I'd like to get a battery-powered hedge trimmer with at least Some
cutting power. Any reco's, or links to the most likely forums for
this?

From what I've read, I'm guessing that the 14.4v Black & Decker sold
at Home Depot will probably be a bit underpowered for me, although
probably fine for new green growth cuts. A few users have mentioned
1/8" branches as it's practical limit.

Amazon sells the American Gardener mdl #900052 which is 24v, so that
should be the most powerful cutter of the lot? I assume that it would
handle somewhat thicker branches, as opposed to just giving longer run
time... I can find no review of it anywhere on the web. I also read
one mention from back in 2002, of a Homelite 18v unit (? that came
with 2 batteries And a string trimmer, all for $99 at Home Depot) that
seems to be no longer available anywhere, and not a word about it on
the web, either.

Should I take the unit's voltage to be a good relative indicator of
it's branch trim diameter ability?