Best Hedge Trimmers

unbelievable – I think I must have had this hedger for well over 5 years and have used it constantly. I'm shocking at looking after tools and yet this budget… Read more

product keeps just going and going. The batteries have survived too. I'm a 71 year old woman and its just so light and easy. Wish the pole hedger was as light...but this is beyond value for money.

Be very careful if handing this item to another person as the normal way to hold is by the loop handle that releases one safety switch and the… Read more

receiving person naturally takes it by the handle that releases the other safety switch- all go, no fingers! Otherwise a good lightweight unit that does a good job. Sweeper attachment is useful.

This is a toy! – Stihl make toys and then do not honor their warranty! A six-months old cordless hedge trimmer, used on nothing except hedges...no fences here, no… Read more

metal. Nothing that my last hedge trimmer didn't handle for 10 years or more. They tell me it is basically totally kaput and I will need to buy a new one. Plenty of other places from where to buy all my gardening gear in future.

Battery and electronic products have lower dB noise than petrol ones. So th there is less damage to your hearing and it is easier on the neighbours… Read more

too. Recently there was a commercial gardener trimming a neighbours hedge at 9pm on Sunday night!

The HSA 45 easily cut through the growth in our pitostrum hedge. We only needed a few minutes with a pruning saw to tidy the remainder.

Also consider the plug in version of this at around $149.

I bought a new stihlhs45 24" 28th June 25 brought it home and it will not start. It was started in the shop for 20sec put in my car and will not star since I return home. Show details

Not a quality product – This hedge trimmer is very light duty, even when used as such the blades have quite a bit of clearance between them and the result is that they clack… Read more

on the opposite side of the cutting and not only dull quickly but make resharpening almost impossible. I don't recommend them at this price or any price.

Great for 5 years – Was great until it died. Only used for domestic use hedging for a small residential home. Always lubricated the blades before use. It lasted 5 years… Read more

then suddenly died with smoke coming out of the motor. I think for such light use it should last longer than 5 years.

Excellent pole hedger – I purchased the entire STIHL AK 36V battery system with 3 x AK30 batteries and fast charger which includes this BGA 57 leaf blower. This replaced my… Read more

7 year old Victa Vforce mower, trimmer, hedger, leaf blower/vac, pole hedger and pole pruner. Prior to that I have had numerous brands and models of petrol powered garden tools.

The first thing to say about the STHIL AK garden tools range and this pole hedger is the build and manufacturing quality is excellent, the best of all the battery gardening equipment I looked at and researched. Ryobi, Victa, etc are poorly made, plastic crap compared to the quality of STHIL.

I use this HLA 56 pole hedger together with the HSA 56 hedger to maintain several hedges of box and Lilly Pilly totalling probably over 200m.

The HLA 56 is a two piece unit, the battery holder and trigger unit can be separated from the hedge cutting bar and motor. It's really easy to connect the two units using a nice large thumb screw.

One thing to note about his pole hedger is that the motor is located on the cutting bar, this makes the hedger top heavy. I moved the rubber pole grip down towards the trigger switch and D grip more towards the pole connector. This gave me the best balance of the unit. Once you get used to it and set up correctly for the job, I found the HSA 56 easy to use. The adjustable cutting bar angle and long reach means I never have to use a ladder to trim the top of my hedges again, which makes for a much safer way of pruning my hedges. You can get an optional accessory 50cm extension pole/shaft to give a higher reach. I don't have the extension pole and can't comment on its use with this.

Don't be put off by the top heaviness of the HLA 56 in the shop, it takes a bit of getting used to, but once setup correctly and with practice, this hedger makes pruning the top of hedges and high hedges a breeze. Once again STHIL have put a lot of development and engineering into this pole hedger to make it one the best pole hedges I have ever used.

The 55cm cutting bar is adequate, but I wish it was a little longer, 65cm would be perfect. It cuts through my hedges with ease and makes a very clean cut of up to 15mm branches. The cutting bar blades appear to be a unique design with a droplet shape and does a far better job of all the hedge trimmers I have had previously. I am really impressed with the ease and quality of cut, my hedges look like they have been pruned by a professional.

Battery life is excellent.

The cutting bar doesn't get clogged or jammed up and is easy to clean. I use a stiff scrubbing brush and the must have STHIL cutting bar cleaner and lubricator which comes in a spray can.

What would make this pole hedger the perfect garden tool would be the optional accessory of a pole saw pruner. The 2 piece design and extension pole accessory makes this HLA 56 perfect to also use as a pole saw pruner. If you are reading this, please email, write, call your local store and STHIL head office and ask them to develop and add a pole saw pruner attachment to the HLA 56.

