EGO HT2000E review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Cordless
verdict: Great for all hedge types and sizes
This Ego HT2000E cordless hedge trimmer powered through our tests, leaving a clean finish on all types of hedge we used it on. However, as it weighs 4.1kg you’ll need a fair amount of strength in your arms to use it. Despite the handles not rotating on this model, it’s still reasonably comfortable to use and the battery lasts an impressive 70 minutes. A worthy Best Buy.
- Powerful
- Long run time
- Wide tooth gap
- Comfortable to operate
- Weighty and slightly back-heavy
- No handle rotation
- Blade sheath broke
Makita DUH502Z review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Cordless
verdict: Great all-rounder
This Best Buy cordless hedge trimmer powers through hedges quickly and efficiently, and has some great user-friendly features. It can feel slightly back-heavy with prolonged use, so we’d only recommend it for the more physically able.
- Power
- Quality of finish
- Long blade
- Easy to use
- Handy reverse button if it snags
- Adjustable handles
- Poor battery life
- Slightly back-heavy
Stihl HSA 66 Set review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Cordless
verdict: Great for heavy domestic use
The Stihl HSA 66 cordless hedge trimmer excelled in our tests, leaving a clean finish on all types of hedge. It’s powerful yet lightweight, enabling you to complete tasks quickly and comfortably, although the handles don’t rotate on this model. A worthy Best Buy.
- Quality of finish
- Power
- Lightweight
- Separate safety-lock button
- No rotating handles
Stihl HSA 56 review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Cordless
verdict: Efficient and easy to use
This is a powerful cordless hedge trimmer that cuts quickly and cleanly on larger hedges, making it a Best Buy. The short blade length makes it very manoeuvrable on smaller hedges and it’s also light and comfortable to use. It should be suitable for almost anyone.
- Cut exceptionally well
- Lightweight
- Comfortable to use
- Great choice for smaller hedges
- Short blade makes it less suitable for cutting tall hedges
Stihl HSE 81 review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Corded electric
verdict: Powerful, fast and effective
The Stihl HSE 81 is an electric, corded hedge trimmer which is aimed at people with larger gardens and professional gardeners. It’s certainly powerful and has plenty of high-spec features that make it a very fast trimmer capable of cutting through even dense, leafy and overgrown hedges. It leaves a clean, neat finish on all types of hedge and got top marks in all our tests. Well thought-out design makes it surprisingly comfortable and easy to use, despite its weight.
- Well designed
- Comfortable to use
- Powerful and cuts quickly
- Long bar provides good reach
- Electric cable can be restrictive
- Starts to feel heavy after long use
- Engine is noisy
Bosch AdvancedHedgeCut 70 review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Corded electric
verdict: A heavy but powerful machine that makes short work of any type of hedge
Although this isn’t the easiest hedge trimmer to use, the Bosch AdvancedHedgeCut 70 got some really great scores in our tests thanks to its design and power. These allowed it to glide through every type of hedge we tried it on with ease, leaving a neat and tidy finish you’ll be delighted with.
- Plenty of power
- Wide tooth gap
- Long blade length
- Leaves a great finish on all types of hedge
- Vibration is noticeable
- It’s heavy and lacks an adjustable handle position
Stihl HSE 71 review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Corded electric
verdict: First class hedge trimming
You’ll be wowed by the performance of this hedge trimmer. It’s so impressive that it jumps right to the top end of our Best Buy list. With quick, effective and neat cutting and some user-friendly features, it’s definitely well worth buying. However, it can feel heavy with prolonged use, so we’d only recommend it for the more physically able.
- High-powered hedge trimming
- Neat finish
- Versatile
- Easy to use
- Heavy after prolonged use
Stihl HLA 56 Cordless Long-Reach review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Cordless
- Long reach
verdict: Great for all hedges
The Stihl HLA 56 long-reach cordless hedge trimmer is designed for cutting tall and wide hedges. It has an adjustable head for cutting at different angles, so you can quickly and easily switch from vertical cutting of the sides of a hedge to horizontal cutting across the top, while standing in a secure and comfortable position on the ground. We were impressed with its cutting power and flexibility and, while it’s quite expensive as a full package, if you already own a compatible Stihl battery and charger from the Compact range, buying the body alone makes this more reasonably priced.
- Great at cutting all hedges
- Good battery life
- Powerful
- Quiet
- No handle extension included in the basic model
Bosch EasyHedgeCut 45-16 review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Corded electric
verdict: Lightweight and best for smaller hedges
The EasyHedgeCut 45-16 corded electric hedge trimmer performed well during testing and its shorter blade and narrow-spaced teeth make it best suited for smaller hedges. It’s lightweight, making it easy to manoeuvre. However, after a while, the handle became a little uncomfortable in use. Nevertheless, it’s still a worthy Best Buy.
