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Thread: Totally electric commercial contractor

  1. #91
    Senior Member edbeek's Avatar
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    Default Re: Totally electric commercial contractor

    Hey Steveo, how noisy is your HLA65? Seemed to be a lot of noise coming from the motor of the one I used today. Loud enough that I should have pulled the earmuffs on.
    Has plenty enough power for normal trimming, but seems like the blades don't run as fast as the kombi hedger which made the job a bit slower.
    I would have used it for an hour pretty solid and the battery still had 2/4 bars left.
    Didn't like the balance of it either. It 'felt' heavy. I found it awkward holding it sideways to do the vertical edges. Especially when I had the cutter a notch or 2 from straight on larger round shrubs.

    So the extended hedger isn't the machine for me. I think if I go for a 'normal' cordless hedger, I'd have a go at a Husqvarna for about $200 more. I didn't like the rattle coming from the motor of the Stihl at all.

  2. #92
    Senior Member steveo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Totally electric commercial contractor

    Quote Originally Posted by edbeek View Post
    Hey Steveo, how noisy is your HLA65? Seemed to be a lot of noise coming from the motor of the one I used today. Loud enough that I should have pulled the earmuffs on.
    Has plenty enough power for normal trimming, but seems like the blades don't run as fast as the kombi hedger which made the job a bit slower.
    I would have used it for an hour pretty solid and the battery still had 2/4 bars left.
    Didn't like the balance of it either. It 'felt' heavy. I found it awkward holding it sideways to do the vertical edges. Especially when I had the cutter a notch or 2 from straight on larger round shrubs.

    So the extended hedger isn't the machine for me. I think if I go for a 'normal' cordless hedger, I'd have a go at a Husqvarna for about $200 more. I didn't like the rattle coming from the motor of the Stihl at all.
    hard to say about the noise, but never felt the need to put muffs on. Wouldn't say it was loud and no louder than the cordless handheld either. The motor should be quite, I would have thought whatever you hear would be the cutters, maybe it had an issue which might explain the slow blades? How did you find the vibration. If the cutters were playing up you'd expect it to vibrate a fair bit. I've never owned a Kombi but I'd expect it will be slower than the Kombi and it will feel flimsier for sure. Shame he didn't offer you the handheld to try. Maybe you could drop in to the shop and try the handheld on the shopfloor. Should be no trouble for them to whack a battery in to one of the display ones. The unbalanced feel is kinda like someone has sawn the end off it. It's wierd because it is lighter than a petrol version but the balance being out makes it feel awkward like an unbalanced fishing rod. This could be a reason i don't use it as much but I still find it serves its purpose.

  3. #93
    Senior Member steveo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Totally electric commercial contractor

    One other thing about the balance is that the cordless motor is up near the cutter blades unlike the kombi that has a small gearbox near the cutters. So the weight distribution is different especially when you have no weight in the middle and the battery at the other end. having that motor at the cutter blades will restrict visibility as well and maybe explains why doing the verticals felt awkward. This is what i'd be concerned about with the cordless pole pruner. Swinging that motor up thru a tree it's likely to get caught on branches and make it difficult to see what you are doing.

  4. #94
    Members Crankitup's Avatar
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    Default Re: Totally electric commercial contractor

    Greenworks (US company) is releasing lithium-powered ZTR mowers next year. Prototypes were shown at the recent GIE+EXPO. Doubt we'll see them here for a long time though.

  5. #95
    Senior Member conrad's Avatar
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    Default Re: Totally electric commercial contractor

    Do you have any details or links to share Neil?? Mean Green have had their lithium ZTR for a while, but the problem is gettig it approved for other countries like Australia. Did a Pellenc demo last week and talking with the guy he mentioned that there is a company rebranding the Pellenc gear for sale. Exact same equipment, but they need approval for the power cord and it sounded like a bit of a nightmare...

    I will be all over an electric ZTR when they arrive here tho! Given how well my Mean Green push mower has gone I can only imagine how the zero maintenance will scale up to make running a ZTR a cheap proposition!

