In message , Janet Tweedy
writes
As my 2 year old Stihl/viking hedgetrimmers have succumbed to being
actually asked to do something like cut hedges and been found wanting
(they blew up, couldn't take the strain) I need to get something else.
I've had two Viking 24" electric ones but the first only lasted 6 years
and the latest never felt 'solid' enough to get the job done.

The place were I took them to be mended said that a new pair were not
going to cost me much more than the repair but I can't see the point in
buying new ones if they have been improved enough to be unable to cut
400 foot of hawthorn hedge twice a year.

I did look at the long armed ones but the balance is all wrong for me
somehow, being only 5'4" I think they were aimed at someone with longer
arms! Besides which how would you go along the top? I have to climb a
ladder and don the tops (8' high) and the man in the shop couldn't help
with that. He seemed to think they were good for the sides and the top
only if you could get at the whole of the top from the ground.

I picked up a couple of petrol ones but they seem very heavy and
expensive! Willing to get some if they do the job but I'm frightened
that I wouldn't be able to hold them for long if they vibrate.
Not interested in small flimsy lightweight trimmers they just wouldn't
do half the hedge as the cut in the early summer produces thickish
growth of thorny twigs.

Any ideas/expreineces?


I imagine that as your hawthorn hedgerow is 8' tall it is ~ 3' wide at
the top and has many twigs of 0.5" diameter. I would have thought that
400' feet of this would be a very tough job for any electric trimmer - a
tractor mounted flail would be ideal !

I cannot speak for the most recent Viking models, mine is of the
previous generation and copes excellently with our 300' of mixed hedging
and shrubs on a once a year cut (I tend to do one big cut in the autumn
so as not to disturb birds in the spring/early summer). I looked at the
long reach kit as we have a couple of high hedges but the longest cutter
bar I could find was 21" which is a problem if your hedges are over 21"
wide at the top.

In the absence of a flail I think that you are stuck with petrol trimmer
with the inherent 25%+ weight penalty over electric models with a
similar length cutter. The 3 professional gardeners who work in our
area all use Stihl but the longer cutters are far from cheap. I would
ask for a demonstration at the shop - I imagine that they could show you
one working (perhaps one that is in for servicing) and let you handle
it.
--
Robert