Brushcutter with hedge trimmer attachment

[John Rumm]

Thought it might be worth reporting back on said widget now I have had a chance to give it a workout. The hedgetrimmer add on I got was a Husqvarna one rather than a Ryobi, but they all seem reasonably interchangeable. The box suggested a fairly long list of makes that it would fit. The Ryobi "expand-it" one does not have the articulated gearbox on the end that lets you change angle of the trimmer which seems fairly essential to me.

The hedge was/is a hefty conifer "wall" that is about 80' long, 12' tall and about 4' thick.

As a simple hedgecutter the ergonomics of it are pretty poor, and it is not at all well balanced. Even without the extension bar in there it is nose heavy. This means that in use you need to experiment with a variety of techniques to find ways of using it comfortably. For low level working the trick seems to be to use a shortish should strap and work the weight by using a combination of push and pull effecting a pivot point on the strap. For long striaght runs best results seem to be achieved by holding the cutter at fixed height and walking along the hedge. For high up work the easiest to control position is with the pole almost straight up, but you do have to take care to avoid a face full of clippings. For reaching across the top of wide and tall hedges it is hard work, but will let you cut in places it would otherwise be very difficult to get a conventional trimmer into. On the plus side you can clear a 8' wide swathe at a time from one ladder position.

Power was adequate (with the 30cc brushcutter) to tackle branches upto the capacity of the trimmer (probably 1/2" to 3/4" inch) - half throttle being enough for most trimming, and flat out when hacking the woody bits. Took about three tanks of fuel to do the lot and I collected just over a cubic meter of clippings.

So in conclusion, if you have a big hedge that needs taming occasionally, it get the job done. If you want to do lots of detailed fiddly bits, the a conventional trimmer would be needed as well.

[Tim S]

John Rumm coughed up some electrons that declared:

Hi John,

Sounds like you've done well. I didn't know about the articulated trimmer at the time, so went for a fixed one. Mine can only manage 1/2" branches (25cc Ryobi full throttle). Don't know the make, but some generic Expand-It compatible part that B&Q were selling.

Having said that, mine does what I expected it to and has still proven a useful buy - just not as good as yours by the sound of it.

I agree on the balance issue, but at least being able to work a pole's length away from hawthorn and holly is a bonus :)

Cheers

Tim

[John Rumm]

I have noticed that with big branches you need to be moving the bar reasonably quickly to get the cut in one hit.

Larger branches can be cut - but it nibbles at them taking a few sect to get through.

Must admit, when I bought mine aI had assumed it was going to be the Ryobi part - its only later when I looked at the box I realised it wasn't! (the chap in the fetched and loaded all the various bits for me!)

I get the feeling that the problems are a limitation of the format and would probably affect any trimmer on the end of a pole setup. So mixed feelings really - it does what is required, but you don't get any great sense of satisfaction from it in use.

Yup - I did notice that with a few embedded brambles! ;-)

The odd thing is that the chainsaw on a pole add on works really well - both ergonomically and practically. I presume it is because you have no need to hold it in free space and move it along a plane, so the weight is a non issue, and in fact is just right to effect the cut without applying any extra force.