Ryobi 600W Hedge Sweep Electric Hedge Trimmer Review

If you want a smaller video size, go here

The day I received the pruner i raced home looking forward to trying it out. My housemates and I went outside straight to a problem palm tree right in front of where I park my car. Since we moved in I have had to drive through a branch which was dangling down over the driveway. Though this didn’t cause any damage, it was really quite annoying. I grabbed the Easy Reach Pruning Wand and set to work. I aimed it towards the highest point I could (some 2-2.5metres above) and in 2 simple cuts I was able to remove the troublesome palm branch. This left me with an immediate liking for the tool.

Since then I have used it at nearly every customers place and it has worked with absolute ease. Tree limbs which previously were out of reach are now a case of simple removal and this has left many customers very happy. I even allowed one of my customers to test it herself. She suffers from arthritis and so I knew this would be a real test of the tool. Her report back to me was that she had been unable to do any serious gardening for a long time due to her condition but this tool enabled her to trim up a few area’s she’d been longing to fix. A big tick from this front.

Fiskars describes the tool as follows;

Fiskars Tree Pruner, Easyreach Pruning Wand is a multi-use tool with excellent accessibility to tree crowns and dense bushes. Trim overhead without a ladder or at ground level without bending or kneeling. Activate the great cutting power with a mere slide of the orange handle or when used at maximum height, pull the orange end knob. When you need to reach higher branches, try the telescopic version. The adjustable head and the light cutting mechanism ensures fast, easy and safe pruning.

Features;

• Cutting reach vertically about 3,5 m
• Adjustable cutting angle (up to 230°)
• Can be used together with extension pole 110460

Awards won by the Fiskars Easy Reach Pruning Wand

FISKARS Easy Reach Pruning Wands have won a number of international awards including – “iF” Industrial Design Award (Germany) “Good Design” Award (US) “Reddot” Design Award (Germany), Best of the Best “Trophee de la Nouveaute” (France) “Popular Mechanics Award” (US)

I am very, very happy with the Fiskars Easy Reach pruning wand and definitely recommend it to anyone who has high, hard to reach tree’s that need pruning.

Score – 9/10. Priced from $119.00.

Stay tuned, Part 2 of this review will be up in the coming days and was written by one of the winners of this product from my recent competition.

 

• Home
• Choose a country

• Fiskars Story All about us
  Design Awards Heritage Corporate Information
• Activities & Press Orange Thumb & more
  Press Releases Orange Thumb
• Products Ingenious simplicity
  Digging tools Lawn care tools Cutting tools Felling and wood splitting tools Tool Care Accessories Catalogues
• Contact us Your feedback
  General Inquiry Your Feedback Where to Buy

• Cutting tools
• Browse Products
  • Pruners
  • Loppers
  • Tree Pruners
  • Hedge Shears

Tree Pruner, Easyreach Pruning Wand

” href=”http://eng-au.fiskars.com/var/fiskars_emea/storage/images/frontpage/products/plant-care/universal-cutters/115360-universal-garden-cutter/7829-51-eng-EU/115360-Universal-Garden-Cutter_product_main_large.jpg”>

Description

Fiskars Tree Pruner, Easyreach Pruning Wand is a multi-use tool with excellent accessibility to tree crowns and dense bushes. Trim overhead without a ladder or at ground level without bending or kneeling. Activate the great cutting power with a mere slide of the orange handle or when used at maximum height, pull the orange end knob. When you need to reach higher branches, try the telescopic version. The adjustable head and the light cutting mechanism ensures fast, easy and safe pruning.

Roses in particular enjoy a good winter prune. In July or August give your roses a healthy prune. Rose pruning advice varies greatly. I myself like to give them a fairly vigorous cut, removing between 1/3 and 2/3’s of each stem. You can also thin out the rose by cutting off stems that cross each other, giving the rose a better overall shape. In fact pruning time is a great opportunity to shape your plants in the way you’d like them to grow during the next growing season. When pruning always cut stems at a 45 degree angle. This helps the plant to repair itself where you make the cut and encourages more shoots to sprout around the cut area, which is what you are going for. One thing to take into consideration when doing this though is in area’s that you want a particular shape to happen or where you want a stem to grow in a particular direction as a v is likely to be formed where you prune a stem as the new growth sprouts. This may require pruning later on to remove new stems that have grown in places you would prefer they did not grow.