  6. #96
    Members Crankitup's Avatar
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    Default Re: Totally electric commercial contractor

    Soon landscapers can expect to see lithium-ion powered ZTR mowers from Greenworks as well. The company debuted prototypes of the machines at GIE+EXPO.
    Quoted from here.

  7. #97
    Members Crankitup's Avatar
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    Default Re: Totally electric commercial contractor

    Victa have finally released their 82V commercial range. Replacing their 80V regular range. Rebadged Greenworks basically but probably witha few modifications like a lower base mowing height for the mower.

  8. #98
    Senior Member steveo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Totally electric commercial contractor

    My HSA85 cordless hedger packed it in the other day. Blades kept jamming. Got about a 15months out of it. Never had to use a petrol one in that time. I suspect i might have contributed to its demise by removing that metal protector tip at the end of the blades and on the odd occasion hitting a hard surface. I went and bought a new machine as I already had the battery.

  9. #99
    Senior Member NLALM's Avatar
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    Default Re: Totally electric commercial contractor

    Did you get the hsa 86 this time , I think the 85 had a brushed motor and the 86 is brushless. I love my battery gear, but I hope I get more than 15 months out of it. The run time on the ap 300 batteries is very good

  10. #100
    Senior Member steveo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Totally electric commercial contractor

    Quote Originally Posted by NLALM View Post
    Did you get the hsa 86 this time , I think the 85 had a brushed motor and the 86 is brushless. I love my battery gear, but I hope I get more than 15 months out of it. The run time on the ap 300 batteries is very good
    It was the HSA86 I had that failed. I don't know why i called it HSA85. I'm a bit disapointed that it didn't last longer but Sthil never claimed it was commercial quaility. Be interesting to hear of others experiences as to how long they get out of them.

  11. #101

    Default Re: Totally electric commercial contractor

    Quote Originally Posted by steveo View Post
    My HSA85 cordless hedger packed it in the other day. Blades kept jamming. Got about a 15months out of it. Never had to use a petrol one in that time. I suspect i might have contributed to its demise by removing that metal protector tip at the end of the blades and on the odd occasion hitting a hard surface. I went and bought a new machine as I already had the battery.
    How heavy did you use it over that 15 months? That is not a real good run out of it

  12. #102
    Senior Member steveo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Totally electric commercial contractor

    Quote Originally Posted by South East Mowing View Post
    How heavy did you use it over that 15 months? That is not a real good run out of it
    Pretty heavy as far as I'm concerned. It's the best year i've had since i have started (around 5 years) if that is any guide. I'm a single operator though. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt because at least twice I hit a hard surface with the tip and it jarred through my arms like you wouldn't believe so maybe that was enough to put it out of tolerance. But even if not I believe it paid off as far as, no more fumes, way less weight, way less fatigue etc. I'd use the extension hedger less too because you can wave the HSA86 above your head pretty easily and also lean over in to the top of the hedge further than a petrol model even when on a ladder. Its got less cutting power than a petrol but there is always a trade off. Having said that the cutting width is 28mm I its up there with the good stuff.

  13. #103
    Senior Member NLALM's Avatar
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    Default Re: Totally electric commercial contractor

    Steve as far as I can see stihl do say its for commercial use in fact all the battery gear from stihl . Up until just recently when they released a home owner range. Why did you take the tip protector off ? Mate I have the hla 65 as well which is the longer reach hedger . Yeah the battery stuff is way better to use than petrol. It hasn't fully replaced my petrol hedge trimmers but for well maintained hedges they are my go to tools, a funny thing I find myself doing now , if I'm using the petrol machines I walk up and try to start trimming without the motor running, you really get used to the convenience of battery power.

  14. #104
    Member Victoria jal2007's Avatar
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    Default Re: Totally electric commercial contractor

    i have been using HSA86 and HLA65 for 5 mths now. been doing alot of trimming even in the last 2 weeks. still pretty strong.

  15. #105
    Senior Member Scooby Steve's Avatar
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    Default Re: Totally electric commercial contractor

    The stihl hla 65 is a ripper. So nice to not be breathing down all those fumes all day. I'd say the power is down a fraction from my stihl 130 multi, the multi is better balanced but the hla 65 is lighter if you are trimming for extended periods it definitely eases the physical strain.

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