Thinking of buying one of these, and looking on eBay the choice seems to be between brands I've heard of (Stihl, Makita) for loads of money, or no-name (presumably Chinese) crap for a lot less money. Is there no middle ground?
There does not seem to be... Ryobi perhaps at a pinch.
I was in a similar boat after my first Ryobi brush cutter digested a part of its carb and died. I was left with various attachments for it, and spent some time investigating if there was anything better that would fit them. The general answer seemed to be no, apart from some equally doubtful brands like McColough etc.
So it seems to be either the various ebay specials, and the ryobi kit (fairly similar in price), or a big jump to the Stihl / Echo / Makita stuff at three to four times the price.
I have a Fuji Robin brushcutter, with which I am very pleased. But sadly, it doesn't cut hedges.
Not an option for me, I'm afraid. For one thing, the hedges are too high. I suppose I might be able to get him to cut them down a bit. And he can't get a tractor inside, so I'd still need to cut the inner faces by hand.
e.g.http://www.midlandladders.com/products/The_Gardeno_Mobile_Work_Platform-167-0.htmlThat would be useless for me, since I only have level ground next to about
30% of the hedges, and it isn't high enough.
I already have one of these;
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once you've moved it half a dozen times, you're sick of the sight of it. And they need storing - mine comes to pieces, but it's so complicated I can't be arsed and store it whole in my neighbour's barn. And I still need a long reach trimmer to reach across the hedges because they're so wide at the top. I've been hiring one up to now, at a cost of £85/weekend, but I thought if I owned one I could cut some hedging when I fancied it, rather than having to get it all done in one weekend. (Hah! One weekend? The last time I did it myself it took
3 weekends and I was completely f*ck*d by the end. I know I need more exercise, but I'm not doing *that* again!So I've been paying someone to do it. But if I could do it like the Forth Road Bridge, it would be a great deal easier.)
Things I'm not having with my next house; Hawthorn hedges. Gravel drives. Wooden windows (That's already sorted here). Parquet flooring. I expect there's more but I can't think of it now.
I've got a cheap Ryobi petrol strimmer with an Expand-It hedge trimmer attachment. I've only used it for a couple of hours, and I have no other hedge-trimmer experience to compare against, but it seems to work reasonably well for the price. It's a lot easier than using hand shears.
It has a fairly long reach - I can cut hedges up to about 3 metres high with it. I don't find it excessively heavy, but with tired arms I found it slightly dangerous. If I had a large job to tackle, I would probably split it over several days to allow my arms to recover.
I won't touch Ryobi again since my hedgecutter attachment sheared some teth on a plastic gear that costs as a spare, half the price of a whole new trimmer.
If you're planning to stay where you are for many years then it will probably work out cheaper in the long run to buy one of the decent ones. My local tool shop specialises in Husqvarna and Stihl. The Husqvarna is about 10% cheaper than the Stihl so that's what I go for.
My hedge cutter is a Husqvarna attachement that fits the Ryobi. Its not actually much more than the official part, but better made with a metal gearbox and the end has variable tilt, where the original Ryobi one did not. (current one possibly does)
We have a Ryobi "Expand-It" petrol brushcutter that came with a pruning chainsaw and a long reach hedge cutter. I'm very pleased with it, particularly because it's an electric start model.
It's not as capable as the Stihl brushcutter that I use on the farm but it is lighter and can work all day long without any problems. From time to time Screwfix go mad and offer brushcutter+two attachments for the usual retail price of the brushcutter. Last month it was brushcutter+pruner for £99.
Husqvarna is good stuff, but the spares position is nowhere near as good as Stihl. If you have a nearby shop that carries (or can get) spares, then go for it, but if all your local serious shops are Stihl dealers, it can get awkward.
OTOH, a Husq shop will at least sell to you, whereas most Stihl head office, and many Stihl shops, are incredibly up their own arses about whether you're allowed to buy anything vaguely sharp or pointed.
Jonsered kit is equally good, but AFAIK you're stuffed for any spares throughout the whole UK.
Yes, mine is a leccy one. They obviously aren't as common as no one kept them in stock, whereas most of the dealers had the petrol one in stock. For a professional gardener, petrol is going to be preferred because of lack of leccy, but I installed garden sockets specificly for hedge trimmer/mower/etc years ago. Stockists get two deliveries per week from Stihl, so it wasn't really an issue.
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