Tree pruner excellence – Great tool, comes with a shoulder strap and 10" bar. The AK10 battery only gives reduced performance and about a dozen cuts of 10". Get the AK30S battery for more power that lasts. Show details

Lightweight and cuts well – I bought this hedge trimmer to replace my heavy petrol hedge trimmer (given I'm now using it every few weeks on a short hedge). Its alot easier on my… Read more

left arm thanks to its much lighter weight than the petrol machines. Its also cutting very well, I've cut some fairly fine stuff, and some thicker stuff with it, and its going well. Its got a 2 year commercial warranty on it, and the battery life is decent (seems to run for a few hours before needing to be charged).

So far I've only been using it briefly every few weeks since I got it in June 2023, so I'll update this review if anything happens in the future.

Apart from the chain coming off on a regular basis, a mighty handy tool. Build quality is quite ok for home handyman . So instead of taking the risk… Read more

of felling a 5 metre tree in a confined area, I was able to just lop it down bit by bit. It only takes 5 minutes to refit chain but still annoying - doesn't happen to my other chainsaws. Partly a result of having less control of movement at height I suppose but also cheaper parts ). I'll add a video when I get a chance.

it is heavy ,but an electric one with heavy duty battery is also weighty. currently the blade is not moving despite me having used a spray on product to loosen it ..... Show details

I'll be right up front and say that I've only had the mower (kit) for about a week and only used it once. So my opinion is short term, it may change… Read more

once I've had the mower for weeks/months/years.

So far it's been a positive experience. My yard is quite long between having my previous mower away (trying to get fixed under warranty) and Cyclone Alfred. So my first mow was on a yard that hasn't been touched in nearly a month. As a result the mower did stall more than once, and it was more noticeable while using the self-propel feature. Basically when pushing it, if it bogged down I'd stop pushing before it stalled. But with the SP on it'd sometimes stall before I cut the power to the wheels.

Frankly though the yard was really high and thick so it'd have easily stalled my defunct AEG and probably my previous Victa petrol too. So I can't downrate it for that. Once I got the pacing of the SP feature right (or just didn't use it) it performed just fine.

While on the subject of the SP feature it's something I wasn't looking for but the kit was priced too attractively compared to the standard (non SP) mower so I grabbed it. And having used it I'm glad I did. On the flat it's no big deal but on the uphill runs it's so nice letting the mower do the work. I've read other people complaining about the handle used to activate the SP feature. I have to say I didn't have issues with it. I think it could be better designed (shorter range), but I didn't find it painful to use or difficult to keep in place. I would like to move the speed control to the top of the handle though because it's current location (about halfway down) is inconvenient if you want to adjust it regularly.

Pace wise the top speed seems too fast, and ultimately I had to dial it way back to slowest pace. I think the top speed is fine (it'll work for younger, fitter people) but oldies might find the slowest pace to still be too fast. It's also "heavy" for a couple seconds after turning SP off. I guess the wheels are still connected to the driving mechanism. So you need to turn off SP, push gently for a second and then the mechanism disengages and you can turn the mower or drag it backwards more easily.

I think between the heavy load (thick, long grass) and using the SP a lot it's very hard on the battery. I got less than a quarter of my yard done, and it lasted less than half an hour. However, I think that'll change dramatically once I'm doing "normal" mows. This brings us to the charging, which is super fast but sounds like a hair dryer. This is because the charging unit (and possibly the battery too) has a cooling fan that is active while charging. It's ridiculously noisy, so don't expect to charge the battery while having a nap anywhere nearby. It does however smash the charge in really quickly. I didn't time it, but the 60v 4ah battery was definitely done in less than an hour (from flat).

The catcher has one interesting quirk. I say quirk because I'm not sure if it's a problem or not. Basically half the space where the grass exits to the rear is completely blocked off. So it's only throwing grass into the catcher through a hole about 20cm wide instead of the full width. It seemed to catch roughly as well as the AEG did with a full width gap so I'm not sure it's makes a difference.

Other than that, build quality seems quite solid, the handles fold well, and it can be stored upright. The cut seems a bit wider than on the AEG, but I think that's because the blades are the same length but the body of the mower is narrower. So you're getting closer to the full width of the mower when making a pass. There are some plastic components underneath the mower that I'm worried about trapping grass near the deck and becoming a potential rust risk. Will have to keep an eye on that.

All in all I'd like to give it 4.5 stars not 4, but can't do that. So the deduction is for the slight niggle adjusting speed and that it feels a little too fast in SP mode.

