I'm considering buying some long reach petrol hedge cutters, but the ones on eBay are either well known brands (Stihl, Husqvarna, WHY?) for ~£500 or no-name Chinese cr*p.
Can anyone recommend an intermediate brand? IOW, a decent brand that isn't Stihl? (For example, I have a Fuji Robin brush cutter which has been very good).
I use a mix of Stihl and Ryobi petrol powered cutters on the farm. The Ryobis are nowhere near as robust as the Stihl but nowhere near as expensive. The Ryobi brush cutter that I use has electric start, interchangeable heads including long-reach hedgecutter and it has worked well for several years.
I'd say the batteries can be suspect. I have two motor heads, the battery failed on one just out of warranty. The rest of the machine works well and pull start is included.
I agree, I have a collection of Ryobi bits, a 1000 watt electric 'head', a 2-stroke head, two strimmers, a brush cutter, a pseudo-flymo sort of thing, a rotavator and a hedge trimmer - oh, and a chainsaw on a stick (pruner).
With occasional fixes they all continue to work pretty well after fairly heavy use on our 9 acre smallholding. I've had them some years now.
The bit that most often needs some help is the join between the 'head' and the tool, it's difficult to get the clamp tight enough and with some tools (the rotavator and pruner in particular) it has a tendency to slip and turn.
I have a Stihl electric long reach one, which is very good. It's quiet, vibration-free, and very powerful, compared with a bog-standard B&Q cutter. (Can't speak for the petrol engine ones though.)
I can't recall how much it was, but nothing like £500. Have you looked at the official Stihl stockists?
Stihl is a pain in that it forbids any of it's stockists to mail out power tools - they have to be collected in person. Supposedly, this is so you can be shown how to use it, but that doesn't happen of course. Most won't even mail out the tube of grease for it, so I may well end up using ebay for that.
BTW, you may want a regular (short reach) cutter too. It's not always convenient not to be able to cut anything closer than 4'.
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