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Thread: Stihl battery power

  1. #61
    MEMBER Fred's mowing's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stihl battery power

    Quote Originally Posted by Chris B View Post
    I've got the HLA85 and went to buy the HLA65 - When I was at the shop, I put a battery in to see what the weight/balance was like and noticed it was a fair bit noisier than the HLA85 ... I didn't buy it just in case it was faulty - Do you guys that have both find the HLA65 louder?
    Not a prob Chris, I have both.
    The noise emanates from the head, the 65 is much closer to your ear, simple as that.
    The cutting heads are identical.
    Suppose it is poss that the 65 you tried was faulty but. I doubt it.
    I love both machines but the 65 will still get 80-90% of my usage, the 85 comes into it own on the big stretch.
    You can still do very large hedges with the 65, the 85 will be overkill for many.

    Cheers Fred.

  2. #62
    Senior Member geoff's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stihl battery power

    thanks Freddy for your input ..you have put me on the straight and narrow on this one .....i have demo both now but your feedback makes it so easy ..i am going with the 65 as i don't do big stuff like you but have many high end lower stuff...cant wait to leave the 2 stroke behind...

  3. #63
    MEMBER Fred's mowing's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stihl battery power

    Quote Originally Posted by Fred's mowing View Post
    Why did you get out of bed ? ........ lol.
    Better tuck it in tonight ....... -4


    Bt,s going great, goes in for a suspension lift in a couple of weeks, too low on the tracks with such a long wheel base.
    Do you use alpine fuel, fuel additives or kero in your diesel when it gets so cold to prevent diesel jelling ?
    How do most ppl,s cars in Canberra batteries hold out in sub zero temps ?

    Cheers Fred.
    -9 last night !!!!! in Canberra
    What happens to the homeless ?

    Cheers Fred.

  4. #64
    Senior Member BeetleJuice's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stihl battery power

    Picked up a battery Ryobi hedger to try out in helping to save my back.Not the same class as Stihl but will know during the next few weeks if it was worth it

  5. #65

    Default Re: Stihl battery power

    Quote Originally Posted by geoff View Post
    thanks Freddy for your input ..you have put me on the straight and narrow on this one .....i have demo both now but your feedback makes it so easy ..i am going with the 65 as i don't do big stuff like you but have many high end lower stuff...cant wait to leave the 2 stroke behind...
    Give ya $50 bucks each for ya shindys

  6. #66
    Senior Member Scooby Steve's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stihl battery power

    Quote Originally Posted by Chris B View Post
    I've got the HLA85 and went to buy the HLA65 - When I was at the shop, I put a battery in to see what the weight/balance was like and noticed it was a fair bit noisier than the HLA85 ... I didn't buy it just in case it was faulty - Do you guys that have both find the HLA65 louder?
    I'd say either something was wrong or maybe something at the cutting end was wrong, my HLA65 is definitely not loud you could really run it without earmuffs if you wanted to.

    Agree with Fred the 65 can do 80% of what the 85 can do. After running them both (thanks Fred for the run on the 85) i'm still glad i purchased the 65, lighter, more nimble less operator fatigue much more pleasant to use for long periods.

  7. #67
    Senior Member edbeek's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stihl battery power

    My Husky dealer said their extended hedge trimmers are in AU and he should have one in store later this week.
    Strange that they aren't on the website yet.
    Hoping to get a demo, but I'll wait until spring before I buy one.

  8. #68
    Senior Member Scooby Steve's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stihl battery power

    Quote Originally Posted by edbeek View Post
    My Husky dealer said their extended hedge trimmers are in AU and he should have one in store later this week.
    Strange that they aren't on the website yet.
    Hoping to get a demo, but I'll wait until spring before I buy one.
    Hopefully the power is better as there current stuff is a little under done power wise.

    Fred you mentioned before the blower in the vid is underpowered you are right it is. He should have purchased the BGA100 battery powered blower instead much better and on par with the petrol powered stihl. Downside is at the time of writing the battery sits outside of the machine itself and run times are low. They have a backpack battery which extends run time but do you really want that hanging off your back every time you want to use a blower.

  9. #69
    Senior Member geoff's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stihl battery power

    Quote Originally Posted by South East Mowing View Post
    Give ya $50 bucks each for ya shindys
    you wish john boy ..reckon you should consider the latest with battery power..even an ol fcker like me can change with the times....probably thats why i keep going after all this time lol

  10. #70
    Senior Member 4 Gardens's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stihl battery power

    Quote Originally Posted by Fred's mowing View Post
    -9 last night !!!!! in Canberra
    What happens to the homeless ?

    Cheers Fred.
    Bloody cold although the difference between-3 and -9 didnt feel like much

    Must have lived here too long.... 33 years here

  11. #71
    Member of forum ASTRO's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stihl battery power

    Quote Originally Posted by South East Mowing View Post
    Give ya $50 bucks each for ya shindys
    That maybe a good move.

    Have been waiting 4 months for all-power to supply a throttle cable for the shindy back pack blower.