We live on small acreage with over 130 metres of 2-metre-high hedge that is 2-2.5 metres wide (see photo) and since 2012 we have used the Stihl Hedge… Read more

Trimmer HS45 (which is still running today and also in a review by me titled “Stihl HS 45”). Getting older now and found that the HS45 great for sides and to do the walk of both sides to cut the top (60cm in), but finding harder to do regarding the rest of the top in total. Got a quote from a contractor for $640 just to do the top, so the DeWalt DCMPH566N 18V pole Hedge Trimmer came into play at a cost of $318 delivered and that machine has given me an opportunity to continue doing the hedge by myself for many years to come. I have read many reviews by other people on Product Review, other forums on the internet including the sales pitches by DeWalt. This review is on the item itself and not DeWalt. From an Engineering perspective the head connection does feel flimsy and it does droop a little and the machine would have been better if the ring that the locking pin goes into was adjustable so that any pin/ring wear could be catered for. This machine is not built like a HS 45 and it needs to be treated as such. When it comes to regrowth of the top of the hedge the time to trim is now when the growth is around 6mm Diameter max (preferably less) and this machine handles it with ease as long as it is done slowly (so head joint not put at risk). What is great is the reach which just leaves a little on the other side of the hedge when one part of the top is cut. The other reviewer wrote that there may be better machines and this may be so, but I needed one fast due to musculoskeletal disorders. This machine makes me happy, has run for 1 year and four months with no issue, blades still as sharp as when bought it and still going and thus, it gets 5 stars.

I would hate goin back to petrol – I love these hedges lighter and extendable. But there are issues with switches and overheating. Hope stihl do more to fix these as in the industry know of them failing often. Thanx Show details

Excellent trimmer for the price – Bought this trimmer based on weight and ease of use. I am small and slim, and retired so needed something light and manageable. Was not disappointed… Read more

with it’s performance. Used it for 30 minutes and found it easy to manipulate, no strain to operate, and easy to clean afterwards. The 3 year warranty is a bonus

Pole Hedge Trimmer – A little awkward trying to hold the on/off trigger button and reaching to loop leaf and small branches. I use a 3v or 4v battery which is adequate for my small yard. I am very happy with the machine . Better than climbing a ladder. Show details

Rubbish. Straight to landfill product – I left a review on the site I purchased it from, but it seems they don't list 1 or 2 star reviews on their site, so I am here to give my review and… Read more

warn others to stay away.

DO NOT BUY.

Cheap and extremely heavy. Revs at such high speeds which cant be controlled. Instructions and assembly an absolute nightmare to navigate. To top it off, some of the screws to attach the handles and strap were missing from the box.

Excellent performance, well balanced, ultimately discontinued line – Powerful, made short work of pruning branches safely around my acreage garden. Agreed, wife found it too heavy. I had an Ozito pole saw which flexed - not this Victa - cuts through even 5cm hardwoods like butter when well -maintained. Show details

Needs strength – .. and god spine discs. The 4.2 kg weight is largely concentrated in the cutting head. It works fine for hedge trimming but not for fruit trees underneath power wires. The diameter limit it will cut is about 1 cm. Show details

This is fantastic. So easy to use to select the branch the button and there’s a clean clot. Doesn’t do thick branches but great for pruning especially because I have arthritis in my hands. Show details

Love this hedge trimmer – This machine is very well built and still cuts like new. I have both an echo and this HS65c. There both about the same size and weight. They both… Read more

require about the same regular maintenance. This Stihl requires their gas, no cheap stuff or your going to run into spark arrestor problems. Needs regular use with no abuse like cutting barb wire accidents. It will last a life time. Only problem, parts and maintenance are expensive

A terrible product – My work involves using all these power tools all day. This is the worst tool I have ever used. Too heavy to operate and vibrates a lot. Chain is… Read more

always coming loose, you have to stop to tighten it pretty much after every cut also it doesn't cut very clean probably because of not having enough power and the vibration. I would not recommend this tool to anyone

Owned this trimmer for about 7 years, has been pretty flawless and never had an issue with it. Starts after a few pulls and goes hard. I wish my… Read more

Stihl chainsaws started as easy as this trimmer. I initially bought it thinking it'd last a few years til I saved up enough for a decent Stihl trimmer, it's just kept going and going. In that time I've bought two Stihl Chainsaws and a Stihl BG86 but this cheapo Stanley Fat Max whipper-snipper just keeps powering along like a champion, I've had no reason to upgrade.