long reach hedge trimmer

[Andy Collins]

The plus side of the small tank is that it keeps the weight down, every few grams help.

 

Haha ever the salesman eh? unfortunately I've always found that to be a negative, sorry, if I could fit long range tanks on the sides I would if it saved me minutes off a job.

[woody paul]

I have a Tanaka long reach and a Husqvarna 325 HDA 55 which run the same cutting head. Smashed the casing on my husky once and landed up putting the Tanaka 1 on it to get the job finished

[Pedroski]

I'm getting the Makita next time round me thinks. Under £400 for long reach hedgecutter, AND 'strimmer' attachment. More power than the Stihl and Tanaka, light weight, good reviews. Might even consider the AMA after hearing good stuff about them.

 

The Stihl 4-Mix jobs are a right let down - Had mine from new for a few years, was using it every single day until I got hacked off and started using my FS85 again. The 4Mix ones are too heavy, too vibey, and the torque when accelerating knackers your wrist after non stop cutting all day. Also, and it's not just me this, they leak fuel from the tank into the carb/air filter when lying down in transport, then they end up hard to start (impossible sometimes without removing saturated air filter). Ours have been completely rebuilt and still the problem persists. They are also much louder than the 2 stroke ones, whatever the specs would have you believe. Avoid the HL95, and instead look for one of the 2 stroke ones if you must get a Stihl.

[harvey b davison]

I'm liking pedro's take on the makita.

[GardenKit]

Its interesting to note the comment that the Huskie hedgtrimmer head is the same as the Tanaka. It is in fact the tanaka head and its credit to Tanaka quality that Huskie chose to use it rather than build there own.

 

Its is worth also considering repair costs when buying a long reach trimmer.

 

ALL hedgetrimmer attachments will at some time suffer gearbox or blade problems.

 

I have never yet repaired a Makita, but they are not the most durable and they do fail. A blade set costs £142 plus vat, and a gear set costs £227 plus vat. Hence they are not repaired, a new head retails at £259 plus vat

 

A Stihl gear set cost around £180 plus vat and fail frequently. A new head is around £240 plus vat. Do the math.

 

A Tanaka head is excellent quality, but still suffer the odd breakage, often due to lack of grease, just like the others.

Blade set £55 plus vat. Gear set £49 plus vat, plus an hours labour.

Or new at £200 plus vat.

 

Oh, and the Tanaka TPH 270s is slightly MORE powerful than the Makita.

[carlos]

ok thats ordered i went for the tanaka tph270s in the end mainly because of the weight and price so hopfully it will be ok, wont be using it 24/7 anyhow.

and for a change the local dealer came in with a good price too!

thanks for the advice aprriciate it.

carl.

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

I have the Echo, tbh it leaves the Stihl standing in terms of quality build. I'd estimate that the vibes are approx 50% less than the Stihl model, cut quality is superb, in general a much better tool. Having started with a variety of long reach, the later model Echos take some beating, by far the most important factor for me in long reaches is the vibes though.

 

Agree with Andy echo is a great tool.

 

What they said.

 

King of hedgecutters.

[likeitorlumpit]

I'm getting the Makita next time round me thinks. Under £400 for long reach hedgecutter, AND 'strimmer' attachment. More power than the Stihl and Tanaka, light weight, good reviews. Might even consider the AMA after hearing good stuff about them.

 

The Stihl 4-Mix jobs are a right let down - Had mine from new for a few years, was using it every single day until I got hacked off and started using my FS85 again. The 4Mix ones are too heavy, too vibey, and the torque when accelerating knackers your wrist after non stop cutting all day. Also, and it's not just me this, they leak fuel from the tank into the carb/air filter when lying down in transport, then they end up hard to start (impossible sometimes without removing saturated air filter). Ours have been completely rebuilt and still the problem persists. They are also much louder than the 2 stroke ones, whatever the specs would have you believe. Avoid the HL95, and instead look for one of the 2 stroke ones if you must get a Stihl.

 

Man you are so right with this

Every bit I agree with

We even had the same lying dowwn in transit

The noise is horrible

We've had 2 and they are both cr*p

What's wrong with stihl these days

I'm going over to the dark side.... Ryobi:biggrin:

[GardenKit]

ok thats ordered i went for the tanaka tph270s in the end mainly because of the weight and price so hopfully it will be ok, wont be using it 24/7 anyhow.

and for a change the local dealer came in with a good price too!

thanks for the advice aprriciate it.

carl.

Good choice.

 

It would not matter if you were using it 24/7, it will stand it as well as any other brand, and much better than many.

 

And, as I said above, if you do manage to break it at least its economic to fix.

[Pedroski]

Its is worth also considering repair costs when buying a long reach trimmer.

 

ALL hedgetrimmer attachments will at some time suffer gearbox or blade problems.

 

I have never yet repaired a Makita, but they are not the most durable and they do fail. A blade set costs £142 plus vat, and a gear set costs £227 plus vat. Hence they are not repaired, a new head retails at £259 plus vat

 

A Stihl gear set cost around £180 plus vat and fail frequently. A new head is around £240 plus vat. Do the math.

 

A Tanaka head is excellent quality, but still suffer the odd breakage, often due to lack of grease, just like the others.

Blade set £55 plus vat. Gear set £49 plus vat, plus an hours labour.

Or new at £200 plus vat.

 

Oh, and the Tanaka TPH 270s is slightly MORE powerful than the Makita.

 

Sorry, that's rubbish. The Stihl gear heads do NOT 'fail frequently'. We've been using them extremely heavily for years, and I can say, hand on heart, we have NEVER had one fail, and neither has a colleague of mine who runs several Stihl hedgecutters for roadside work. The ONLY maintenance we have had to do on gear heads is to check the grease level. Your maths are wrong. The only issue we have had with Stihl gear is with the later 4Mix engines which is why I'm going off them.

 

I know you promote Tanaka, but after experiences with their top handle saw they're right off our list now and will be until we get a chance to demo and try one out properly.