Hi there,
This afternoon i have had a demo of some of the pellenc range of battery powered tools. I was visited by Ian Collington (north area manager) who was a very friendly and helpful chap. This was all set up by Neal Barker whom i contacted regarding my interest.
Ian arrived in a transit with the pellenc tools and various etesia mowers which i had a quick look over also. I tested the selion C15 chainsaw, helion universal hedgetrimmer (60cm blade) and the excelion strimmer/brushcutter. All these were powered by the 700 battery.
The hedgetrimmer was extremely light, quiet and useable. No ear defenders worn and the absence of any exhaust fumes was a pleasure to say the least. i took the sides off a beech hedge in quick time.
The chainsaw was equally light, quiet and clean. I removed a low limb off a poplar tree and it seemed at ease with cutting 3 to 4 inches. It wont rival a large petrol saw for speed and power but is really well suited to the smaller jobs. The chatter of the chain was all i could hear.
The strimmer/brushcutter was as good as any small/medium sized petrol powered version and would be ideally suited to garden use. However it would'nt be effective in clearing large areas of long grass and brush which my husqy 240R handles with ease. One slight criticism is that it is not balanced very well with most of the weight being at the end of the shaft. It requires different handling to what i am used to - pushing down with the right hand to balance it slightly.
More to say later when i have more time.
stu
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They are valid points you make David.
These are'nt cheap tools to buy. I have a few calculations to do so i can make a judgement. The lack of dealer support in my area is a concern as far as spares and repairs go.
There are many plus points to using these tools. I have a lot of thinking to do but for health reasons they might be a winner even if they are more costly. No exhaust fumes, lower vibrations and heat as well as lower weight. This has only got to be good for my back, lungs and the rest of my body. Fatigue is a major factor - the amount of times i have felt fit to drop when i get home from work. Hopefully i would sweat less in summer when hedge cutting and chainsawing. The amount i sweat really bugs me, stinging eyes and headaches from exhaust fumes makes things worse and to top it off i might have back ache the next day.
I'll let you all know what conclusion i come to, but from the lack of replies it seems nobody is really interested.
stu
I have looked at it Stuart.
I decided that it was a no go as the tools could not replace my existing due to limitations as above.
Therfore un-necessary expense. I can, however see the value for noise sensitive jobs like working around hospices etc.
My solution for the exhaust fumes is to use aspen http://www.aaoil.co.uk/environment-Fact-File
The extra cost is not small but the benefits are defo worth it! Cost 3x normal unleaded but only has 1% of the amount of Benzene and virtually no aromatic hydrocarbons.
This costs me around £1000 per year, small price to pay for maybe saving myself from cancer or respiritory diseases!
If the Pellenc gear 'beefs up' a bit I'll take another look :)
hi all just poped on and seen this so thought i would put a quick comment in
the c15 saw matched to its petrol rivles granted it is under powerd but the c15 is being replaced with the new c20 which more than rivles the petrol saws useing a 2kw motor instead of its little brothers 1.5kw also when ian came down he only had his 700 battery not his 700+ or poly 5 which are 2kw output not 1.5kw which useing the 700+ on the c15 would of given out just a little more juice.
as for the excelion brushcutter i totaly agree with the tool fealing out of balance this was the first thing i said when i had a play with it it takes about 15-20 min to get a handle on it because as you say there is no engine giveing the counter balance also this is the same as the chain saw with the motor because ian was passing that way from doing etesia demos he didnt have his other batterys which useing the + batterys gives the excelion more power and with a solid blade on i breezed trough head high stingers docs and bramble when i was playing with the pellenc stuff at my stable yard.
in a nut shell i can honestly say i never talk up products which i dont belive in and have used myself and the pellenc tools have blown me away with what they can do and me being involved in the product aswell means i know about some more tools soon to grace the market which are in testing now which are going to cause quite a riot when there finished.