Another important point is some plants are more susceptible than others to a bad prune. As I mentioned before I like to vigorously prune roses. This is mostly because established rose plants tend to be pretty hardy when it comes to vigorous prunes and can come back from seemingly impossible conditions. Australian natives plants on the other hand often require a more delicate prune and certainly prefer to be pruned straight after a flowering season. A simple google search will usually net you good results for whether or not the plant you wish to prune needs a delicate or vigorous pruning or alternatively leave a comment below on this post and I will get back to you.

FISKARS PowerGear^TM Lopper

My first impressions of the Lopper were that I had finally found a pair of loppers I could rely on and the more I tested this tool, the more I felt this way. Lets have a look at a few features.

What kind of Lopper are they?
The FISKAR PowerGear^TM are bypass loppers. They work by having two blades which bypass each other in a similar way to scissors.

How do they feel in your hands?
One of the biggest strengths to the FISKAR PowerGear^TM Lopper is their weight, they are extremely light but they also feel solid, they are nice and strong. There have been times I have picked up loppers that were really light but felt like they’d twist in your hand with their first use. I am pleased to say this is simply not the case here, this tool proved to display good strength when in use.
8/10

Do the handles extend?
In this instance, no, however I was not overly worried by this. I had to use this tool well above my head for a significant period of time, which is often where tools with extendable handles helps, but I found because they cut so efficiently and were so light, my arms did not tire. In fact, I think this tool would rarely be improved even if it had longer handles.
7.5/10

Does the tool cut well?
Yes. One word answer to match the efficiency of this tool. This lopper is designed to be 3 times more efficient than standard loppers and because of this it makes cutting even some of the thickest limbs possible an absolute breeze. What is more, I found the cutting length to be fantastic, I was easily able to cut thicker limbs than I could on my old pair of loppers.
9/10

General Comments
Simply put this tool was a joy to use. I do not think I have used a more efficient lopper before, nor had such a smooth cut on thick limbs. It can be highly annoying having to whip out a saw to cut a limb that really shouldn’t need it and this lopper has significantly increased the size of limb I can effectively cut.

FISKARS sells their PowerGear^TM Loppers for $49.99 and comes with a 25 year warranty. If you need a pair of Loppers I highly recommend them.

Overall 8/10

If you want to buy any of the three FISKAR tools that I have reviewed they are available from Bunnings, Mitre 10 and selected Home Hardware, Thrifty Link hardware and Plants Plus stores.

Last month I reviewed lawnmowers, in particular I recommended that when you go to buy a lawnmower that you buy a Victa lawnmower. However when it comes to making your grassed area look good, mowing is only one aspect. When it comes to keeping your grassed area’s and your garden beds separate one of the quickest and easiest tools to use is a Line Trimmer or a Brushcutter. When it comes to buying a Line Trimmer or Brushcutter in Australia I believe there is a brand that stands head and shoulders above the rest and that is Stihl. So why should you buy Stihl line Trimmers or Brushcutters? Read on to find out.

I myself have owned a few different Brushcutters or ‘whipper snippers’ as I have always called them and I can categorically say the best purchase I ever made was from the Stihl range. I never needed to use it but they offered a fantastic warranty as standard. I never once had a break down and my whipper snipper required very little maintenance. I believe Stihl themselves say it well on their website when they say “No matter what your requirements, be it home garden maintenance, tending parks or landscape maintenance, on farms or in forests: STIHL has a Line Trimmer or Brushcutter to make job done more quickly and efficiently and to make the work feel easier.”

For the moment let’s just assume you have decided that Stihl is the way to go. Great, now what? What Line Trimmer or Brushcutter is right for you? Stihl has a large range. They have light Brushcutters, Line Trimmers, powerful Brushcutters, professional clearing saws and electric Line Trimmers. For the purpose of this article I will review a light Brushcutter, a Line Trimmer and a powerful Brushcutter because I believe this will cover the needs of most of my readers.

