Ryobi 18V Telescopic Pole OHT1860S

Much heavier and cumbersome than expected – I agree with the other reviewers who said that this is difficult to use, especially when even partially extended. Having the motor at the cutter end makes the unit very heavy at the end away from the user and therefore hard to manage. I wish that I had read the reviews earlier and purchased a more lightweight and balanced machine.

Only for the strong – Agree with the other reviews, when extended it is unbalanced and gives you the feeling of being out of control and much heavier than when un extended. Does a great job but not many would have the strength to lift it up to those areas you thought you would trim when you purchased. For us in our 60s we only have limited use and not really safe when extended. If you have great core strength - go for it.

Ryobi pole hedge trimmer – My husband and I purchased this Pole hedger to make our weekly gardening experience less arduous, we are both in our mid to late 70s, we find that it seems to be weighted incorrectly and it is way too heavy for either of us to use even when not extended, we also find we don't have the reach to use the safety switch and manage the cutter head, we were both hooing it was something we could overcome but alas it would probabke result in a trip to the hospital for either of us. Just wish we had been given correct advice prior to ourchase. Stuck with $219 dud now.

Be Prepared. Be Strong – I have many Ryobi tools and as I have a few shrubs and climbers that grow out of control and my reach each year. I thought I would try the pole hedger as I am getting to the stage in my life where climbing ladders is not the best. I already have a hand held Ryobi hedge trimmer which i find is great. Well I purchased the pole hedger to avoid the ladder, well it is not the easiest tool to handle. I found that the weight of the hedger not even fully extended (half way) extremely difficult to maintain holding up. I am 185 cm in height and to handle the unit I have to extend my right arm as far back as possible to engage the safety and on / off switch to operate the cutter. My left arm is fully extended up the pole as far as possible to take the weight of the hedger attached to the end of the pole. The closer to vertical it is ok, but start lowering, wow you begin to feel it. The weight of the unit to me is completely back to front or not even balanced at minimum pole length Obviously the further the extension, the weight ratio will increase. Whilst it was very difficult to handle at height, it did do what I expected it to do. Biggest drawback is the weight of the actual cutter, and the hedging attachment is not adjustable. By that I mean on the hand held model you can adjust the angle of cut from zero to 90 degrees. The pole hedger is just zero degrees , just horizontal. You can by rotating yourself change angles but that makes even more difficult to handle

Whilst I have only used this once I did what I expected it to do, but very very tiring on the shoulders and arms. Maybe I just have to get used to it??

MM