My gasoline powered hedge trimmer was a beast that could cut through old growth, and thick branches, but the fumes, noise, aggravation with the carb, sparkplug changing, fuel mixing, and hard starts were a royal pain, and that beast was heavy, and only cut on one side of the blade. I finally got fed up with it and a couple of years ago decided to not put the time into getting it to run again and scrapped it.
The 18 inch corded hedge trimmer I have does not have much power, and basically can only cut the fresh green growth, and if I had too many things going on and did not get to cutting the hedges for a long time then the older growth was too hard to cut, and the hedges ended up getting taller and wider. And the 18 inch blade it has does not have as much reach as I want.
After a while I was wishing I had kept the old gas one around and still had it to resurrect, because the lack of ability of the wimpy electric ended up with me having to let some areas grow more than I would have if I had the power of the old gas one to cut the thicker branches.
I was looking for a powerful electric 24 inch hedge trimmer and watched a few YouTube videos, and really was leery of anything with a battery because of the reduction of usable time per charge with age, and life of battery limits.
I found an add for a corded 24 inch with cutting on both sides of the blade. The few available reviews and videos on it were positive so I bought one. It is a:
"Black & Decker Rotating Handle Hedge Trimmer. Part no. HH2455"
that I bought on Amazon for $61.99 + $3.72 tax = $65.71 total including free slow delivery.
When it arrived the package was beat up. They did not ship it in an additional box. Just the box Black & Decker sold it in, and that box was very small for the section the blade was in. I could see that the box was seriously damaged before I even opened it. And the when I opened it the blade had 2 bends in it. I thought of send it back, but decided to try to straighten the blade first. It ended up being very easy to straighten, and when I put it next to a very straight piece of metal I had it was very straight. Then I though that if it bent back to straight so easy maybe it was mad with too thin metal and would not hold up in use.
This hedge trimmer has a back handle that can quickly be rotated to allow you to use the trimmer to cut vertical left or right handed. And the teeth are big enough to cut thick branches the size of the first joint on your little finger with a couple of strokes. It is powerful and light weight for a 24 inch cutter, and well balanced, including a design that balances out vibration from the blades. And the blades have a nice design that includes a part that sticks out and is not sharpened but is built thick and strong enough to withstand hitting things without getting damaged which comes in handy when cutting shrubs near objects such as handrails and brick work.
The only thing I do not like about this trimmer is that the front fixed non rotating handle near the blade comes unattached in the box, and when you attach it the screws they give you to secure it are ( in my opinion ) too skinny and small for something that you want to get many years of use from. I was temped to use some high strength very good plastic epoxy glue such as Loctite E-20HP to really secure the handle, but that would mean I would have to cut the handle if I ever wanted to take it apart for future maintnce. So I passed on that idea for now.
I oiled up the blade very well, with an old antique oil can I have that has some of the last of my old Castrol GC 0W-30 in it, and as suggested on a YouTube video also oil the bade about every 15 minutes of use, and when done cutting.
The wimpy handle screws for the front handle held up fine, and even though that handle looked like it could of been more securely attached by those screws, was not any problem in use. That handle does sit in recesses where it attaches to the cutter, that help secure it.
The ability of the back handle to rotate is an extremely nice and very underrated feature. In a matter of a few seconds you can push the button and rotate it and lock it in a different orientation to go from horizontal cutter to vertical cutter, or back to horizontal. And it really makes using it for those two different cuts very easy for each of them. It also has locks in half way between horizontal and vertical for cutting on a 45 degree angle but I have no use for that angle.
This trimmer is not as noisy as my wimpy 18 inch cored one. And a heck of a lot more powerful and has much more reach with the 24 inch blade. It will cut through almost anything. Next to waving a laser around this thing is a very nice cutting tool to use.
It basically can cut anything my old gas trimmer could cut, is quiet compared to the old one. Is lighter, and the rotating back handle makes using it for vertical cuts a lot easier than the old gas one. I was able to cut through old thick hedges with no problem at all.
This thing is an easy to use cutting beast with cutting teeth on both sides of the blade. I am glad I bought it, and recommend it to anyone looking for a good powerful cored hedge trimmer.
I let two of my neighbors who are into keeping there front yards nice hold it, and the one who weighs about 90 Lbs. said it is too much for her to handle. But the one weights about 135 Lbs. said she liked it, and was able to use the rotating back handle with no problem.
So this trimmer may be a little too much for a light weight person. Personally I find it a nice powerful cutter that is easy to use.
If you are going to get one, you might want to pay a few bucks more for it at a big box store to avoid getting one with a bent blade from shipping. But mine did straighten out fine, and is staying straight with use.
I check all the blade bolts and nuts for becoming loose after every use. So far only one seamed slightly loose and I tightened it back up about an 1/8 of a turn.
