Stihl HSA 86

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

Bad service from Stihl – Stihl are really struggling to supply their battery equipment at the moment as it’s taken over 6 weeks to get an AP belt and harness to support using the hedgecutter as light weight piece of gear. A petrol one or an alternative battery brand would be better in my view and based upon my experience. Show details

Excellent – I have just purchased the HSA86 and i'm totally wrapped ,first use was cutting 100 meters of box hedge then onto trimming 5 medium shrubs, after all that the battery is still showing 75% charge left. Amazing ! I was advised by the salesman to go for the big battery (AP 300 s) Might be a bit overboard but anyway very happy Show details

good product – Wonderful product good power , nearly as good as petrol version , good battery life Main benifit , no arm tingles or judder after use as you find with petrol version Only quibble is support bar to blade broke at main pivot point after 18 months , Poor design , if you place product on floor carefully I don't think there would be Any issues but… Read more

if you treat it a little robustly it will crack at this pivot point

This is not the case with petrol models which is much robust

Space age equipment – Yeah, this tool is like something out of a science-fiction movie. Powerful, yet light and easy to use. Only had it for a week but been out there with it quite a bit and today I went over to a friend's place to cut back a badly over-grown hedge plant that was dreadfully tangled and messy. I only had to get the little chainsaw out a couple of times… Read more

to cut off some woody branches.

I am amazed though that I have only charged the battery once. nd after all the work I've done with it, the battery still has 3 bars (out of 4) of charge. Frankly, I wish I had bought a cheaper battery, this bloody tool will not give me a break! ;-)

Horrendously expensive though, but I could have bought a cheaper one. This one just looked more rugged and tool struggle to survive my careless handling, so I went for the better one.

Exceeded all expectations – Hedges are time consuming to maintain and anything that makes it a little easier without any fuss is a blessing. The Stihl HSA 85 is just that tool - it's powerful, quiet, no fumes, easy to clean, and a lot lighter than most of the petrol hedgers - although it's not light enough for a child to use. Battery life is long - and by long I mean… Read more

the user will run out of energy before the battery does.

I have around 50 x 3 x 3m of hedges and a lot of it consists of branches in the 15mm to 24mm range. I can get it all done on less than 20%,of a battery.

I even use it to shape shrubs as well for which it does a brilliant job as well. I was paying around $600 a year get my hedges done but now I do it myself and get professional results with the HSA85

The only downside is that for branches thicker than 25mm you need a saw or a good quality branch lopper - but that's going to be the case with all but the very largest and heaviest Hedge Cutters.

In conclusion anyone that already has some Stihl cordless kit should put this one on their list. I have the FSA65 Grass Trimmer as well and it's a very good product - but the HSA 86 is even better and perhaps one of the best tools I have ever purchased. Highly recommended.