Hedge trimmer.

Managed to find some older threads on this but I would like some recent advice.

I'm looking for a hedge trimmer from around £90 to £120 that is suitable for regular use and can last me the summer. Anyone got any recommendations?

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.206-9369.aspx

That one seems to have fairly good reviews, anyone tried that or have any other recommendations?


Maybe any respectable second hand speciality shops?

Edit: Has to be petrol too.

Gary.

 

Hi Gary,

I have never had any experience with Einhell products, however, the rating of 8.6 looks good to me. Things like this usually come with a warranty of a year with tesco (I think)

We recently purchased a flymo leaf vac from tesco as they had a great deal on, and had to keep the box and reciept in case it stopped working... im sure it was 1 year warranty.

Veering off from what you said, I would highly recommend all of flymo equipment. We use them on all gardens where we work, when we can get electricity.

I would also highly advise against buying Ryobi through poor experiences in the past.

Im sure you'll make the right purchase![hr]

Take a look at this! ---> http://www.cheapmowers.com/acatalog/Flymo_XLH420_Hedgetrimmer.html

 

Electric - fine if you are within easy reach of the house, and don't mine the trailing cable and risk of cutting it. Make sure you have a proper RCD (if that's the right term) so the power will be cut if the cable is severed. When using electrical equipment in the garden I think it is recommended to have a specific RCD on the socket (plug in one will do) rather than relying on the RCD built into modern fuse boxes. Someone more knowledgeable than me can comment. I think our Sparky recommended & fitted something extra, in the fuse box, for the sockets that we use for the garden - but I still use a plug in RCD

2-Stroke Petrol will probably make the trimmer heavier. Consider holding it at arms length (and above your head if the hedge is tall) and see what you think of the weight. Can be used any distance from the house, of course, and may be more powerful.

Consider whether you want single-sided blade or double sided. I cut with down strokes in one direction only (which I expect differs for Right and Left handed people). However, when I cut the top I swing it both ways - I have to get up a ladder / platform when doing the top, so being able to cut both sides of the platform means I have to move it fewer times. Double sided blades need sharpening less often (if you use both sides evenly )

I also have a hedge cutter on the end of a strimmer type arrangement. This gives me good reach for taller hedges, and I can angle the head to cut the tops (without a platform), but its a heavy piece of kit to use for long periods.

 

Thanks for the good advice. I should have mentioned that I was gardener all of last year, I mainly trimmed hedges and strimmed. The only issue I have is that I used Stihl equipment, so I have no idea of anything else.

I'm starting on my own now part time you see and have a very limited budget, it's a trial really. I've considered renting but would prefer to buy something fresh partly due to the warranty. Coincidently, my nan also has an electric strimmer which I will keep for backup. I think that's a good idea. Plus for those interested, it's a Black and Decker and I've used it a lot through out the years without any issue.

So I'm used to cutting hedges and such, the advice however is still useful and well appreciated. I should have explained my situation better.


Kristen - out of interest, what platform do you use? Or is it just a make-shift one you use?
Gary.

 

If you are going to be doing contract work then my advice would be to stick with Stihl (albeit that is not compatible with having a low budget when you are starting out!). If you buy an El Cheapo for home use that's one thing, but if you use it 8 hours a day, several days a week (even if only for the hedge cutting season) the El Cheapo ones will fall to bits - "buy cheap, pay twice" - and I doubt your guarantee will be valid because of the extended use.

I use a pair of stands with scaffolding planks between, but although they provide a decent width to work from they take a high proportion of the total time in moving them along.

I have also used scaffolding towers, with wheels, in the past - but that is a narrower working width.

What I'd like to find is a cherry-picker which can either swing left-right, or can be larked close enough to the hedge that it can just be "extended"

 

Yeh the Stihl is great to be fair, just way out of Budget. I'm thinking if it can last me a few months til I can afford a Stihl, then maybe it's worth the risk. What do you reckon?

Do you know any brand that would be great quality but around £180-£200? Also, what would be considered second and third to Stihl?

I know how you feel about the cherry picker situation, finding the right tool for practical stability and ease of use is a lot harder than people think.

 

And you can guarantee when someone asks for their hedge to be cut, you'll always find a spot where your ladders dont want to fit... possibly the reason why they asked you in to do the work in the first place

(spoken from experience)

We dont have all that many hedge cutting jobs so a standard set of hedge clippers does the job for us.

 

Do you run your own business Luke? I notice you're around the same age as me, so could be useful if you have any tips/stories for anyone starting out alone.

I worked directly with the owner of the gardening business when I worked before.


Gary.

 

I'd speak to your local machinery engineer and see if he's (or she's!) got anything second hand that would do a season. If you're not going to do your own fettlin' then you'll need to find one sooner or later anyway and they'll be able to give you the lowdown on what's good value/cheap rubbish/massively overpriced.

Even if a certain model of machine has been a good buy last season, a new version of it could be utter rubbish if they've changed the design slightly or made a saving on price on a crucial part, so do make sure that any recommendations you're given apply to the exact machine you could buy.

 

This is why I wanted a recent post, just for fresh advice. Good advice Garden Monkey, I will look into it. Thank you.

 

Me and my dad both work together self employed. I have a partner who needs me to take/fetch the kids from school, as she is unable to, so working self employed works out well for me.

We have done pretty much everything from small garden makeovers, to turfing 2400sqM (by hand :DOH: ) We also do general maintenance such as grass cutting and... the odd hedge clipping job...

however, recently, a few of our regular customers have sadly died, and, along with people not quite so willing to part with cash, plus the added expense of fuel for travel and machinery, we are finding things increasingly difficult.

We find the larger jobs are more worthwhile, as oppose to the regular maintenance. For example, we have a customer who has us once a fortnight, and we will cut her hedge within the allotted time she pays for, however, if we were to do a one off hedge cut for someone, we can easily charge x2... possibly up to x4 for pretty much a similar job . . . as our regulars dont expect to pay more than our regular hourly maintenance rate we must stick with that.

We also like total ggarden clearance jobs... i.e. turn jungle into tidy in a day or two... also seems to ay well, but still comes under the 'one off' jobs.

One thing to remember is that if the one off jobs start to dry up... you will still need some regular maintenance work as your bread and butter 'wages' to keep money ticking over whilst your awaiting better paying work to fit in.

Good luck in your new venture

 

Thanks Luke. I will start part-time with those one off jobs and see how it goes. I'm from a rural kind of area. Lots of hedges and large gardens.

Thanks for the advice. I will keep the forum updated on my venture.