long reach hedge trimmer

[GardenKit]

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.

You obviously look after yours very well, but I am afraid many people do not.

 

I have had many of them in with failed gears, as well as con rods etc, mostly due to lack of grease, and the cost of the gear set is around £180 plus vat for the 0-135 deg model. Add labour to that and the maths is correct, its cheaper to replace the whole thing than to repair it.

 

The Tanaka range is very good stuff on the whole, but as with anything, Stihl included, there are some items not as good as others. The brushcutters and hedgecutters are very good machines.

The top handle saws are actually pretty good, especially the largest of the 3 models, the TCS3401 which actually has a 2 year pro use warranty. But, at an RRP of only £340 plus vat, it is unfair to compare it with something like an MS200T. The little TCS3301 at only £299 is a little plasticy though.