Narrowed it to Echo Vs Stihl long-reach

[MisterBoy]

In an earlier post people rated the Stihl electric stuff and the Echo stuff both very highly. I need the longest-reach polesaw and trimmer I can find to maintain my hedges and trees so I've narrowed my options down to:

 

Stihl HLA 85 + HTA 85 + AP300 battery + charger: my local Stihl dealer quotes £985 which looks close to 3rd party online prices

Or

Echo PPT-2620ES + HCAA-2402A LW Hedge Trimmer: £1008 on echo's site, I can see about £800 online. 

 

These seem pretty comparable in reach and For £120-150 more I can get the extension pole for Echo which gives a big reach advantage for about the same overall price as the Stihl gear. 

 

My concerns are:

1. The Echo is ~10kg, I'm guessing more like 13kg if you swap to the hedge trimmer, whereas the Stihl are both 6-6.5Kg including battery. I don't have direct experience with this but I know working above head-height is never easy. Can any pros give me an idea how much difference this will make for an average guy?
2. I cannot find any information how swapping the heads works on Echo. If it's a 30s job or a 3min job or a 30min job.

 

I don't want to drop a grand on kit I end up dreading using. The Echo mainly attracts me due to the option to add the extra extension for rare use. Being realistic, is the lighter, easier Stihl electric kit going to be better for me? You can be candid I won't be offended  

[Mark Bolam]

Have you looked at the Stihl Kombi battery unit?

Polesaw or hedgecutter, and you can add 1m carbon fibre extension shafts for both.

Don’t know how costs would stack up.

[Mark_Skyland]

2 hours ago, MisterBoy said:

I wonder if that's the same with the dedicated pole saws? It would make sense a multi system has the motor in the base unit but you'd get greater efficiency without a shaft. That would explain the mistake of the using the pro tools?

 

Im not sure but I guess the motor is in the head for reasons you have mentioned. At least if you slightly bend a shaft you can carry on without a big bill!

 

[MisterBoy]

4 minutes ago, Mark Bolam said:

Have you looked at the Stihl Kombi battery unit?

Polesaw or hedgecutter, and you can add 1m carbon fibre extension shafts for both.

Don’t know how costs would stack up.

I actually hadn't - it seemed like the 4m long-reach was a bit specialty only in pro kit. And I've had a bad experience with a combi system before though it was much lower-end. I'll take a look just in case, thanks.

 

 

[Peter 1955]

1 hour ago, Mark Bolam said:

Have you looked at the Stihl Kombi battery unit?

.

The question which immediately sprang to my mind was, will the electric kit fit the petrol? If they're interchangeable, that's great news. and so unlikely that I'm ashamed for even considering it. 

[MisterBoy]

48 minutes ago, Peter 1955 said:

The question which immediately sprang to my mind was, will the electric kit fit the petrol? If they're interchangeable, that's great news. and so unlikely that I'm ashamed for even considering it. 

On the one hand it would save them money not having to re-tool all the parts but I do doubt it. To be fair electric motors are different but still...

[Mark Bolam]

58 minutes ago, Peter 1955 said:

The question which immediately sprang to my mind was, will the electric kit fit the petrol? If they're interchangeable, that's great news. and so unlikely that I'm ashamed for even considering it. 

Now that would be a dream!

 

Does anyone know if the attachments are compatible with both?

@gustharts @Honey Bros ?

[Mark Bolam]

11 minutes ago, MisterBoy said:

On the one hand it would save them money not having to re-tool all the parts but I do doubt it. To be fair electric motors are different but still...

They are, but all the powerhead does is rotate a shaft?

[Peter 1955]

16 minutes ago, MisterBoy said:

On the one hand it would save them money not having to re-tool all the parts but I do doubt it. To be fair electric motors are different but still...

While it might save money in one way, it would stop them selling new items. Cynical? Moi? 

[monkeybusiness]

I am pretty sure they aren’t compatible - electric kit simply has wires running up the shafts to power motors in the heads. Sorry...

[Mark_Skyland]

Yep they fit. customer recently swapped to battery power whilst still using his old kombi attachments.