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Hi, I was petrol all the way with my hedge cutters and trimmers for 20 years, 2 years ago I switched over, and hedge cutter / trimmer wise I'd never go back to 2 stroke. STIHL HLA85 long reach is a good machine, it's held up well, battery life on the Stihl AP300 batteries will last all day on the hedge cutters, I don't own any small batteries so can't comment on those, hope this helps.
Thank you harry seems time for a change
Stihl HSA 86 [and HLA 65] and two AP 200 batteries.
Bought mine in November 2019. Been used quite a lot already.
Machine does everything the HS 56 c.e. did, but without the constant fumes and noise.
The HS 56 did three years and in that time had two carburettors, one blade set and two drive gears. Needed tuning regularly and then in the end wouldn’t run properly anyway.
The run time on the HSA 86 with an AP 200 is two and a half hours of trigger time, so five hours with both batteries. You will not have any issues with batteries not lasting with the HSA 86, or HLA 65 which is also about two and a half hours.
The batteries will sit for weeks [over winter] and not lose any charge.
I will never go back to petrol. I should have gone ‘battery’ long ago. Breathing all that two stroke exhaust gas in can’t be good. Nor is fiddling about with temperamental small two stroke engines [35 years now].
I also have the FSA 130 Strimmer and AR3000 back pack battery.
By far the best use of battery kit is with the hedge cutters. They don’t use power like the strimmers or chainsaws do.
Thank you i think its time to change , start looking at price
best cordless trimmers i have found for really rough hedges are the 80 or 82 volt type, i also have the stihl hsa94R which is a heavy duty corded battery machine but not had an opportunity to use in anger yet. having said that the stihl hsa/hla models will tackle some seriously thick growth but the motor doesnt always sound happy doing it, almost as if the machine is punching above its weight somehow, horses for courses
Yes i have the petrol has back up on van if ggoing gets tough
We have tackled some seriously thick growth with our battery HLA and HSA hedgetrimmers. Trigger time on an AP300 battery is 4 hours which would uusally translates into a full day of cutting - especially true if you are switching between long and short arm machines to cut a hedge.
That sounds good i better start looking