Evening all. Thought I'd share my experience with my latest toy.
I have a lot of Makita power tools and have been really impressed with their 36V range, which uses two of the 18v batteries. I have the circular saw and SDS drill in 36V and they are worth their weight in gold, easily as powerful as a mains powered tool,and with the 4amp batteries, keep going for a good time.
So, needing a new hedge trimmer, i thought I'd try their 36V model. At £190 for the bare unit it seemed a reasonable price compared to a petrol model, and worth a punt given how much i hate using a petrol machine with the fumes in your face and the noise requiring ear defenders.
Used it for the first time today, in the pouring rain. It far exceeded my expectations. I was pruning school shrub beds for at least 45 minutes before the two 4amp batteries were flat, I would have expected to re-fill the (admittedly small) tank on my tanaka at least once for the equivalent work. AND NO FUMES, and very little noise - joy..I have 8 batteries so I would be confident of getting throuhg a whole day of pretty intensive work with that Weight wise it seemed a little lighter too. It cut through eveything a petrol model would. Very impressive.
Will definitely consider the brushcutter/strimmer when the time comes.
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Replies
hi Doug
the amp seem a bit on the low side and your 8 batteries will only give you 3 Hrs. cutting then you have them all to charge on a night when you get home
I tried a husky one a while back at the beginning of the season light trimming on a hawthorn hedge gave me 90 minuets off cutting {one battery} it was too early to try it on any thing big I found the plug for the charger would not fit in a outside waterproof socket
Welcome to the refreshingly quiet and relaxing world of using battery powered garden tools. Every time i hear a two stroke engine fire up i feel sorry for the poor sod using it (and anyone else in the vicinity).
Hi David,
I've got three chargers so its not too difficult to do that. These batteries are just what I need and use for my other power tools and drills - I'd expect i'd want to add more if i adopt their garden tools as well, and probably the new 5amp batteries too.
If i were purely hegecutting all day on large straight lenghts of hedge with the machine going flat out all day, i'd probably want a petrol machine as backup, but for more varied work its ideal.
Stuart - its great isn't it! hedgecutters are the worst for fumes - the hedge itself seems to hold them their for you toi inhale. I've heard the blower is highly rated too.