Extended reach hedge trimmer?

[dr_gn]

All, what’s a decent extended reach hedge cutter (petrol) for about £200?

Occasional use - will mainly be on tall bushes / leylandii to keep the height down annually.

Is second-hand worth a look, or will they mainly be knackered?

Thanks.

[OutInTheShed]

Personally I'd suggest battery over petrol these days unless it's your trade.
Or mains if lead length is not a problem and you're happy to wait for a dry day.

A lot of the time, you'd be better off buying a decent step ladder or whatever and using 'normal' as opposed to long reach tools.

I bought generic 3 in 1 strimmer/pole saw/hedge trimmer and it's been OK, with hindsight I would have bought the lighter, handier smaller cc model.

Mine has needed new fuel tube and a carb clean in 8 years of mostly idleness.

Often with hedges you need to get up there with big loppers, a saw or something, the idea you can stay on the ground and use long reach tools often fails in my experience!

[Simpo Two]

OutInTheShed said:

Personally I'd suggest battery over petrol these days unless it's your trade

Yep. A Bosch Hedgepole here. Works fine.

[dr_gn]

I’ve hired one before, and it didn’t do the job too well, then again the bushes I wanted to cut were too high for it.

This time it’s for much smaller bushes but where the tops are out of reach enough to be a pain without a ladder. TBH I’ve had enough of being up a ladder against a shrub with thorns. With a step ladder, with the height I need - it’s no fun.

[Simpo Two]

dr_gn said:

TBH I’ve had enough of being up a ladder against a shrub with thorns.

Try being trapped down a hole in the dark with an owl!

[Mr Whippy]

I assume for maintenance they’re ok, but not a resizing?

My new place has about 30-40m of 7-8ft hedge, maybe higher, so intend to get a Stihl battery 3.2m jobby, which looks just look my battery normal one, but on an articulated extension.
I think the one I’ve seen is £450 ish.


I’ve seen cheaper ones but the teeth look very shallow, almost like they’re designed for very light workloads, so I’d be weary of buying a cheap one depending on the workload.
I assume petrol are cheaper for more powerful variants vs battery so might be the better budget option?


I know a non-extending one is fine on step ladders, but they are inherently more dangerous.
I always feel a lot happier stood on the floor.

[TUS373]

I have a Makita system DUX60 LXT battery head with interchangeable tools. With hedge trimmer attachment it is fine. If I add in the extension piece it must be around 12ft long. But....as others have said, you cannot see what you are cutting and if you stand further out, you are holding all of that weight out. It soon becomes heavy and unmanageable.

Good step ladders....like tripod ones, would probably be better. Not an easy job.

Edited by TUS373 on Wednesday 28th May 09:23

[Siko]

We have petrol everything due to the size of the plot we work on, but my sole exception is for long reach hedge trimming.
The majority is done by a farmer but there are a few spots around our house inaccessible to a tractor so I trim them myself. I’m reasonably strong and fit (PH company director level etc ) but I find it pretty tiring doing the trimming for any length of time even with my electric long reach trimmer. It’s a lot lighter than a petrol one but the effort of trimming tall trees/hedges etc is surprisingly hard work.
I’ve got a screwfix own brand (maccalister?) special which is absolutely brilliant and cost about £150 - came with a chainsaw and hedge trimmer attachment, the battery seems to last for ever and I get tired and give up well before the battery does!

[dhutch]

Ive reduced all out hedges such that the maximum height is me holding the hedge trimmer above my head and working along the hedge. Problem solved, lol!

[alscar]

Big fan usually of petrol and Stihl but have just bought the new Ryobi cordless extended cutter.
On weight alone seems much better idea than the petrol equivalent.
I have other Ryobi products so only needed a bare tool and Amazon doing them at £89.

[biggiles]

alscar said:

Big fan usually of petrol and Stihl but have just bought the new Ryobi cordless extended cutter.
On weight alone seems much better idea than the petrol equivalent.
I have other Ryobi products so only needed a bare tool and Amazon doing them at £89.

Spot-on alscar. I have the Ryobi extending hedge cutter and their pole saw. Both good, very good value (£89?!), and they use the same extension poles so I can reach ridiculously high branches/hedges.

