tools in garage and use them whenever they wont but they have to do any repairs /service etc. if you only hire hedge trimmer you dont have to be worry about tool.
you can probably get tanaka hedge trimmer with 60cm blade for less than 400e. you can hire one for about 40e a day. so you have to calculate it your self what is better option for you

My Potatoes

paddylonglegs wrote: »

Was talking to a landscaper about this, he said that realistically I'm only going to be using a hedge trimmer twice a year really. He also said it would be better off just renting if using it on one garden.

Anyone else think the same? Unlike a lawn mower which is used every 2 weeks for 4 months

I disagree. Ireland really is not a great country for tool hire. The problem with tools like hedge trimmers, chainsaws, etc., is that they're not regularly sharpened. A blunt tool is far more dangerous than a sharp one. And it's not fit for purpose.

I dunno about prices nowadays, but I rented a strimmer once (2008) for €50. I'd have bought a good one for the price of a handful of rentals.

And finally, if you are to rent a tool, use one of the big tool hire companies, not one of the local small outfits down the road. The latter may have only one or two tools. If someone doesn't return the tool which you have booked, you lose out. I lost out on a weekend of a garden makeover once because of this. When I made a complaint, the guy got shirty and aggressive. PM me for details.