On Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:50:50 +0100, Stephen wrote:

Have I got that about right?

Yep.

Are they really noisy?

Yes, I use ear defenders.

Do the blades blunt that quickly?

The do blunt but not exceptionaly quickly, at least not on our B&D
model. I suspect what and how fast you feed hard materials into it
has a bearing.

Can they be resharpened at home?

Ther are often reversable and I have sharpened them at home with an
ordinary file and, once I had one, a grinder.

What size branches can it cut without complaining?

How long is a piece of string. Depends on the model, ours will eat
broom handle sized stuff without much fuss.

Who are Einhell and are their machines any good?

German company:

http://www.einhell.com/englisch/englisch.aspx

Seem to produce good quality tools at decent prices.

--
Cheers
Dave.