Cordless hedge trimmer -I wonder if this one is any good?

anotherquestion

Hi folks,
I have a Stihl petrol hedge trimmer, its quite heavy over 4kg almost 5 I think, I have used it a number of times and as I am getting on in age I find it very tiring to use, would never have been that good with it anyways as I have bad stamina, so I do get someone in to cut hedges at least every two years, but he is getting expensive.
I saw an add in Daily Mail for this cordless hedge trimmer which comes with a long pole attachment for hard to reach places, and wonder if any of you have used it, and what do you think?
Gtech Cordless Hedge Trimmer HT3.0 | Electric Hedge Trimmer | Gtech
I can actually get it with a code in add for £129, I know there are other cordless even a cheaper one from Stihl but it hasn't got the pole attachment.
Any advice appreciated.

neilmcl

Depends if you need a pole trimmer or not, they can be a bit unwieldy if you don't have hedges big enough to warrant them but invaluable on really tall hedges. The Gtech one does have a decent Which review however it does state that it has a rather long battery charge time (over 4 hours) and the blade has fairly narrow teeth so wont manage really thick hedges/bushes. Having said that if you can get it for only £124 then that's a very good deal for a decent, cordless hedge trimmer.

Personally I prefer something with a bit more grunt so prefer corded trimmers and I have pretty large hedges so I've got a big Bosch cutter with a 70cm blade and I use that in conjunction with a corded pole trimmer I got from Lidl.

getmore4less

My very old heavy electric getting blunt can still cut bigger than the cordless I got last year.

The advantage of the cordless is(as long as the battery charged) is quick and easy to do a quick trim.

Won't touch older growth if left for over a year, going to try a cutback/shape then more often  trims this year.
I don't have a lot of hedge so can still manage a big cut but arms hurt after.

I have gone with Worx because I have other tools same battery.
Consider your cordless collection.

If you can run a lead there are some much cheaper mains options almost disposable.


Seems it was on offer early last year.
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/hedge-trimmer-ht-30-garden-safety-kit-3601235

carly

Son in law has the gtech one. It broke down once whilst under warranty and was replaced without a fuss by gtech. It has now failed for the second time. 

TELLIT01

I had the earlier model and it was awful.  One of the triggers was halfway along the handle which greatly restricted reach.  The main shaft also snapped on the second or third use.  Gtech supplied a complete new machine and didn't want the old stuff back so I did end up with 4 chargers etc.  It's in the shed now, hardly used.  I bought a Ryobi and it's far superior.

EssexExile

It looks like a toy. As Neilmcl says don't get an extending trimmer if you don't need one, they are really awkward in use. Also like Neil, I have a Bosch corded trimmer for the vast majority and a cheap extendable one for use if I can't get my neighbour to do the hard to reach bits. I've had the Bosch for decades, the cord's getting shorter though!

neilmcl

EssexExile said:

It looks like a toy. As Neilmcl says don't get an extending trimmer if you don't need one, they are really awkward in use. Also like Neil, I have a Bosch corded trimmer for the vast majority and a cheap extendable one for use if I can't get my neighbour to do the hard to reach bits. I've had the Bosch for decades, the cord's getting shorter though!

Funny you should say that, last year was the first time I'd ever cut through the cable, I'm usually pretty careful with them. Fortunately it was near quite near to the trimmer and I always fit 2 pin connectors to my garden tool cables if they don't come normally with them, so I didn't lose that much in the end.

Davesnave

A 15mm max cut is small. I can only do my main hedges once a year in view of birds nesting etc and the GTech simply wouldn't cut it.

Even my mains trimmer with a 26mm cut struggles.

TELLIT01

I've passed my mains powered hedge trimmer to my brother-in-law as he has far more hedge to cut than me.  My Ryobi is good but doesn't have the cutting power of the mains one.  It will still cut decent size branches but not as many at a time.

neilmcl

Davesnave said:

A 15mm max cut is small. I can only do my main hedges once a year in view of birds nesting etc and the GTech simply wouldn't cut it.

Even my mains trimmer with a 26mm cut struggles.

The main reason why I prefer to use my corded Bosch AHS 70-34. It's a bit of a beast with a 34mm spacing.

in_my_wellies

neilmcl said:

Davesnave said:

A 15mm max cut is small. I can only do my main hedges once a year in view of birds nesting etc and the GTech simply wouldn't cut it.

Even my mains trimmer with a 26mm cut struggles.

The main reason why I prefer to use my corded Bosch AHS 70-34. It's a bit of a beast with a 34mm spacing.

Agree with both these comments. I too cut the hedges once a year (re birds nests) and spend all day doing it so couldn't be waiting for batteries to charge. As I never know quite which day that will be I'd be reluctant to have it charging for days/weeks waiting for that day. 
The mains one is so much more powerful. One thing which I have done to make the mains easier is to insert a connector about 1m along the cable. I can unclip this and climb out of the border with the trimmer then easily pull the cable out of the bushes. Much easier than trying to untangle the cable when attached.