- Cuts well
- Plenty of power
- Leaves a good finish on all types of hedge
- Lightweight
- Narrow teeth spacings
- Blade sheath tricky to remove/replace
- Handle uncomfortable after prolonged use
- OPC awkward to hold after a while
- Noticeable vibrations
- Little noisy in use
Karcher HGE 18-50 review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Cordless
verdict: Surprisingly powerful lightweight trimmer
With this hedge trimmer, you can enjoy the convenience of cordless and a good amount of power in a light and easy to use model. We loved how well it cut all our deciduous, conifer and evergreen hedges and didn’t hesitate to make it a Best Buy.
- Excellent results on hedges
- Light and easy to use
- Battery life and recharge time could be better
Stihl HS 45 review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Petrol
verdict: Powerhouse but heavy
The Best Buy Stihl HS 45 petrol hedge trimmer has plenty of power for speeding through hedges, leaving an excellent finish. It’s heavy and probably too powerful for most domestic gardens, but if you have very large hedges or a lot of hedges to cut, it will prove its worth over the years.
- Powerful
- Speedy results
- Great results on all hedges
- Comfortable to use
- Well-balanced
- Easy to start
- Heavy
- Noisy
- Noticeable vibrations
Ryobi RHT6160RS review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Corded electric
- Fantastic at cutting all types of hedge
- Neat finish
- Easy to use
- Heavy and unbalanced at times
Makita DUH604SZ review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Cordless
verdict: Effective cordless hedge trimmer
It’s hard to find a hedge trimmer powerful enough to cope with larger hedges whilst also being easy to use, but this one just about manages it. There are a couple of small issues, but overall, it’s an excellent model that we’re happy to recommend.
- Excellent results on all hedge types
- Long battery life
- Easy to use
- A bit unbalanced in use
Makita DUH604SZ review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Cordless
verdict: Effective cordless hedge trimmer
It’s hard to find a hedge trimmer powerful enough to cope with larger hedges whilst also being easy to use, but this one just about manages it. There are a couple of small issues, but overall, it’s an excellent model that we’re happy to recommend.
- Excellent results on all hedge types
- Long battery life
- Easy to use
- A bit unbalanced in use
Bosch UniversalHedgeCut 50 review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Corded electric
verdict: Powerful for a small hedge trimmer
You’ll be wowed by this trimmer’s performance on all your different types of hedge. Also considering that it’s lightweight, easy and comfortable to use, it’s done more than enough to win a place on our Best Buy leader board.
- Great at cutting all types of hedge
- Lightweight
- Quiet
- Easy to use
- Can slow and snag on thicker stems
- Poorly placed handles
Makita UH6580 review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Corded electric
verdict: Versatile and leaves an excellent finish
The Makita UH6580 electric, corded hedge trimmer is designed to offer versatility and ease of use for people with larger gardens and tough hedges to cut. It’s got a longer blade with a slightly wider tooth spacing than most of the cordless models we’ve tested, but it’s a heavy machine that some people might find difficult to use.
- Long bar gives good reach
- Plenty of power
- Well designed for easy use
- The electric cable can be restrictive
- Heavy
- Noisy
Stihl HSE 52 review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Corded electric
verdict: Neat finish and user-friendly
This hedge trimmer only just misses out on being a Best Buy. It’s not as powerful as some others, but it still does an excellent job of trimming hedges, while also being light, easy to use and fairly quiet in use.
- Great at cutting hedges and leaving them neat
- Lightweight
- Quiet
- Easy to use
- Can sometimes snag due to lack of power
Worx WG284E review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Cordless
verdict: Great performance and effective battery
The double batteries make this Worx a powerful hedge trimmer that copes easily on any type of hedge. It can feel tiring to use due to its weight though, so it only just misses out on our Best Buy recommendation.
- Cuts hedges well
- Good balance
- User friendly
- Decent battery life and recharge time
- Tricky to operate above shoulder height
- On the heavy side
Erbauer EHT 18-Li review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Cordless
verdict: Small but effective
The Erbauer EHT 18-Li is small and light, yet has some of the design features that you’d expect to find on a more powerful and more expensive model. It doesn’t quite have the power of a corded or petrol model, but it still managed to cut most types of hedge effectively.
- Lightweight
- Good battery life
- Effective at cutting
- Well designed
- Not as much power as larger hedge trimmers
Cobra HT550E review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Corded electric
verdict: Nearly a Best Buy
With its brilliant trimming ability and lightweight body, this trimmer gets high marks. It’s almost a Best Buy, but just misses the cut as it’s not as well-balanced as others and it’s really noisy in use. Nevertheless, it’s a good choice for any harder-to-reach hedges, thanks to the rotating handle.
- Excellent results on all hedge types
- Lightweight
- Easy to operate
- Comfortable handles
- Noisy
- Some usability issues
Powerbase 40V Cordless Hedge Trimmer review
Test scoreShow Context
Key features
- Cordless
verdict: All-rounder but long recharge time
The Powerbase 40V cordless hedge trimmer is a good all-rounder suitable for most sized gardens. It’s lightweight and easy to handle, and the battery life is enough to cut most domestic hedges. However, it takes a lengthy two hours to recharge.
- Good results on all hedges
- Copes well on thicker stems/branches
- Rotating handles
- Good run time
- Lightweight
- Easy to use
- Comfortable handles
- Long charge time
- Two batteries to fit and recharge