  12. #72
    Senior Member conrad's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stihl battery power

    Quote Originally Posted by South East Mowing View Post
    so if we start buying battery gear will we need to carry different batteries and chargers??
    Or do Stihl or Husky have gear that is good enough or getting there soon to have a range? Blowers, trimmers, hedgers, chainsaws etc?
    Yep that is the problem when looking at battery gear... I have always looked at the battery system as a whole rather than picking and choosing which tools I want from different manufacturers. Makes life so much easier and if you have too many mixed tools you will quickly over capitalise on batteries - they can be the biggest cost by far!

    The Husky gear was good enough for me, I bought one of each as soon as they landed in Aus and it's the best gear I've ever had. But my experience will be a lot different to you guys as I was using battery gear from day one of starting my business and it's a night and day difference how far the technology has come.

    The telescopic/long reach hedge trimmer is the one thing I'm holding out hope for... Not available from Husky yet... not too keen to go and buy Stihl gear, rather not add another battery charger to the collection!

    But check this out: custom Stihl HLA65 telescopic trimmer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8owMcKrg3M
    Might have to do the same thing with the Husky hedge trimmer... couldn't wait for one to become available so I'm using the Honda 4 stroke power head with 2 extensions and the hedge trimmer for tall stuff at the moment. Heavy and awkward flexing all over the place...

    Those Elephants Trunks look fantastic! So far I just rip in to tall stuff and call it a workout. Haha. I would definitely consider them if I start doing much more tall hedge work.

    Quote Originally Posted by jal2007 View Post
    just bought another ego backpack blower kit (used) on ebay for $400. Comes with 7.5A & rapid charger.
    Will pick up tomorrow.
    my ego self-propelled mower arrived 3 days ago.

    so now I have 3 batteries 7.5A and 1 battery 5A. Will try next week without carryi any petrol equipments
    How does the backpack blower go??

    I just sold my petrol backup mower on the weekend, good riddance! I barely used it and it still gave me so much grief, plus being a heavy pig to use! I will never buy another petrol push mower.

  13. #73
    Member Redeye's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stihl battery power

    nice work with your modded 65




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  14. #74
    Member Victoria jal2007's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stihl battery power

    Quote Originally Posted by conrad View Post
    Yep that is the problem when looking at battery gear... I have always looked at the battery system as a whole rather than picking and choosing which tools I want from different manufacturers. Makes life so much easier and if you have too many mixed tools you will quickly over capitalise on batteries - they can be the biggest cost by far!

    The Husky gear was good enough for me, I bought one of each as soon as they landed in Aus and it's the best gear I've ever had. But my experience will be a lot different to you guys as I was using battery gear from day one of starting my business and it's a night and day difference how far the technology has come.

    The telescopic/long reach hedge trimmer is the one thing I'm holding out hope for... Not available from Husky yet... not too keen to go and buy Stihl gear, rather not add another battery charger to the collection!

    But check this out: custom Stihl HLA65 telescopic trimmer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8owMcKrg3M
    Might have to do the same thing with the Husky hedge trimmer... couldn't wait for one to become available so I'm using the Honda 4 stroke power head with 2 extensions and the hedge trimmer for tall stuff at the moment. Heavy and awkward flexing all over the place...

    Those Elephants Trunks look fantastic! So far I just rip in to tall stuff and call it a workout. Haha. I would definitely consider them if I start doing much more tall hedge work.



    How does the backpack blower go??

    I just sold my petrol backup mower on the weekend, good riddance! I barely used it and it still gave me so much grief, plus being a heavy pig to use! I will never buy another petrol push mower.

    happy with it for residential type of works. Only used two 7.5A batt with the last one still had juice.

  15. #75
    Senior Member Chris B's Avatar
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    Default Re: Stihl battery power

    Quote Originally Posted by Fred's mowing View Post
    Not a prob Chris, I have both.
    The noise emanates from the head, the 65 is much closer to your ear, simple as that.
    The cutting heads are identical.
    Suppose it is poss that the 65 you tried was faulty but. I doubt it.
    I love both machines but the 65 will still get 80-90% of my usage, the 85 comes into it own on the big stretch.
    You can still do very large hedges with the 65, the 85 will be overkill for many.

    Cheers Fred.
    Quote Originally Posted by Scooby Steve View Post
    I'd say either something was wrong or maybe something at the cutting end was wrong, my HLA65 is definitely not loud you could really run it without earmuffs if you wanted to.

    Agree with Fred the 65 can do 80% of what the 85 can do. After running them both (thanks Fred for the run on the 85) i'm still glad i purchased the 65, lighter, more nimble less operator fatigue much more pleasant to use for long periods.
    Thanks guys... I ended up trying the 65 at another dealer and it was much quieter! Needless to say I bought that one instead. I'm assuming the blades were either done up too tight or more likely bent in transit ...seemed like the motor had to work harder to move the blades.

    As Fred said, the 85 is slightly quieter as the motor / blades are further away from operator but both very quiet compared to petrol units.
    HLA85 might be overkill for most but they are so good I also got the HTA85 polesaw which allowed me to get rid of my kombi system with extension shafts etc

    Stihl dealers don't seem to be taking this stuff seriously either - Had to call several before I found one with the 65 in stock... One said he doesn't keep any on display at all?!

    Is it the FSA90r trimmer you have Fred? If so whats it like? (Still waiting for dealer to get one in - none had it)

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