Simplify Gardening - Close to perfect tools?

I have two hedge cutters.

One is a 24" blade electric which is not too heavy (although large) and is quite easy to use. It's good for most work that doesn't require stretching and doesn't need any form of angled use for most things within reach. I've had it for 30 years with no problems.

The other is also electric, extendable with an 18" blade and the head can be moved to different angles (not self-adjusting). This extends to about 8ft. It's good for cutting across the top edge of high hedges (with the blade angled) and for shaping my tall conifers. It also works well across the top of wide hedges. It does have a disadvantage for me.

Before I bought it I tried using a petrol driven professional one (belongs to a professional gardener friend) but I found it too heavy and cumbersome, even with the shoulder straps. The balance was good, using the handle that extended at right angles to the main pole but I'm no longer able to sustain continuous use because of the weight.

My electric one is much lighter, doesn't have a hand grip to the side but has a grip further along the pole. The problem is the electric motor. It has the blades attached to it. This may not seem a problem - and definitely isn't one when using it at normal length - but when the pole is extended the light weight motor is now at the end of the pole. The leverage of having it that far away from my grip becomes quite considerable after a while and turns a light weight into a heavy one. Whilst it's being used vertically it's no problem as the direction of force of the weight is still straight down to the hand grips, but when being used at an angle (shaping tops of trees or cutting across wide hedges) the momentum force is hard to cope with. A younger, fitter person would not find it so much trouble.

 

Don't forget they even have robot mowers now. I've seen them in action and they do quite a good job - but you have to make your garden to fit how it works.

Now that's a good idea for a new hedge trimmer! A robot trimmer that does it all for you. Should be easy enough . Just combine it with a drone.

There you are, all the hard, genius, work done, just pass it on to the workers to put it all together. More fame and fortune for Shiney . I knew that having Heath Robinson and Rube Goldberg as ancestors would come in handy