Electric hedge trimmers - cordless or not?

What are you cutting?

Corded - cuts laurel no problem. Bosch 14.4V NiCD - bounced off laurel =A354 Bosch 18V L-Ion - untried, may be better =A380 Bosch 36V L-Ion - untried, Screwfix =A3159 Petrol powered - solves the problem

I suspect the only real cordless is the last one - batteries are =A360, you can get a Bosch 36V drill body to go with it to "dilute the cost" but that is going to set you back a not inconsiderable sum.

Corded is cheap even if you need a very long extension lead, petrol however solves the "150m long cable required" although I believe TLC still have 16mm H07RNF on offer at the moment which would be hilarious as a windup :-)

Windup? You mean the cordless are driven by rubber bands?

Prolly end up getting mains-powered, I suspect.

Not far off :-)

The more expensive cutters move both blades rather than having one stationary which tends to result in less vibration, although most are not particularly severe in that regard anyway. The biggest vibration is typically the brake which seems to be a trigger-release pawl type in that it is essentially instant & pretty brutal. They are quite noisy devices of course.

It comes down what you *really* use the trimmer on.

- Traditional box hedge - cordless will be ok

- Conifers into cones - cordless will get stuck on thicker bits

- Laurel hedge - cordless other than 36V will struggle

- Hacking the Amazon - corded

If you go to

Corded will brute-force cut laurel, cordless tend to bounce off or just snag - and snagging gets very tiring.

Remember to use it with an RCD (plug-in) or on an RCD protected circuit because hedge trimmers are one area where it is very common indeed to cut through the cable.

The larger hedge cutters (Bosch, Makita etc) have a better double- handle design with multiple triggers which makes their stability somewhat better than the "mini-Bosch" type which lack the same guard design. I really prefer the oversized handle which ensures hands are well away from the blades - it does force you into the =A369-89 models though.

If you go along to a DIY store you can get the feel of them re weight & how happy you are with the various designs from cheap to expensive. The better models have triple switches on the front handle so you can use it in any orientation, the rear handle has another switch so you are forced to keep both hands away from the blades. Check the weight too.

Or clockwork, possibly!

Thanks - I've noted all that. I had, in fact, already poked around the Amazon reviews and weight is definitely going to be a factor.

I've found that both of my corded ones soon became cordless...

Which reminds me, must replace the cable again for this year :-)

Darren

If you can tolerate white, Screwfix do 50m 2 core 0.75mm for =A310. They only, peculiarly, do orange in 50m 3 core 1.50mm for =A325.

No idea how long a standard cord is, my tape measure is not long enough but I suspect it will be someday :-)

I replaced my hedge trimmer cable with 3-core to the safety break. It's double insulated so that the earth isn't connected in the trimmer, but it means an earth leakage is pretty much guaranteed when you cut the cord, and thus instant operation of the RCD.

For a small hedge maybe, but otherwise I want petrol for power, capacity and freedom from cables.