In message , Nick Maclaren
writes

In article ,
robert writes:
|
| 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 think that you have missed my points.

Firstly, MOST of the smaller/lighter kit is poorly designed, partly
because it is diabolically difficult to do a good job of design
under severe constraints of size/weight, and people won't pay twice
as much for a machine half the size. And the larger/heavier kit
is usually quite unsuitable for small gardens.

Secondly, some tasks (such as hedge trimming) are inherently ones
where anyone not strong enough to use hand tools is vanishingly
unlikely to be able to use power tools safely. If you don't have
the wrist/arm strength to use secateurs, are you REALLY likely to
be able to hold a power tool when it kicks back because it caught
a branch?

For hedge trimming I can use my current kit without a problem as I can
take the weight with my left hand/arm and just use the right hand to
keep the switch on and with the pole trimmer I use a body sling which
takes most of the weight. I selected the trimmers that I was advised
would handle the maximum thickness and species within our mixed hedges.
Thus far I have experienced no problems. This is probably due to the
fact that I was prepared to pay for reasonable quality equipment having
experienced the poor design and quality of cheaper kit.
--
Robert