Long reach hedge trimmer

Hedgecutter

I'm looking at buying a long reach hedge trimmer and I'm wondering what's the best make to buy.
I have a white thorn and green beach hedge to cut and both are around 7 feet high.
I want a good reliable make with some power.

Guttervac

Stihl are very good but expensive, tanaka are a decent make and fairly well priced.

Hedgecutter

Guttervac wrote: »

Stihl are very good but expensive, tanaka are a decent make and fairly well priced.

Ya looking at the Stihl today, expensive alright.

Oldtree

both of mine are sthil and will last you years and years and are easy to fix and service etc.

monkeynuz

Like oldtree says buy the expensive one and get years of trouble free servce from it.

I have the husqvarna equivalent and have had it for ten years and it is great.

Hedgecutter

How heavy a branch will that cut. I have white thorn at the back of my house and I have to cut it twice a year, gets thick and heavy.

Guttervac

I would say that the tanaka are much better machine than the husky in that price bracket.

Tokyo

Another vote for Stihl here. Pricey sure, but you can get parts everywhere for them should you eventually need them, and they're easily serviced.

I have a stihl kombi system with the long reach hedge cutter that you can rotate. Excellent machine.

monkeynuz

Guttervac wrote: »

I would say that the tanaka are much better machine than the husky in that price bracket.

Why do you say that? What proof do you have? Mine is a pro machine bought ten years ago cutting minimum 2000 feet of hedge a year both sides and top.

Guttervac

I have used both at different times over the last 20 years commercially and have have found the tanaka a much more reliable machine in both long handled hedge trimmers and strimmers. Undoubtably Stihl are miles ahead but does cutting a hedge once or twice a year warrant one I don't know. Also I find a good judge of durability and reliability is that a lot of hire shops use tanaka for hire, I don't think I have ever seen a husky used for hire. But that's just my opinion.

prospect

Deleted User wrote: »

I have a stihl kombi system with the long reach hedge cutter that you can rotate. Excellent machine.

Same here, to reduce the cost I went halves with my Dad*, may be an option if you can do that.

We have the mini chainsaw attachment too and it is great for those occasional thick branches.


* - Substitute my dad for someone you know

Guttervac

I bought the harness for the still combi last year and found it brilliant if I am cutting for long periods of time especially useful when using extension bar but it does take a little bit of getting used to and I look ridiculous but takes the pressure off the back.

celticmicky

Guttervac wrote: »

I have used both at different times over the last 20 years commercially and have have found the tanaka a much more reliable machine in both long handled hedge trimmers and strimmers. Undoubtably Stihl are miles ahead but does cutting a hedge once or twice a year warrant one I don't know. Also I find a good judge of durability and reliability is that a lot of hire shops use tanaka for hire, I don't think I have ever seen a husky used for hire. But that's just my opinion.

I second this. We use only Tanaka two stroke machines for hire and have done since the 1990's.

monkeynuz

I stand by my choice of husky/stihl, most tanaka stuff has far too high vibrations for anything more than 30 minutes use, obviously hire shops aren't bothered about that.

Guttervac

monkeynuz wrote: »

I stand by my choice of husky/stihl, most tanaka stuff has far too high vibrations for anything more than 30 minutes use, obviously hire shops aren't bothered about that.

Personally I can't say I have ever found any noticeable difference in vibration between any of them.

monkeynuz

Guttervac wrote: »

Personally I can't say I have ever found any noticeable difference in vibration between any of them.

Vibes on husky long pole are 4/5 rather telling that tanaka don't publish them on their website.