Maruyama Hedgetrimmer

Pfft, buy whatever is locally supported, you can hardly go wrong with a Stihl or known Japanese brand.

That's stupid money if for domestic use.

I'll guarantee I've got as long out of hedgetrimmers costing much less than those. And I use them a lot on 260ft of hawthorn, 150 ft of Thuja, and 120ft of beech, in addition to trimming Heather and box throughout the garden. It's hardly unhelpful to point out that a brand is not designed for domestic users if the person enquiring is a domestic user nor to consider them expensive for the use they may be put to by the OP. If he needs commercial grade then fair enough but if he doesn't there's no gain in going for Maruyama.

Look the OP asked for opinions and I gave mine. You don't agree. Big deal. It's a discussion forum.

Chainsaws are a completely different kettle of fish,

I had one of those Maruyama long reach hedge trimmers, cost over €500 at the time.

Sweet little engine, nothing but trouble from the cutting head.

Kept going out of order and repaired several times.

Eventually needed a new head costing over €300 for the part alone.

I abandoned ship after a couple of years and bought an electric one in Aldi for €60 and got five years trouble free work out of it and then only needed new motor brushes.

Have a look at Tanaka to, few hire places use them which is a good sign.

With any two stroke engine for occasional use, Aspen is a great idea.

Unless you are meticulous in keeping fuel fresh and have mix right it's the most likely cause of trouble

Have a look in your local hire place and see what petrol hedge trimmers they hire out. These are usually robust & good enough to withstand a good bit of use, without being too big an investment. At the point of the curve, where spending more gains little extra.

That actually makes it sound worse? They buy in the engines and the bit they make fails.

Cop yourself on. I don't see your valued opinion on the hedge trimmer anywhere.

Have you tried the 30" tbh I have rarely used one but when I did I found it a little too long for some of the work I did on chest high hedges and a little inaccurate on really good hedges (the last few inches can cut deeper than you want before you've noticed it). Perhaps if you are regularly doing 15ft tall leylandii every inch counts.

I started off using 24" single sided as sales guy said one sweep will cut all.....with 25 years experience as a gardener I would now use nothing but 30" double sided Stihl hedge trimmers. The 30" will make cutting hedges a hell of a lot easier and straighter. The downside of these professional machines is the extra weight which has to be taken in to account with prolonged use. Get whatever machine you are interested in in to your hands and make a decision then.

Had my van cleared out before Christmas 3 years ago so had to buy again, they took everything Stihl and left the rest. Bought a 30" Stihl and a 24" Tanaka hedge trimmer to get going again, the Tanaka was highly recommended but a toy compared to what I was used to so ended up replacing with another Stihl 30".