MisterBoy

Cheers @Steve Bullman I'll figure out how to remove this site from the app then. I've seen other sites remove support entirely, especially now phone browsers are so much better.

As in, Tapatalk isn't officially supported? I've seen some forums stop using it for ad-revenue reasons, it used to be all the rage for every forum to add support. Shame if so, as it's very handy - but if that's the case I'll remove it from the app and use the browser version.

Sorry if this is the wrong place, i couldn't seea sub forum for website issues (?) I use Tapatalk quite a bit but for some reason everyone I come here, I have to log back in through the app even if I was here a couple of hours back. Every other forum seems to retain my login. Anyone know if this is a setting I could change, or something arbtalk is controlling and that's just the way it is? Ta

Ah, I see. Good to understand the principle behind it... Thanks!

It was really only the "resin eating" thing that got me thinking... if people who use their tools a lot don't find resin to be an issue I'll go the WD-40 route too, I guess. I have used compressed air to clean off blades first before but I'm not sure it achieves much

Bar oil because it's particularly good, or simply because you always have it with you and you don't want to carry another bottle?

Stihl do this which they recommend for their hedge trimmers in particular, but do you pros use it or anything else for that matter? It doesn't seem the cheapest however I have no idea how long a bottle lasts. They tout the resin-dissolving feature in particular but is the Stihl one anything special over regular isopropyl or whatever - how do you guys look after your trimmers? Resin solvent WWW.STIHL.CO.UK Resin solvent

Thanks to all those who offered advice by the way.

Not got it yet but looking forward to it. Good tools are so much better!

Tell me about it. But my local dealer was as cheap as anywhere online and I figure every time I use it, that's money I'm not paying one of you guys Going for pro kit it's an investment I expect to last a long time... Actually what is the Stihl warranty deal? Do I need to register my kit online somewhere?

Just in case anyone cared I went for Stihl: HTA 85 HLA 85 AP200 AL300 charger

One thing I was really impressed with the Stihl battery kit was the backpack batteries. I doubt if ever need one but are batteries and tools and harnesses all cross compatible?

Although, how much does something like that cost? Close to a grand? I'm still interested, if my Stihl dealer can't match an online supplier, what are the pros and cons? I assume a dealer can assemble everything, etc?

Anyway I looked into the kombi system and while it looks nice, I don't think it's the best fit for me. I'd have to get two extension poles to match the HLA/HLT 85 which isn't recommended, I reckon I'd be best with proper dedicated kit that should last. I saw reviews saying even 6.5Kg was tiring for operators, so is that a clear-cut "Echo is too heavy" at double this? One or two people did point out that a decent hedge trimmer is fundamentally heavy and putting it 3m up a pole is just hard work, so maybe that's the issue more than the overall weight. I'm just a bit nervous that the HTA 85 trimmer is 3.3m, I assume that includes the length of the trimmer as well, and this isn't that high. Whereas the Echo extends to I think 3.7m before you add the trimmer. One other question, sorry... would you guys particularly recommend buying kit like this from your local dealer, or just wherever you can? My Stihl dealer is a good 30min drive away and I work, they like to say I'd get better service for kit I bought from them in case of a problem but is that just a sales tactic?

Looking on the Stihl site, the battery 'engine' is presented as just another kombi-engine option, there are a whole bunch but only one battery. So on that basis it makes a lot of sense to retain compatibility, someone with £2k of kit isn't going to ditch it all for battery but they might upgrade the engine for £400. And of course it costs Stihl a fortune to re-tool and design everything again.

Those things are pretty amazing. Only discovered then last year when an old fashioned gardener (all hand tools) showed me

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?

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...

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.

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: 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? 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

If pro arborists consider them in the same breath as Stihl and Makita I will take your word for that Perhaps they only do higher end stuff? Coming from the consumer market, are there other pro brands I might look out for that aren't household DIY names? Husky obviously but those would be the 3 I think of.

I'm happy with recommendations in general... though I must say I've never got on well with maual pole-saws. My Fiskar UP86 long-reach lopper is absolutely wonderful as a lopper and it has a saw blade you can attach... but I can't get much out of it. It wobbles and bounces around on nice stiff branches, and branches just too thick for the lopper but still springy are even worse. Would I see a difference with a good, dedicated polesaw? I know a good handsaw is a wonderful bit of kit - replaces a chainsaw for many of my uses - so have been disappointed with polesaw versions.

A few people have mentioned Echo and I've seen it elsewhere on the forum too. Outside this section I'm assuming the forums are dominated by pro users, so Echo is up there with Stihl as a pro-grade tool? I'd never heard of them so in particularly I am curious about the engine, since Stihls have such a great reputation in that area. On their website, the PPT-2620ES mentions the extension pole and also the HCAA-2402A LW HEDGE TRIMMER attachment, but that part says it is compatible with the ECHO PPT-265ES which is a dead link. Is that the older model pole-saw, and these parts all fit each other?

I saw this range on Google, never come across it before. I reckon that's probably going a bit beyond both my budget and my capabilities. I wonder if weight is another consideration for battery VS petrol? The only long-reach tool I have is the Fiskar UP86 telescopic bypass pruner - at the tree surgeon's recommendation - and it's great and light. Compared to other things I tried it's clear ever gram makes a difference when you're waving it around 4m above your head!

Yeah all good points. They were planted by a previous owner and clearly not looked after so trying to get on top of it now so they'll thicken up - as you say being careful not to cut back past green growth. We had one of the hedges already dropped about 3m and faced up so that ones 8-10m (I need to check). The other one we had one section reduced amost 50% in height and it's survived OK, it looked weird for a year but is starting to improve. Part of my question is that I might try to get the trees reduced in height to the point I can face them myself, but that means figuring out how high that is - they provide screening so I want them as tall as possible that I can still reach, if that makes sense. I'll probably get a platform as well. I've not found anything longer than the Stihl ones, are Makita similar? I suppose with a high enough ladder/platform I wouldn't need such a long trimmer, but it makes the job a lot slower.