Strap / Harness for Long reach Stihl battery hedge trimmer

[etaf]

Hi,
I have my name down for a Long Reach hedge trimmer, Cordless Stihl HLA86, 200 battery , maybe 300, but as there are long delays on items arriving in UK.

Mother-in-law has one , and i tried out in the shed xmas, and found it to be very heavy , so i'm borrowing it on Thursday/Friday (13/14th jan).
brother-in-law used it and says it can be awkward.

I have an 8ft high Lylandi which is about 60-100ft running along the back of the garden , which is to be one of its main uses to keep the height under control , but we have a lot of other 6-8ft hedges around the front/back garden. Which will save using ladders.
I have cut with ladders and a 60cm mains cheap screwfix hedge trimmer, very arkward to get around some of the places, with ladders positioned awkwardly

I have Fallen off the ladder/platform more than once !!!!!
And only getting older now , so ideal if i can use standing on the ground, and i think it will also reach all the arkward bits and save us getting people in at silly prices now (Quoted £600 to cut the lylandi !!!!!)

Looking on youtube , you can get straps , harness to help balance the trimmer and make using it much easier, like the
Stihl RTS Super harness

I just wondered , what other people here used , maybe the Pros using day in / day out have a preference

I have a strap on the Stihl petrol strimmer, so i may use that strap , if i can still get the height

[dewaltdisney]

I have a lot of experience in cutting Laurel hedges and I have tried most things. I have to say that a pole saw is so unwieldy, heavy, and unbalanced. I have a petrol pole saw which has the weight on a body harness and an electric that had the weight forward at the end both proved difficult to use with any accuracy and binding. Any heavier branches can pinch the blade halfway through a cut.

Take it from me, do not bother with a pole saw go and buy a mini chainsaw. These one-handed saws are perfect for your job and cost between £20 and £30 on eBay. Yes, you need a ladder but with a hand free you can hang on and get into the middle of the tree and cut outwards.

See my review thread viewtopic.php?f=25&t=105075

DWD

[etaf]

Thanks DWD
Not thinking of a Pole saw , a henge trimmer,
i'm not cutting any large branches , just trimming back the 6mth growth front and top , which i have done before with a normal hedge trimmer 60cm x 20mm cut
https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb357 ... mmer/65175
and then normal hedges
for scale , the small round bushes infront of the lylandi are about 6ft high

[dewaltdisney]

Oh I see, I have an Echo petrol pole hedge clipper tool that I do the hedge faces with. It has a strap that goes around my neck but I still find it a weight lofting it. Now I get a sore neck as well as arms

DWD

[etaf]

Thanks again DWD
My mother-in-law also had the Petrol Stihl long reach hedge trimmer and my brother-in-law found that really difficult, and did not use, whereas the battery version he can use , so it should be lighter
At least you seem to be able to use it with a strap , rather than the thing NOT working, pivoting with a strap
And you dont bother to use one of these harness contraptions

This Thursday/Friday , I guess i can try my strap and see if its any good and how that works out.

Otherwise I will have to re-think, but whats for sure , with the cost of living, I cannot afford to have someone in regularly , and the cost of the unit is the same as some quotes to do the lylandi just once - not including all the other hedges.

[dewaltdisney]

I have an Oregon body harness that I use for my brushcutter. I have used my Echo on this which distributes the weight evenly but it only helps with the lower stuff as the reach is impeded. I tend to use both, the harness for the lower hedge face and the neck strap for the higher stuff. I also still use my long handles loppers and my tripod ladder for some of it. I must say that the one-handed chainsaw is a wonder.

DWD

[etaf]

Thanks Again DWD all useful info.
The Oregon body harness, at £20 ish, worth a try at least , rather than the £200+ prices i have seen
Also may work with the Stihl petrol strimmer , depending on where it hooks onto

I already have the Oregan Forestry Helmet I use with the petrol chainsaw, and petrol Strimmer

thanks for the advice and information

[banjerbill]

I have the Sthil hedge cutter and extention pole which I use with the supplied strap. It is top heavy, all the weight is in the blade end and it cripples my back. It's foolproof for starting and cuts well but I honestly could not recommend itand certainly not for the amount of hedging you have.