Line Trimmer
Stihl Line Trimmers are the most basic trimming tool. If you are looking for a tool to do a basic trimming job every now and then (when you get the lawnmower out once a month), a Line Trimmer is probably all you need. Line Trimmers are good for quickly tidying up area’s such as along fences and along walls and around the various hedges, trees and plants that you have in and around your grassed areas.

Stihl offers 3 different Line Trimmers but I am going to recommend the FS 45 C Easy2Start Line Trimmer because this product is truly designed for gardeners who what no hassle and no fuss, particularly in starting the machine. This offers a basic 0.75kW of power and weighs only 4.3kg. Perfect if you have just a small amount of trimming to do after you have mowed your front and/or backyard.

Light Brushcutter
The main difference between Line Trimmers and Brushcutters is Line Trimmers generally have bent shafts and Brushcutters generally have straight shafts. This is in general and doesn’t always hold but as far as the Stihl range is concerned, it does. Straight shaft’s are designed for more heavy duty work and also allow for the addition of a blade attachment for cutting large areas of grass where a lawn mower cannot reach for whatever reason.

In the Stihl range the best light Brushcutter for home use is the FS 55 RC Easy2Start. It is very similar to the Line Trimmer I recommended above in that it boats a 0.75 kW of power and weighs only 4.8kg. In fact the only real difference is the shaft, straight shaft versus the bent shaft of the FS 45 C Easy2Start Line Trimmer.

Powerful Brushcutter
Perhaps you need a Brushcutter for more heavy duty use. This might be because you are running a gardening business and so use your tool daily. It might also be because you have a larger than normal garden or lawn area to maintain or because you intend on using your Brushcutter on a very regular basis. If this is the case then you may as well get a top notch powerful Brushcutter and as such I recommend the Stihl FS 130 or Stihl FS 130R. The only difference between the 130 standard and the 130R is the standard comes with what is called ‘bulbar’ handles and supposedly offers a more comfortable experience where as the 130R has ‘loop’ handles designed to allow more manoeuvrability. I personally prefer the ‘loop’ handle. This wonderful machine boasts a significant 1.4 kW  of power and weighs in at 5.6kg, a respectable weight for a machine with this power rating.

Last Word
I hope one of these three machines suits your needs. Remember, the Line Trimmer works best for casual, general use. The Light Brushcutter allows the addition of a blade for trimming large grassed area’s that a mower can’t get to and the powerful Brushcutter is for more heavy duty work and more brings more grunt to the table.

On a related note check out Yardsurfer’s post on John Deere Snow Blowers.

Leaf Rake
The name of each of the three types of rake I am talking about give you a rough idea of their purpose. A lead rake is mostly used for…raking up leaves. Some places in the world require leaf rakes more than others but they are generally a useful tool to have. When buying a leaf rake their is one main variable to consider, how light is the rake. Quite simply, leaves themselves are not heavy so you do not need a heavy duty rake to rake them up. What you do need is a tool that you can use for long periods of time and not tire too easily. Especially during autumn (or fall as American’s call it), raking leaves can be a big task and so you want a tool that is light weight, flexible and has a broad head. You also want very small gaps between the rakes prongs so that leaves can’t slip between them. Leaf rakes are about the ONLY garden tool that I will recommend buying something with plastic as plastic heads are generally the lightest and so make for a good leaf rake.

Lawn rake
A lawn rake is actually very similar to a garden rake, in fact many people don’t differentiate between them because a lawn rake CAN be used as a leaf rake. The main difference here is that a lawn rake needs to have a stronger, sturdier and therefore generally heavier head. Lawn rakes are usually used to remove dead grass on the top layer. Sometimes even dead grass can be well rooted and so you need a little bit of strength in the head to help pull out the grass. It is important when choosing a lawn rake that you get one with a solid join between the head and the handle as this is where all the pressure will be. If you choose a lawn rake with a weak join, the join may give way and leave the dead grass embedded in the ground!

