Why buy a petrol hedge cutter?

by John Hall Petrol Hedgecutters are extremely versatile, and offer fast and effective maintenance and re-shaping of large hedges. Utilising a petrol engine offers more power to cut larger branches and greater "go anywhere flexibility" when compared to other types of Electric or Cordless hedge cutters.  

Although quality and specification varies massively from brand ro brand, petrol hedge cutters generally have heavier duty gearboxes and stronger, wider blades.  Please note: some superstore own-brands or unbranded imports are an exception to this rule).   Mower Magic offer a huge range of petrol hedge cutters for domestic and professional use.  We offer friendly, helpful, Free advice advice and spare parts backup for all the product we sell.

We also offer Fast Free Delivery to the UK mainland and amazing online prices! Other names commonly used: Petrol Hedge "Trimmer" = Trimmer usually means the Blades are smaller and/or light duty for taking off upto 6 months growth rather than cutting back or changing shape. Petrol Hedge "Shears" = Shears is an old term referring to manually operated cutting tool like an large pair of scissors but the term is sometimes used to describe a hedge cutter with any power source. 

To Buy Other types of Powered Hedge Cutters & Trimmers:

• Buy Electric Powered Hedge Trimmers - Click Here
• Buy Cordless Battery Powered Hedge Trimmers Click Here
• Buy Long Reach Hedge Cutters Click Here

Mower Magic Buyers Guide to Petrol Hedge Cutters: With so many products on the market it can be a minefield to decide what to buy. Regardless of the type of petrol hedge cutter style -  Single-sided / Double-sided / Long Reach etc - here are our Magic Top Tips:

• Weight: is always a key factor to consider when buying a petrol hedge cutter, as you will have to hold it out in front of you for what can be long time each cutting session, OK if you have arms like Popeye but for most of us this can get pretty painful lugging a heavy beast around. (It's worth noting Cheap-n-Cheerful Hedge Cutters tend to be heaver due to poor engineering and materials).
• Blades: Whether you prefer double sided or single sided, make sure the blades are Double-Reciprocating. This gives a much faster cut with neater finish. Make sure the two blades are bolted together along the middle, and not riveted. Blade Tooth spacing is also very important.  Make sure the gap is wide enough for branches you plan to cut.

• Serviceability: Hedgecutters have many wearing parts, are easily dropped during use and generally get abused, so it's essential you pick a brand and model you can obtain spare parts and aftersales service easily for. We also see many supermarket special "Cheap" hedge cutters with no spare parts available, some even have inseparable blades that cannot be sharpened or replaced.   Avoid them like the plague!! It's also worth checking the Gearbox has a lubrication point or Grease nipple as this will need to be regularly greased every 5 to 10 hours depending on model.

Our Top 5 Budget Petrol Hedge Cutters:

• Double Sided: Mitox 60HTD 25cc Petrol Hedgetrimmer
• Double Sided: Mountfield MHJ2424 61cm 24.5cc Petrol Hedgetrimmer
• Long Reach: Mitox 265-LRH Long Reach Hedgetrimmer
• Single Sided: Handy 76cm Petrol Single Sided Hedgetrimmer
• Single Sided: Mitox 700SX 26cc Petrol Hedgetrimmer

Top 5 Best Buy High Quality Petrol Hedge Cutters:

• Double Sided: Mitox 650DX 23cc Premium+ Petrol Hedgetrimmer
• Double Sided: Stihl HS45-24 60cm Petrol Hedgecutter
• Long Reach: Cobra LRH270K Kawasaki Petrol Long Reach Hedge Trimmer
• Long Reach: Shindaiwa AH242 Pro Articulated Hedgetrimmer
• Single Sided: Hitachi 21.1cc 50cm Double Sided Hedgecutter

Brands of Hedge Cutter to avoid buying
We have seen a lot of poor quality petrol hedge cutters imported from the far east with little or no spare parts support. Some of them are unbranded and others boast names you may have heard of  in times gone by for unrelated products. The brand names are applied to low grade often disposable products brought in from China. They are usually a few pounds cheaper but end up as "Disposable" landfill witch seems a crying shame and is a shocking waste of the earths recourses. Based on our own personal experience in the Mower Magic workshop we would not recommend any of the following Brands of petrol hedge cutter:

Avoid List

• Mac Allister
• Qualcast
• Sovereign
• Power performance
• Coopers
• Grizzly
• Westfalia
• JCB Garden
• Clifford James
• Spear & Jackson
• Florabest
• Green Tech
• Gardenline
• Draper
• Wolf

What's the difference?  

The above brands are just "names" used under licence to shift boxes. There is no factory or long term support for the products that have the above names. There is usually no, or very limited, out of warranty support for the product, and no spare parts back-up. There is no network of repair-shops. The products are usually poor quality, have poor performance and are not documented.  They can be rendered as scrap for the most simple need for a spare part. The old saying "Buy Cheap - Buy Twice" is very appropriate in this case. This is just our opinion based on 25 years' experience in the Trade.  

Is it worth spending a little more? Yes absolutely! As well as the reasons stated above, you can add poor starting, poor performance and generally heavy products to the list of negative features. Imagine you start cutting your hedge and you slip and drop you hedge cutter. It hits the ground and smashes the recoil start unit. You try everywhere to buy a replacement part and no one can help you. The place you bought it from don't want to know and don't care and your local mower repair shop tells you parts are not available for that brand.  All of a sudden that slightly lower price you paid seems very expensive when you then have to buy a new hedge cutter.