Bill

[etaf]

Thanks for the info

but I honestly could not recommend itand certainly not for the amount of hedging you have.

What would you recommend to avoid using ladders ?

I do have another 4 hedges around the property

[etaf]

Just come in from working with the HLA86 on he Leylandii with my brother-in-law
The strap helped a lot very heavy - But i got the front trimmed back in 1/2hr or so
The top was difficult and will still need to finish off tomorrow
The cutters do not have a setting for 90 degree to the pole - if they did, then i could just adjust the height to where i want to cut it down to. stand at the bottom with strap around my neck to keep the height , and then walk along the hedge - cutting the top down as i went.
Bit disappointing

I tried on all the other hedges front and side and it will work all for those as well, and speed things up considerably , and i wont be moving ladders about going up and down

So i think over all its a about a 7/10 , although practice may make it an 9/10
wasn't that happy with the cut and keeping things straight across the front. Had the pole at a pivot point with the strap, used a couple of cable ties, and then sweep up/down but a bit all over the place, although this may be more to do with the leylandii itself

Save getting the ladders out and should speed up the rest of the hedge cutting considerably.

Spoke to neighbours and they had a hedge cut on both sides of the house - 5ft tall and cost them over £400 - so seems to be the going rate down here.

Pretty sure if I did the leylandii twice a year, would be kept under control and the machine paid for just in first cut

Hopefully the battery will last only using 2/3 times a year
I will keep it indoors with my other cordless tools Batteries , as i know they dont like the cold

Thanks again for the advice, i'll drop a photo up when its all finished tomorrow / weeken

[dewaltdisney]

The thing with pole tools is that you can never see what you are doing properly from the ground. They are fine working at eye level but as soon as you loft it up, it is a bit hit and miss. My pole clippers tilt to 90 degrees but they were still crap. I found it just too hard to trim the tops flat with powered clippers, both pole and bladed types from a ladder. That is why I bang on about the mini chainsaw as you cut the stuff you can with long-handled loppers and then cut the thicker stuff with the handheld chainsaw. It is easier with these tools working from a ladder at height than any others. There is no easy way sadly (other than cutting the hedge down) so you can understand why the tree guys charge so much.

DWD

[etaf]

Thanks again for the follow-up

so you can understand why the tree guys charge so much.

Yep, they certainly do, and to be fair, the ones I have had a few time, all work really hard.
So the £600 i understand , and they also said that would be for the day, so if they had time left over they would fill the day with other work.
Only issue is keeping it nice - and cut maybe twice a year, I cant afford it now, with the cost of living and on a fixed pension things are slowly getting tougher

Back out tomorrow , so see how we got on

[dewaltdisney]

I guess you know not to cut the Leylandi back to the brown part of the fronds, they never grow back. Always trim leaving an inch or so of green showing on each frond and it will keep good. The timber-like branches are okay to cut back as they will sprout again. They are all a bloody pain.

DWD

[etaf]

I guess you know not to cut the Leylandi back to the brown part of the fronds, they never grow back.

Thanks Yes , other half made a big point about that, 1st time i cut them back, and did cause a load of holes/brown bits. its going to be difficult with the long pole , as i want it back as much as possible.
you Cannot see from the image but all the trees are about 6' into the garden from the back/wall fence , and i think theres 8 trees maybe more

had asked about having the lot out a few years ago and putting a different hedge in - Quoted £1000's to do that

hence keeping them at the moment, and get on top of the maintenance

[dewaltdisney]

You have to get it to a state for easier future maintenance. Regular face trimming will stop the spread and keep it neat, which once you have it controlled is an easy job every so often. It is the height that needs to be mullered down and getting it down about two foot from the existing height will be a job but worth it as it will make future access so much easier. The tree surgeons get into the treetop and cut down around them. If you can get a ladder into the central trunk and tie it on it should give you a good work platform. As I have said loppers and a handheld mini chainsaw is best. Don't try to do it all at once, do a tree at a time and give yourself a break otherwise it will defeat you. These bloody trees never stop growing.

DWD