Stihl hedgecutter review

Reaching new heights

Scott MacCallum looks at Stihl’s cordless telescopic Hedge Trimmer and gives it a workout on his own hedge

Over the Hedge, the 2006 Paramount film with a stellar cast providing the voices including Bruce Willis, Jim Carrey and Bill Murray, saw a huge hedge divide a new housing development from a dwindling woodland area. The animals “trapped” on the wrong side of this hedge had to find ways of surviving, including stealing food from the humans and thwarting the efforts of the exterminator brought in to remove them.

It very much put hedges front and centre and I for one was delighted when our recently purchased new home boasted a fine example of a hedge. About 50 metres long, six feet high and four feet deep, it doesn’t perhaps measure up to the one Bruce, Jim and Bill talked about, but it does a super job in providing privacy from our neighbours, who in fairness, are lovely, and who enjoy the benefits of our leafy divider as much as we do.

But much as we love our hedge it does fall down in one respect. A bit of advice, you want the maintenance-free option, go for a wall or a fence. A hedge does require work, on an annual basis, because it grows and, unchecked, with continue to grow, shrinking available garden space. It is quite a task as not only does the cutting take quite bit of work – even shared with my neighbour – but the clean up job afterwards is considerable also.

However, we are extremely fortunate to be living in a technological age and for every problem, for every task, there is a solution or a tool to make life easier.

For that I owe great thanks to the R&D department of Stihl who have come up with the very piece of kit that makes taming our hedge, while not right up there as a pursuit to be enjoyed in the garden with drinking wine on the decking, much less painful than it might otherwise have been. And in fairness, the ease and speed that hedge can now be tackled leaves more time for the aforementioned wine on the decking.

The Stihl HLA 86 Cordless Telescopic Long Reach Hedge trimmer is a super piece of equipment.

One of its many attributes is that it is battery operated so the need to dig out the extension leads and always be aware of where the cable is hanging is gone, leaving you free to concentrate on keeping your pruning as even as possible. Modern day batteries are superb and getting better all the time. Indeed, given that I’m not in the first flush I definitely run out of puff well before the battery does, and it would be a very fit operator to take on the battery to see who/what lasts longer – a sort of man verses machine Duracell Bunny Challenge. With the recommended AP200 battery run time is estimated at 144 minutes, which equates to virtually two and a half hours of non-stop operating. The batteries are compatible with all Stihl cordless equipment.

Straight out of the box the first thing that strikes you with the HLA 86 is the build quality. It is excellent. The battery housing, at the bottom of the handle, is high quality, but lightweight, plastic. This leads naturally on to the switches – one above, and one below the handle with the safety switch easily accessible a couple of inches away – all three in distinctive Stihl orange.

Next is the harness which helps take the strain while you work. Again, well made with a strong fastening. The extendable telescopic element which extends the trimmer to a full 3.3 metres is a model of practical design. At the business end there is the cutting bar which can be adjusted to over 115 degrees to allow access to the most awkward, otherwise out of reach areas – you certainly don’t want to be attempting to cut your hedge while standing on a wobbly step ladder.

The motor can be found just before the blades which, together with the battery housing at the other end ensures maximum counter-balancing. The blades themselves have tip protectors on them and the cutting unit comes with a protective sheath, again in Stihl orange.

Weight of the trimmer comes in at 4.8 kilos without the battery but as I said the counter-balancing design ensures that the weight is evening distributed and minimised by the harness.

And so, to the hedge. }

“…FOR EVERY PROBLEM, FOR EVERY TASK, THERE IS A SOLUTION OR A TOOL TO MAKE LIFE EASIER.”

Reaching new heights Listening is key

No need to warn the neighbours in advance as the machine is virtually silent. Restricting the noise to the rustling of to supporting leaves and tumbling of branches. The power feeds through in an extremely smooth fashion which belies the fact that it is a work colleagues powerful and effective machine. Goggles are a necessity but ear protectors not so much. Following a challenging couple of years for many, a recent study

