Ryobi 450W RPT4545M
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6 reviews · Statistics
Reviews
Good For Hard-to-reach Areas. Trims Heavy Growth Surprisingly Well.
With a lot of 2-3m high hedging, the task is usually done by a professional who then leaves the the smaller 1.5m hedges around the house for us to tackle. However, with garden beds in the way, these hedges are really awkward to reach without stumbling over agapanthus or trying to balance a ladder across uneven ground.
When the last conventional electric hedge trimmer failed, we contemplated getting a cheap pole trimmer, but were concerned about the weight, which according to the professionals, appears to double every 30 minutes of use! The O
... Read morezito PHT410 was cheaper and more powerful, but also 2kg heavier because of the full length drive shaft. So we went with the lighter 450W Ryobi, which does without a long heavy drive shaft by having the motor integral with the blade, and it works surprisingly well even on overgrown Cypress, Pittosporum and Box hedging. It cuts better than our previous more powerful electric trimmers. With most of the weight at the trimmer end, there is an art to holding the pole and getting the neck/shoulder strap adjusted just right for each part of the hedge but once that's balanced and most of the 4kg weight is taken on the strap, it can chew through a large section of hedge quite easily, swivelling the pole around in an arc while balanced on the strap attachment. Plugging in the additional extension gives a 2.6m reach, however this can make it harder to control the cut precisely and it likes to chew hedge quickly, even bits you meant to keep! Apart from a learning curve to get the strap just right for the next section of the hedge, the main annoyance is the strap's attachment point on the pole. This is a fixed collar with a protruding flange and ring, and the shoulder strap clips to this ring. Thanks to this offset attachment point, the trimmer naturally hangs with the blade horizontal but this means that it's a struggle to hold the trimmer at any other angle - the pole wants to twist back to horizontal if you relax and let the strap take the weight. The collar could be loosened and repositioned 90˚ around the pole to make it much easier to trim the sides of a large hedge but it means fiddling with a spanner to swap back and forth. A slip ring around the pole would be a better way to attach the strap.Details
| Category | Electric Hedge Trimmers |
|---|---|
| Weight | 4.1 kg |
| Blade Length | 450 mm |
| Power | 450 W |
| Manual | Download manual |
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