I spent a long day yesterday on hedge cutting lornicera and Box using my Stihl petrol hedge cutter. It was a replacement for a Honda which was quiet but weighed a ton. Going from 4 stroke to 2 stroke was always going to be a shock for the ears but this is getting me down.
Many of you on here use rechargable kit and I wanted your advice please.
If I do change over it will be Strimmer, Hedge trimmer, long reach hedge cutter and blower. I am not, presently, consideriong the mower options. All using the AP batteries. My question is how many batteries and chargers and which capacity battery should I get.
I am a one man band doing general maintenace on medium to large gardens.
Is there any point in getting the lower capacity batteries such as the 100 and 200 options.
I was thnking 3x300 batteries and 2 chargers, is this overkill?
Thanks for your wisdom.
Cheers
Ted
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Replies
The 100 and 200 are obviously lighter but I don't find any problem with the heavier batteries and they're much more cost effective with a 100 costing about £85 and 300 with 3 x the capacity, £170 + do you really want to be carrying round lots of spare batteries. The chainsaw would only last you 10 minutes with the 100 and I believe the blower isn't much better so really would be a pain. You're obviously using decent ear protectors with the petrol cutters as I don't find the noise a problem? Funnily enough, the battery cutter isn't much lighter than the petrol one............. I originally bought mine to use in an OAP care home because of the noise
Thanks for that. I do use decent ear defenders but the chatter of the blades plus the 2stroke motor is shi much louder than the Honda that it's really noticable.
I use chainsaws a lot, mostly in winter when hedge laying. I have 2 petrol and a Makita cordless which is great for quick, pick up and put down jobs so I wasnt looking at another. Can you have to many chainsaws?
The cordless MSA200 chainsaw is brilliant and well worth getting........... I much prefer using it to my petrol MS260. Very light. Has a very narrow bar at the end so you can feed it between branches to reach where you want. The chain is very narrow and requires very little effort to cut through quite thick branches 12"+ Once you've got it, you'll wonder how you managed without it for so long The MS260 only comes out as a last resort now if I'm having to cut up loads of large logs.
Stihl do a package deal on the HSA 86 Hedge Cutter, two AP 200’S and the AL 300 charger, which makes it much cheaper. Its’ about £550 minus dealer discount. The AP 200’s do two and a half hours in the hedge cutter and the same in the pole hedge cutter- HLA 65. This is the kit I have. It is really good and I would recommend it to anyone. The two and a half hours of trigger time is accurate on both machines. As the kit comes with two batteries that makes five hours trigger time, which is more than enough for each day. So you don’t need the AR 300’s for hedge cutting and if you buy the package deal then the 200’s become very cheap.
I also have the FSA 130 Strimmer and AR 3000 backpack battery. It too is excellent, but I can only get two hours from the AR 3000 with the strimmer. It’s a bit like car emissions. The quoted long run times with the strimmer are possible if you use narrow line and have very little line extended. I use Stihl 3mm square line and like plenty of line out. This kills the run time. If you are aware of this and you are happy with the narrow gauge line then you might get more run time.
Having said that I would not go back to a petrol strimmer, nor would I go back to using a petrol hedge cutter, as good as the Stihl HS 56 C-e is.
I don’t miss trying to start a petrol strimmer on a hot day. I don’t miss breathing in two stroke fumes from the HS 56 C-e.
As said above, the HSA 86 and AP200 is about the same weight as the HS 56 C-e. I use an Easy Lift Harness so weight isn’t an issue. If you do much hedge cutting buy one. It will change your life.
If using for long periods I find the backpack battery is and excellent takes all the wight out of the tool.
As Vic has said above these are life changing developments in this field. If your busy with hedges for long periods ,then this is a no brainer, even including the substantial outlay in the beginning. If something makes your life easier then get it., and my god does it do that, in spades!!
Hi Ted I have been using the Stihl kit for many years, I would advise no need to dive straight in buying loads of batteries etc as can always buy more, the ap300 to my mind is unnecessarily heavy for some of the tools yet is essential for the more power hungry ones, I have all capacities of battery that i have built up over the years to match to the tool/job in hand; the Stihl blower BGA85 is not particularly powerful there are better cordless blowers out there, but most of the other gear is good. I usually wear ear plugs when using the battery hedge cutters but not with the other kit. The ap100 battery is purpose built for the hsa66/86 hedge trimmers and sweet as a nut in those machines but is no good in the others really
some of the old range of batteries are still around and many well over a decade old, but if they work, they work. AP80 AP115 AP160 AP180 etc. I think there was an AP120 too. Also there is an older version of AP100 and AP200 which do not have the orange front and slightly lower capacity/ slightly heavier but still worth a look. And then there is the AP300 'S'
I got the Bundle Deal hedge trimmer including 2x AP 200 + Charger, I also bought the belt holder for battery so I can mount battery on my waist and plug a cable into Hedge-trimmer to reduce the weight. I don't do this for a living and I'm the wrong side of 60 ...youngsters probably won't have that problem!
When I am up-and-down to do higher bits (ladder or platform) I find the cable annoying, and putting battery in the hedge trimmer easier (no disconnect, just put it down), as such I am thinking of getting smallest/lightest battery for when I want the battery in the body.
But for walking along the hedge and doing up-down to cut the face the belt+cable suits me well.