Garden rake
As I said above, it can be very confusing calling one type of garden rake…a garden rake. I have always thought this strange but have never really heard a better way of naming them. If you have a better name, let me know! A garden rake is really quite different to both a lawn and leaf rake. A garden rake is usually used in soil, often for moving or leveling soil. This job requires that soil can both be pushed by the rake but also not provide too much resistance. As such a garden rake has fewer prongs on the head and they are spread out more. Lawn and leaf rakes have long prongs that mostly go in the same direction as the handle where as a garden rake has prongs that are totally on a 90 degree angle. Garden rakes need to be sturdy and they need to be make of really solid materials. A good garden rake is like a good garden spade or shovel, if you buy the right one it really could last for life. Don’t scrimp when it comes to choosing a garden rake!

Cost
Leaf Rakes
Definitely the cheapest as far as rakes go. Probably the only garden tool I’ll recommend where you can buy the cheapest tool available and it will probably be ok AS LONG as you only use it for it’s purpose, raking leaves. The more expensive leaf rakes only cost more because they improve the ease of use or are slightly lighter. Still, a $10 leaf rake will do the job.

Lawn Rake
Because a lawn rake needs to be stronger than a leaf rake the cost is slightly higher. I’ve been solid lawn rakes for as little as $20 and a lawn rake CAN be used as a leaf rake, it’ll just take more effort since a lawn rake will be heavier.

Garden Rake
This is the most costly rake. A budget garden rake still shouldn’t be less than $25 and a solid garden rake will probably set you back $30+. Spending $40-$50 will make it more likely that you are buying a tool for life.

There you have it, this is the LAST in my garden tools series. Stay tuned because sometime this month I’ll be releasing my first e-book which will be a collaboration of this series plus a little bit more! All these great hints and tips in one, easy to find place!

If you want to make sure you don’t miss this opportunity then why not subscribe to my feed? That way you will be sure to have a chance to access this FREE resource. The plan is to provide the resource FREE when you sign up to my *NEW* weekly newsletter, to be released later this month. If you don’t know what it means to subscribe then check my ‘why subscribe?‘ page.

All the best for your gardening success!

What to look for
A lot of the tasks that you would use a garden fork for require a lot of force to be exerted on the tool and so it is imperative that buy a good quality garden fork. As garden forks have become less and less popular the market has been flooded with cheap and nasty alternatives. Just last week I was helping a friend out and so using their tools. The fork was brand new. I placed it into the ground in a common manner, placed a mild amount of force on the tool and the plastic handle snapped right off.

The BEST garden forks are ‘forged’. That is they are made from one solid piece of metal, forged when heated. The very best in my opinion are forged steel with a soft rubber coated handle. If you are not buying a forged garden fork make sure you check out how many joins the tool has. Is there a join between the prongs and the shaft? Is there a join between the shaft and the handle? Joints are points of weakness, the more joints their are, the weaker the tool will be.

Many alluminium alloy forks are coming out with extremely high %’s of aluminium in the alloy. Aluminium is a very malleable metal which means it bends and twists easily. Many good tools are made of aluminium alloys HOWEVER you really need to make sure the alloy has enough other metals to strengthen the tool. Feel the prongs on the fork, put some pressure on them. If you can bend them yourself (which isn’t out of the question with cheap tools today) then think what using them will do?

Make sure the handle feels comfortable and the shaft is a reasonable length. Short handles make the tool more versatile as it’ll be easier to manage in tight spaces but it also means the work will be harder. Longer handles provide more leverage which can make the job easier, depending on what you are doing, but also make it harder to use in tight spaces. Think about how you think you will be using the tool and decide, based on that, what you need most.

Cost
My advice with garden forks is not to buy cheap. As I mentioned above, in recent years many cheap brands have entered the market but the tools they sell are shocking. The garden fork is one tool that is very commonly made for ‘cheap’ prices but these tools simply will not stand the test of time. Anything less than $30-$40 and I would suggest you are probably throwing your money away. Having said that, garden forks that are around $30-$40 will likely work well. Though a seriously good quality forged fork will set you back likely $70+, a strong mid range fork with 1, maybe 2 joins will probably do the job. Let me re-iterate though, don’t buy the cheap imported forks!

Though many tools can be used to ‘make do’ without a garden fork, none do the job as effectively and as efficiently as a garden fork. It is for this reason that I include the garden fork in my basic garden tools series.

