Commercial Pole hedgetrimmer - Recommendations please

[Khriss]

...ummmmm Magnesium ?? The same stuff they use in flares n incendiary rounds ? God I hope one never catchs fire ! K

[deezyboy]

I have the exact same trimmer rob, with the plastic blade guard still on. Head has got 3 large cracks in it and I only bought it 6 weeks ago. First crack appeared after 2 hours use. Going back to stihl.  

[lurkalot]

On ‎12‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 09:38, Burgess said:

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.

Is that the new HD "Heavy Duty" gearbox?

Thing I like about the Echo is having the sharp blade tips, it'll saw through stuff that won't fit between the blades.  They always seem to cut better than the Stihl's imo.

[Burgess]

I havent used any of the HD ones. I assume they're a redesign to sort of how much worse the LW's were tha nthe older ones.

[lurkalot]

I haven't used the heavy duty one either, I was told a few months ago that they were bringing out a new heavy duty gearbox. If I understand the HD has the sharpened blade tips like the old HCA-2400 had.

[arboriculturist]

We recently bought the Echo polewith HD gearbox.

 

The cutting teeth are not as long as the rear handle Stihl which I would suggest is why it is not so easy to cut the really thick material. They are a tiny bit shorter than the Stihl pole.

This is clearly a design which is engineered to protect the gears. Fitted 6 gearboxes to the Stihl even though greased after each fuul days cutting.

 

Echo excellent on coniferous hedges.

[Burgess]

I think stihl long reach and "r" have 39mm blade spacing? Whereas echo have 35mm (stihl "t" have 30 if I remember correctly)