last thing then i will shut up because the wife is bugging me to come off
we have been doing the pellenc product for just under a year now and thrown in with us moveing and being a sales guy down for a little while untill the new phil came to the rescue we have been still trying to get new dealers on for the pellenc range aswell as etesia and i know that this is something ian phil and les jumping in there aswell are trying to get sorted asap its only takeing time because we dont want to be getting more reports of any sub standard after sales from dealers so we are doing our best to make sure the new dealerships taken on are up to scratch and ready to back you all up with what you need.
last last thing honest
we are trying to organise an open day for ljn members of the etesia group so those of you who do manage to get down to see us would be able to see every bit of both the pellenc and etesia machines and also i can show you what makes the pellenc tools even more special ......... i would tell you now but i got to go sorry
Thanks neal for your comments.
Ian did have a poly5 battery with him but sadly i did'nt use it. I did however try it on just before he left and i could'nt tell anything was on my back, it was that light. About half the weight of the 700 i think and much smaller dimensions.
If i was going to buy i would probably go for the poly5 as long as it was up to the job.
Questions for Neal
Is the poly5 more powerful than the other batteries? This would be a very important deciding factor.
Does it give as many hours use as the others? On some days i could be using the hedgecutter 5-6 hours (2-3 hours clearing up etc) on other days the strimmer or chainsaw for half a day or even a mixture of all 3 tools in one day. Could you advise on the best battery for me? i hope the poly5 would be the most suitable for the reason of weight.
Thanks stu.
hi stuart
ok in the pellenc range there is 2 types of batterys standard and pluss batterys the pluss baterys have a bigger power out put than the standard and yes the poly 5 is included in the pluss range and was mainly designed for the selion c15-c20 chainsaws
as for the working time the poly 5 capacity is less than the 700 but you are still able to get around 5 hours solid cutting on the chain saws etc so the only way to advise you would be to get you to do a rough calculation of how long you cut for non stop so actual cutting time when your doing a very hard days work of hedges etc, most people who have already bought the poly 5 have found its lasts perfectly for them on a full day of working but every one has a differnt view on what a full days work is.
last but not least did ian give you a pellenc catalogue ?
I still have my Pellenc catalogue from sept, are their many changes since then? And specifically prices?
Much of the feedback above is what I expected - however I must add, functionality vs price was the deal breaker for me.
By functionality I mean power, and price "bang for buck" due to the expense of the items.
If more powerful products appear, or the cost comes down, I would look at these again.
Otherwise I feel these items would be the solution for many.
since the last catalogue there has been a few minor aditions but i think the main 2 was the introduction of the excelion and poly 5 to it, the rest is prity much the same
as for the more power in the tools as i said above in away its there now but because these tools can be used on any of the big batterys eg 400-800+ you dont always get the tools full working power because certain batterys and tools do work bettery with each other eg the poly5 was mainly designed for the saws because these are the more powerfull of the tools along with the 700+ & 800+ which have the same power out put of the poly 5 but a larger capacity to be able to work for much longer, there is a couple more tools which i hope (& all is looking good still) that they will be in production and ready for sale in october time which are going to be able to rivle there petrol powerd competition.
as for costings etc its the only part im not 100% on,belive it or not but i hate doing the whole sales patter thing but what i will do is upload a pricelist when i get 5 min and the file we use to work out what you would save haveing a pelenc battery instead of a petrol tool
Thanks, thats more then enough to help!
Going forward into the future I think electric tools, if power and cost-effectiveness become better, they could become very much the tools of choice.
but...
Sorry to ask another question -
For maintenance and spares - are these like modern cars - Not repairable "in house", and require being sent back to base, or are they build in a manner which allows DIY maintenance?
Neal - yes Ian left a catalogue and price list etc with me. I have read them once but there's a lot to take in.
You have to look at the battery as buying fuel in advance. There is the electricity cost of charging the battery but this seems to be minimal compared to unleaded and 2 stroke oil.
From what you say the poly5 would probably be my choice of battery.
David - i would like to know the answer to your question too.
stu
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