In message , Nick Maclaren
writes

In article ,
Rod writes:
| tpow wrote:
|
| indeed these electro/mechanical aids are a godsend for those with
| muscular
| problems....I did not mean to sound negative.
|
| Not a problem. I wasn't 100% certain so thought I would ensure clarity.
| I hoped you meant as you did. Thanks all.

Though, to put the other side, they are NOT the godsend that they
are made out to be. It is common for the powered devices to need
MORE strength to handle safely than the manual equivalent, and to
have a much HIGHER risk of causing back, joint or ligament injury.
The classic example is, of course, chainsaws.

But a lot of rotorvators are foul to handle, and you are much less
likely to damage your back digging with a fork.

And I had to give up using an electric hedge trimmer because I am
not strong enough in the arms to hold it up safely for more than
5% of the time; and spending 95% of the time recovering completely
negates its benefit.

Similarly, I haven't seem a strimmer suitable for a small garden
that didn't seem designed for use by a garden gnome. Having to
bend over all the time while using it is not good :-(

I suggest that the answer is perhaps somewhere between the two. Some
powered kit is poorly designed or underpowered and is likely to sit in
the shed forever more after one or two attempts to use it.

I used a Howard 350 rotovator some years ago which was well balanced and
very effective and could be recommended for a reasonable size garden. I
have also tried a Honda tiller but I found it to be very uncomfortable
to use, probably because it was a much lighter machine and not suited to
heavy, stony soils.

The 2 Viking hedge trimmers I have been using for a while have been very
worthwhile acquisitions although the pole trimmer did take a bit of
getting used to at first (now I would not be without it). The previous
B&D trimmer was a waste of money as it was underpowered and poorly
balanced.

A Flymo electric strimmer was only used twice - an impulse buy of a
heavily discounted item. I am now looking for a sensible strimmer/lawn
edger again as I am suffering from tennis/mouse/gardeners elbow and need
something to cut out this manual work.

A light weight hand trimmer would be useful at the moment as using
secateurs for any length of time is painful and I will look at the Bosch
and equivalent Ryobi.

--
Robert