What hedge trimmer is best for you; Double sided, single-sided, shafted, cordless, corded or petrol engine?
Which kind of hedge trimmer will allow you to get the job done with ease and in the quickest time safely?
Let’s break this up by looking at power sources, different kinds of hedge trimmers and what they’re all best at.
POWER SOURCES
Corded (electric) hedge trimmers:
Pros:
Corded electric hedge trimmers give unlimited running time and offer decent power with generally low operating costs.
Cons:
The cable restricts maneuverability.
Risk of cable being accidently snagged by the blades.
Range of work limited by length of cable.
Petrol Hedge trimmers:
Pros:
Petrol engine hedge trimmers offer the most power with long run times. The engines are easy to maintain.
Cons:
Noise levels are high compared to electric and battery models.
Having to deal with fuel and exhaust emissions. Though this can be overcome by using Aspen Alkylate fuel which is clean and has no harmful emissions.
Higher levels of vibration.
Cordless (battery):
Pros:
battery powered hedge trimmers often have very good run times, generate very little noise and 0 emissions.
Ranges like 40V and 56V cater to both domestic and professional users.
Cons
They currently don’t offer the raw power of petrol engines.
Battery life must be considered.
TYPES OF HEDGE TRIMMERS
Double-sided Hedge trimmers
The most common kind of hedge trimmer and for good reason. The double-sided blades allow you to change the direction of trimming with ease. This makes them really well suited to most jobs and even more advanced and precise shaping. This makes sense to think of double-sided hedge trimmers as all-rounders for general use. Since this is the most common form of hedge trimmer you can easily find corded, battery or petrol models.
Single-sided hedge trimmers
Single sided hedge-trimmers offer big advantages in certain situations. Lighter blades mean the blade can be much longer whilst still maintaining good balance. Because the blade is much longer, you’ll cut more with each pass. This makes them great for trimming very large and wide hedges. Another advantage is the clipping collector which discards clippings away from the hedge as soon as they are trimmed. This gives a clean, professional finish to hedges and means you don’t need to get your leaf blower out to clean up.
Shafted hedge trimmers- Medium and Long Reach
Shafted-hedge trimmers, also known as pole hedge trimmers, are ideal for dealing with tall and wide hedges. The blades sit atop a long shaft and can be articulated to cut at different angles. This means operators do not need to use ladders to trim hedge tops.
TYPES OF WORK
Domestic small – medium garden hedges.
Overall, we’d recommend a double-sided cordless battery hedge-trimmer and depending on the size of your garden and frequency of work, either a 40V or 56V model.
Check out the ECHO 40V cordless DHC-310, which Is part of the Garden+ battery range, specifically designed for domestic users.
Echo DHC-310 battery hedge trimmer
For more heavy-duty tasks, take a look at the ECHO DHC-200 which uses ECHO’s new 56eFORCE battery and offers exceptional power and run times.
https://www.echotools.com/en_us/products/hedge-trimmers/double-sided-hedge-trimmer/dhc-200
Domestic medium – large garden hedges
If you have a large garden to maintain then there are more options that’s work. If you’re comfortable with petrol engine power tools, then the ECHO HC-2020 is a great choice. This double sided gas hedge-trimmer
Echo HC-2020 double sided hedge trimmer
Professional landscaper, large grounds outdoor maintenance
If you’re an outdoor greenspace professional, then depending on the kind of work you do, you’d probably need more than one hedge trimmer. Whilst a double-sided hedge trimmer could tackle most jobs, when time is money, you want the most efficient tool possible.
Our top choices:
Double sided hedge-trimmer
Petrol
HC-2320 & HC-2810ESR
Echo HC-2320 double sided hedge trimmer
ECHO HC-2810ESR Double sided hedge trimmer
Battery
DHC-200
Echo DCH-200 Pro 56v Battery hedge trimmer
Single sided hedge trimmer
Petrol
HCS-2810ES
Echo HCS-2810ES Single sided hedge trimmer
Shafted pole hedge trimmer
At present ECHO only offers petrol / gas powered pole hedge trimmers, our go to for professionals would be the X-series HCA-2620ES-HD or mid length HCAS-236ES-LW
Echo HCA-2620-HD Long reach hedge trimmer
ECHO HCAS-236ES-LW short-reach articulating hedge trimmer
This feature is mainly for Echo machines as they offer a wide range of hedge trimmers for all types of hedge or shrub. We do stock other reliable brands with full spares back up. See all the hedge trimmers on our site use the links below.
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