Another big bonus of a proper pruning saw over an ordinary saw is size and portability. Pruning saws often fold (though not always) and this is beneficial for 3 reasons;
1. Takes up less space;
2. Is safer, you won’t risk cutting yourself reaching into your gardening tools.
3. Helps better protect the teeth, helping the tool to last longer.

As such the first tip for anyone looking to buy a pruning saw is to spend that little bit extra and get one that folds up. Another very important aspect to shopping for pruning saws is buying one which has a replaceable blade. Though pruning saw blades can generally be sharpened, eventually a new blade will be needed. If the blade cannot be replaced then you will have to spend up big again on a new tool. However if the blade is replaceable this will significantly cut down the long term cost of maintaining your pruning saw.

A relatively recent improvement to the pruning saw range are blades called ‘tri-cut’ or something similar. Basically these are sharpened on 3 edges, like a triangle, and reportedly cut twice as fast. I myself have never owned a pruning saw with this kind of blade yet but every review I have read has strongly recommended them, so I’ll recommend you look for a pruning saw with a tri-cut blade also.

I am probably beginning to sound like a broken record but try and stay away from pruning saws with lots of plastic pieces. Plastic makes the tool cheaper but it is also rare for tools with plastic to go the distance and last many years. In fact in many cases, manufacturers make tools out of plastic BECAUSE they won’t last for years, forcing you to once again buy another tool in a couple of years. It makes sense for manufacturers, they need the business, but it is a shame that there are fewer and fewer top quality tools.

Cost
Pruning saw range in cost from about $20 right up to $200. To get a folding pruning saw with a tri-cut blade you are probably looking around the $50 mark. Spending $60-70 will get you a top notch tool, spending $30-40 will get you a servicable tool. Spending less than $30 and you are probably getting a tool that will last a season or two before you have to spend another $20-$30 on a new tool.

When it comes to gardening you really won’t get far without a good pair of secateurs. But what makes secateurs good? What should you look for when you are shopping for secateurs? One thing many gardeners don’t know is that there are actually three different kinds of secateurs, Anvil, Bypass and Parrot Beak. Very quickly, Anvil secateurs have an upper blade which pushes down onto a flat lower ‘anvil’. Parrot Beak secateurs have two blades which cut by meeting together in the middle and looks like a parrot’s beak. The third kind of secateurs is called Bypass secateurs.  They work by having two blades which bypass each other in a similar way to scissors. The big difference between Bypass and Parrot Beak secateurs is the shape of the blades, with Parrot Beak having two identical blades compared to Bypass which has one large and one small blade, the large blade being convex in shape and the small blade being concave in shape. Bypass secateurs are the main type used and sold and will be the focus of this entry.

When buying secateurs there are a few things to consider. One of the most important things to check out is how they feel in your hand. When you are out shopping pick up a few pairs and see how they feel. Feel for weight, feel for grip. Most secateurs handles will be shaped with little divots for your fingers to go in, find the pair whose divots best fit your hand.

Another key tip is to make sure the secateurs you are keen on have a safety latch that is easily engaged and disengaged with one hand. When you are pruning a plant, if you have to stop and use two hands to engage the safety latch it is more likely that you won’t. A safety latch is only useful if it is likely to be put to use.

Try and look for secateurs with plastic covered metal handles. Metal handles are strong but are cold to work with and plastic handles are a sign of cheap manufacturing and are not likely to last as well as metal handles.

There are three different blade types, stainless steel, coated steel and carbon steel. My preference is for stainless steel but carbon steel works well two. Either of these kinds will stay the sharpest for longer periods of time. The only real upside to coated steel is that it cleans more easily. Cleaning your secateurs after use is extremely important but having blades that remain sharp are better for the job at hand.

The general rule of thumb with secateurs is, strangely enough, don’t try cutting plant limbs that are thicker than your thumb. If you try and cut limbs that are too thick you will damage the blade and therefore your tool that you have invested in will not last as well for as long.

Prices range from $5-$10 at the cheap end right up to $150-$200. Again for a household gardener I’d say a you could probably get a pair that will work ok for $20-$40 but a good pair at around $50 may well last you a decade or more. My Grandma had a pair that I know was much older than I was when I was 10, good tools well looked after last a while.

Good luck with your shopping for secateurs!