Further advice please. Stihl battery kombi units.

[AHPP]

4 hours ago, Mick Dempsey said:

Battery blower is great, would recommend, never use the petrol ones these days, especially good for cleaning radiators on chippers etc.

You don’t need huge power to turn a fan, and there’s no resistance so suits battery power. 

Interesting. Anyone second Mick on the blower?

[rapalaman]

I use hand held Stihl blower 90% of the time, great for clearing grass cuttings, hedge trimmings, woodchips off tarmac, concrete etc after raking. Goes through batteries quickly. 
carry petrol backpack blower for bigger areas, clearing lawns and bigger jobs

[kram]

1 hour ago, AHPP said:

Interesting. Anyone second Mick on the blower?

I've ordered the Makita XGT one. It has some impressive numbers and should be smaller to fit in my car. It'll get me another free promotion battery too, so the  ost is irrelevant. On full, boost mode, expect less than 8 minutes from a battery. I'd be rather irritated if I needed to spend 8 minutes of a day full power blowing.

 

 

 

 

[kram]

13 hours ago, AHPP said:

 

I was thinking about what blower to buy the other day and it made me think which tools you want battery and which petrol. Chainsaws are stop start so battery ideal but for long stints of constant throttle, you need petrol. I'd put blowers, hedge trimmers and strimmers firmly in the constant running category. Battery polesaw would be fine.

Disagree there, more about power than constant running. Top handles are ok as generally its high power in short bursts. I was impressed how many  12"cuts my uc002 can do on a battery.

 

Hedgers, trimmers are constant but low power tools. They can use high power but only for the instant that you hit a thicker branch. You can get ages out of a battery.

However you might not want to do a 8 hour day of heavy rail veg clearance as that will go through batteries fast.

 

Blower is a high power tool and can drain a battery in 10 mins or so on full blast. How much blowing do you do?

 

Battery hedgers, holding them up near your face you get a cool blast of fresh air out the motor. Extremely refreshing on a hot day!

 

Top handles for climbing or ground saw for snedding ideal to be battery. Big saws for chogging up large stems need the power of petrol - Im talking 372xp-500i-660 sort of thing. There are large comparable battery saws but they use huge batteries and expensive.

Edited June 28 by kram

[Dan Maynard]

1 hour ago, Bolt said:

For the record, I’ve asked customers if they’ve got an outdoor socket available before , and no one has ever batted an eyelid.  I guess it’s not unusual for a “workman” to want to plug something in.

 

Never needed to use it though, but it never hurts to have a contingency.

 

I also have a vehicle charger, so I could recharge from the truck, a spare car battery or conceivably, the chipper.

 

Never really need to though.

We had our roof done recently, first thing the guys did every morning was set up a cable and put some batteries on charge. 

 

Quite a few customers do ask if we need power, I've never said yes but I don't think they would bat an eyelid if I did. As above, never managed to make all my batteries flat in a day and just stick them on charge when putting saws away at night.

[kram]

11 minutes ago, Dan Maynard said:

As above, never managed to make all my batteries flat in a day and just stick them on charge when putting saws away at night.

This is one of my problems. I generally go out after work and dont get home until 10 or 11pm. My charger is a single slot and takes an hour each. I may have to get a double slot charger so I can stick them all together. I dont want to leave it running over night.

 

It may be difficult if you had enough batteries for a team or two teams. Makita do an 8 slot box but afaik it needs mains power to charge, and its £500! Ideal if it could charge from car/van while driving to and from sites.

Edited June 28 by kram

[AHPP]

@kram

 

Raking murders my back, which is a shame because I find it satisfying. So I tend to use the blower a lot. Now Mick and you mention it though, I am always impressed with how little fuel they use. Maybe they’re not that power hungry. 
 

Power is work done over time btw. I understand what you meant though. 
 

My blower choice has been made easier since this discussion began by dad giving me the petrol one he barely uses. So I’ll use that until it dies and see what the market has to offer in about 2040. 

[Tree monkey 1682]

8 hours ago, Mick Dempsey said:

 

 

Well of course it’s my opinion. 
But it’s an opinion based on owning and using battery saws in tree work for a while. 
Yours is based on having a play one time on a course.  
At the moment they can’t match the power of the bigger saws. 
Doesn’t mean they aren’t preferable for other work. 

When I last spoke to hans like I said in stihls tech department the were saying they never could match petrol power .just wasn't possible .

[Mick Dempsey]

12 minutes ago, Tree monkey 1682 said:

When I last spoke to hans like I said in stihls tech department the were saying they never could match petrol power .just wasn't possible .

was it Super Hans?

[Tree monkey 1682]

1 hour ago, Mick Dempsey said:

was it Super Hans?

Pathetic, it's not my fault that stihl in Surrey has  a German technical advisor called hans . At the end of the day it's meant to be a forum ...it's not my fault I've upset  a woke ,net zero  bunch of lovies. I used what I've found best if I've tried battery and found it to be shite...then so be it.Equally if it works for you that's fine but it's as I've found them ..and I won't convert to battery ..il stick to aspen and we'll maintained equipment .