Oil the blade with anything you have handy before every use ( 0W - 20 or 30, or 5W- 20 or 30 ), and after about every 15 minute of use, and before storage, and this Hedge Trimmer should be good for many years of good cutting.
I highly recommend one.
The 18 inch corded hedge trimmer I have does not have much power, and basically can only cut the fresh green growth, and if I had too many things going on and did not get to cutting the hedges for a long time then the older growth was too hard to cut, and the hedges ended up getting taller and wider. And the 18 inch blade it has does not have as much reach as I want.
After a while I was wishing I had kept the old gas one around and still had it to resurrect, because the lack of ability of the wimpy electric ended up with me having to let some areas grow more than I would have if I had the power of the old gas one to cut the thicker branches.
I was looking for a powerful electric 24 inch hedge trimmer and watched a few YouTube videos, and really was leery of anything with a battery because of the reduction of usable time per charge with age, and life of battery limits.
I found an add for a corded 24 inch with cutting on both sides of the blade. The few available reviews and videos on it were positive so I bought one. It is a:
"Black & Decker Rotating Handle Hedge Trimmer. Part no. HH2455"
that I bought on Amazon for $61.99 + $3.72 tax = $65.71 total including free slow delivery.
When it arrived the package was beat up. They did not ship it in an additional box. Just the box Black & Decker sold it in, and that box was very small for the section the blade was in. I could see that the box was seriously damaged before I even opened it. And the when I opened it the blade had 2 bends in it. I thought of send it back, but decided to try to straighten the blade first. It ended up being very easy to straighten, and when I put it next to a very straight piece of metal I had it was very straight. Then I though that if it bent back to straight so easy maybe it was mad with too thin metal and would not hold up in use.
This hedge trimmer has a back handle that can quickly be rotated to allow you to use the trimmer to cut vertical left or right handed. And the teeth are big enough to cut thick branches the size of the first joint on your little finger with a couple of strokes. It is powerful and light weight for a 24 inch cutter, and well balanced, including a design that balances out vibration from the blades. And the blades have a nice design that includes a part that sticks out and is not sharpened but is built thick and strong enough to withstand hitting things without getting damaged which comes in handy when cutting shrubs near objects such as handrails and brick work.
The only thing I do not like about this trimmer is that the front fixed non rotating handle near the blade comes unattached in the box, and when you attach it the screws they give you to secure it are ( in my opinion ) too skinny and small for something that you want to get many years of use from. I was temped to use some high strength very good plastic epoxy glue such as Loctite E-20HP to really secure the handle, but that would mean I would have to cut the handle if I ever wanted to take it apart for future maintnce. So I passed on that idea for now.
I oiled up the blade very well, with an old antique oil can I have that has some of the last of my old Castrol GC 0W-30 in it, and as suggested on a YouTube video also oil the bade about every 15 minutes of use, and when done cutting.
The wimpy handle screws for the front handle held up fine, and even though that handle looked like it could of been more securely attached by those screws, was not any problem in use. That handle does sit in recesses where it attaches to the cutter, that help secure it.
The ability of the back handle to rotate is an extremely nice and very underrated feature. In a matter of a few seconds you can push the button and rotate it and lock it in a different orientation to go from horizontal cutter to vertical cutter, or back to horizontal. And it really makes using it for those two different cuts very easy for each of them. It also has locks in half way between horizontal and vertical for cutting on a 45 degree angle but I have no use for that angle.
This trimmer is not as noisy as my wimpy 18 inch cored one. And a heck of a lot more powerful and has much more reach with the 24 inch blade. It will cut through almost anything. Next to waving a laser around this thing is a very nice cutting tool to use.
It basically can cut anything my old gas trimmer could cut, is quiet compared to the old one. Is lighter, and the rotating back handle makes using it for vertical cuts a lot easier than the old gas one. I was able to cut through old thick hedges with no problem at all.
This thing is an easy to use cutting beast with cutting teeth on both sides of the blade. I am glad I bought it, and recommend it to anyone looking for a good powerful cored hedge trimmer.
I let two of my neighbors who are into keeping there front yards nice hold it, and the one who weighs about 90 Lbs. said it is too much for her to handle. But the one weights about 135 Lbs. said she liked it, and was able to use the rotating back handle with no problem.
So this trimmer may be a little too much for a light weight person. Personally I find it a nice powerful cutter that is easy to use.
If you are going to get one, you might want to pay a few bucks more for it at a big box store to avoid getting one with a bent blade from shipping. But mine did straighten out fine, and is staying straight with use.
I check all the blade bolts and nuts for becoming loose after every use. So far only one seamed slightly loose and I tightened it back up about an 1/8 of a turn.
Oil the blade with anything you have handy before every use ( 0W - 20 or 30, or 5W- 20 or 30 ), and after about every 15 minute of use, and before storage, and this Hedge Trimmer should be good for many years of good cutting.
I highly recommend one.
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