I use them with an adapter for my Makita batteries (all of my other tools are Makita). These days you can use almost any tool with any batteries.

[alscar]

biggiles said:

alscar said:

Big fan usually of petrol and Stihl but have just bought the new Ryobi cordless extended cutter.
On weight alone seems much better idea than the petrol equivalent.
I have other Ryobi products so only needed a bare tool and Amazon doing them at £89.

Spot-on alscar. I have the Ryobi extending hedge cutter and their pole saw. Both good, very good value (£89?!), and they use the same extension poles so I can reach ridiculously high branches/hedges.

I use them with an adapter for my Makita batteries (all of my other tools are Makita). These days you can use almost any tool with any batteries.

I didn’t realise you could even get adapters so good to know - any links to recommended adapters ?
Yes I was surprised at that Amazon price - my wife is good at searching out these deals !

[Simpo Two]

biggiles said:

I use them with an adapter for my Makita batteries (all of my other tools are Makita). These days you can use almost any tool with any batteries.

If you can find an adapter to run a MacAllister circular saw from a Bosch 18V battery I'd be very happy

[Ranger 6]

Mr Whippy said:

.....My new place has about 30-40m of 7-8ft hedge, maybe higher, so intend to get a Stihl battery 3.2m jobby, which looks just look my battery normal one, but on an articulated extension.
I think the one I ve seen is £450 ish.

We have a battery Stihl pole one. Something like this: https://www.wgmltd.co.uk/machinery/hedge-cutters-a...

We bought the commercial battery version as we need to maintain 80-90m of hedge. Well worth it and seven years in I would highly recommend.

[FredAstaire]

alscar said:

Big fan usually of petrol and Stihl but have just bought the new Ryobi cordless extended cutter.
On weight alone seems much better idea than the petrol equivalent.
I have other Ryobi products so only needed a bare tool and Amazon doing them at £89.

I've been weighing up getting the ryobi 18v extended hedge trimmer, but finding it difficult to figure our what battery I would need.

Weve got one hedge of about 40ft long, maybe 10-12 ft high, so not massive but still plenty of cuttings to have to dispose of. We normally pay someone to do it, but thats not getting any cheaper and I'm out of work

The deal I saw was for about £150 with the smallest battery....appreciate the link to the 89 deal if you can find it again

[renmure]

Another happy Ryobi user here

[alscar]

FredAstaire said:

I've been weighing up getting the ryobi 18v extended hedge trimmer, but finding it difficult to figure our what battery I would need.

Weve got one hedge of about 40ft long, maybe 10-12 ft high, so not massive but still plenty of cuttings to have to dispose of. We normally pay someone to do it, but thats not getting any cheaper and I'm out of work

The deal I saw was for about £150 with the smallest battery....appreciate the link to the 89 deal if you can find it again

Yes that deal was for the 2a battery and charger included which I doubt would do all of that length.
I already had a couple of 4a batteries in stock.
The £89 was on Amazon main site but that’s just the bare tool ie no battery or charger.
I’ve just looked and it’s up to £119 now.
With that battery the offer is now £139.

[danb79]

Ryobi One+ user here with their 5Ah battery and it does the hawthorn at the bottom of the garden, the huge bay tree we have and the 2 large (now medium) camelia's in the front garden all one one charge; zero issues

I have x2 those batteries and the Ryobi fast charger; they make a difference

I've tried aftermarket compatible batteries and they're useless

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ryobi-OPT1845-Cordless-He...

[a311]

I've gone full circle sort of over the years. Corded electric, petrol, now back to cordless/battery powered. I already had a lot of dewalt tools and batteries and now have a hedge trimmer, trimmer, extended pole branch cutter with trimmer tool from Dewalt. Quieter and lighter than the petrol ones I have and less maintenance.

[Cow Corner]

If you have a lot of hedges then I’d suggest you need both a normal hedge trimmer and an extended one, as while the Makita extended multi tool I have is great, for normal use it’s very heavy and cumbersome, so I’ve recently bought a standard hedge cutter with a long bar and it’s really made a difference.