Commercial Pole hedgetrimmer - Recommendations please

[arboriculturist]

Having used Stihl pole hedgetrimmers for at least 15 years and replaced about 7 sets of cutting head gear sets despite regular greasing  - its time for a change of make,  as changing those gears is a tedious task.

 

Having used Echo saws and also searched previous threads  -  the Echo HCA-265ES-LW Long Reach Hedge Cutter seems to come to the top of the pile. 

 

I would welcome others opinions for sure though.

Edited September 10, 2017 by arboriculturist

[nepia]

Crikey, what were you doing with your Stihls - cutting firewood?!  My Echo's around 3 years old now and absolutely nothing has gone wrong or broken but then I trim hedges with it   I've never touched the Low or Idle screws and cold starting is one pull on full choke, pull again and kill the choke as it fires up.  Then leave it to idle for a bit as apparently the cylinder wall is thicker than the Stihl's and takes a bit to warm ready for use; throttle response is poor for the first 30 seconds or so.

As for the cut - I'm not pedantic about the finish but have no complaints re the Echo.

[Marc]

I've tried everything else and prefer Stihls, we buy 2 a year on rotation after 3 bin them, rebuilds can be expensive so it's not worth it.

 

most of the other makes out there are pretty decent, it just for out and out abuse and hard time the stihls outlast in a contracting role.

 

have 2 of the new ones now and so far really impressed, plastics seem chewy/soft but maybe that's no bad things. A lot lighter than the 4 mix Stihl vibrate like a pig though, be interesting to see how they hold up to a seasons abuse.

[arboriculturist]

18 hours ago, nepia said:

Crikey, what were you doing with your Stihls - cutting firewood?!  My Echo's around 3 years old now and absolutely nothing has gone wrong or broken but then I trim hedges with it   I've never touched the Low or Idle screws and cold starting is one pull on full choke, pull again and kill the choke as it fires up.  Then leave it to idle for a bit as apparently the cylinder wall is thicker than the Stihl's and takes a bit to warm ready for use; throttle response is poor for the first 30 seconds or so.

As for the cut - I'm not pedantic about the finish but have no complaints re the Echo.

Thanks for the replies. The Stihls gearboxes are underengineered for the job, so it going to be the  Echo HCA-265ES-LW

 

If its anything like their saws,  its going to be a top knotch machine.

Edited September 11, 2017 by arboriculturist

[nepia]

Excellent.

 

Marc may well have a point about abuse in commercial use.  That's not my remit so I can't comment.  I merely suggest you don't throw the machine around!

[arboriculturist]

48 minutes ago, nepia said:

Excellent.

 

Marc may well have a point about abuse in commercial use.  That's not my remit so I can't comment.  I merely suggest you don't throw the machine around!

Totally agree - however we keep an oil can with machine in a tub at all times and oil blades every 10 mins continual use and re-grease gearbox every 10 hours. Stihl gearboxes still fail.

 

We will soon be in the Echo era - as nothing can touch the 2511 for a climbing saw.

[jose]

ive got one of those echos a few months back. Very nice machine. Ive never been a stihl fan ever since using the combi hedge cutters. I found it was the engine that let it down.

I still have a mid lenght unit ( not a combi unit) and although it works fine the echo is a much better machine to hold and use.

My kit does tend to last but by no means has a easy life so if it survives then its a good machine and id buy it again.

I also had a couple of Cobras ( i believe) with the Kawasaki engine. Again a good machines that 5 yrs on still come out occasionally. Just dont die.

 

[Marc]

The Echo is a nice machine I have one at home that's over 5 years old we had them at work.

 

its interesting to hear different feedback for me as a commercial tool the Stihl is hard to beat.

 

i look at commercial tools differently these days, i expect 2 years out of the Stihl hedgecutters and 3 years from chainsaws, before they are replaced with newer reliable machines, if they last longer great.

 

it all depends on how you look at machines and how they get used.

 

 

[Mark Bolam]

The Echo is a nice machine I have one at home that's over 5 years old we had them at work.
 
 
 

I thought I was bad that I nicked the odd Biro!

[Burgess]

The newer magnesium echo gearboxes aren't as bulletproof as the old all steel ones (the LW is the magnesium ones) but still very good and a very nice finish.