You certainly can by BIGGA found that an alarming operate for longer 80% of greenkeepers were spells of time than with worried about the mental health our previous piece of of someone they worked with. corded hedge trimmer It is something which and the ease at which struck a cord with one you can move around, company in particular within even at an extended our industry sector. length, is pleasantly “The pandemic really brought surprising. It might not mental health to the fore,” said Tim seem so at the time Peeling, Bayer Product Manager. but the speed at which “However just because the detritus mounts up restrictions have been lifted is a good indicator of it doesn’t mean we can forget effectiveness – even about mental health. Especially if it means the rate in the groundskeeping industry, at which the bags of which has been put under extra rubbish accumulate pressure as hordes of leisure can cause issues, and seekers flock to golf courses and more regular visits to sports pitches after a period of the Recycling Centre isolation and uncertainty. than you may wish. “At Bayer we realised that we

Another major plus had a commitment to supporting is the ease at which these people, so we officially the cutting unit can partnered with CALM - Campaign be angled to reach Against Living Miserably - earlier tricky areas. I didn’t this year to raise awareness of actually know what 115 the charity in our sector.” degrees looked like until Tim added that CALM has I adjusted the cutter a wealth of tools, advice and bar to its maximum. I campaigns and encourages anyone can’t think of any part in the industry who is struggling of the hedge that will to reach out and talk to someone. not be inaccessible. One such initiative is the ‘Heads

But having completed Up’ campaign which Leicester the task and now City FC supported at matches boasting an immaculate throughout the 2020 season. hedge – until this time Head of Sports Turf and next year at least – a Grounds, John Ledwidge, re-watching of Over explained how it had filtered the Hedge might throughout the club to help build just be in order. a lasting mental health legacy.

MANAGEMENT AND MENTAL HEALTH

“Mental health support is really important to me as a manager. I take it really seriously. because people are our most valuable asset and if they’re not in a good place or don’t feel supported then we don’t get the best out of them. “I’ve learnt a lot over the past years and have had to adapt my management style to suit working with a bigger team. “I’ve gone from a really small team where communication was simpler, we were in contact on a much more frequent basis, to a team of 52 across three different sites. “I’ve had to adapt to be able to keep up communication and ensure the wellbeing of the team,” said John. “I hold one to ones with all of my team twice a year and there are also other monthly one-to-one with the staff. “In addition, I also have an open– John Ledwidge, Leicester City FC’s Head of Sports Turf & Grounds, left, door policy which is sometimes tricky with everything I have on, talking with Scott MacCallum but I hope the staff know that they are the most important thing to me, the department and the club. “There’s a lot of formal support offered by the club but often for me I think it’s the informal that make the most difference, taking the time to talk to people. “Not necessarily formalised but the things you do as a decent human.

“It makes me happy that we can take time to talk about these things because they are important,” he says.

COPING WITH THE COVID-19 LOCKDOWN

“The lockdown was tricky to manage. We didn’t stop – the grass didn’t understand that there was a pandemic going on, so we still needed to tend to the pitches,” explained John.

“Because there was so much uncertainty, we couldn’t deviate from the path we were on because we didn’t know if it was going to change in a week or a year and we had to be constantly ready.”

For John and his team, it became a case of following the protocols that the government had put in place and changing their working styles in and around each other to stay safe.

“We needed to be more vigilant and careful, but we navigated it together. It was a balancing act both psychologically and physically keeping people motivated on the ground.

“Ultimately, we still had our jobs to do, and I needed to motivate people. But overall, we’re really fortunate because we didn’t have to furlough a single person which was incredible.

“The club was committed to their people and I’m really proud of how we got through it,” said John.

LISTENING IS IMPORTANT

John added that he believes as the impacts of poor mental health are better understood, people have become more comfortable talking about it.

“Taking that time to listen and understand what people are going through is incredibly important,” he said.

“Here at Leicester, we’re fortunate to be surrounded by the mechanisms I’ve explained, but not every golf club or football club is as well equipped to deal with these things. But sometimes being the person who lends an ear and takes the time to listen is the best thing you can do.

“It costs nothing and the benefit you’ll get is staff who want to work harder for you and go the extra mile. You’ll get the best from them because they feel they’re getting the most from you.

“I’m no guru or expert but I’ve dealt with a lot of diverse people. What I’ve found is a common denominator that listening really helps. By listening you could be helping far more than you’ll ever know. Also signposting to charities such as CALM can be really valuable,” concludes John.

Tim Peeling, Product Manager at Bayer

TALK TO CALM IF YOU ARE STRUGGLING

Just because leisure businesses are opening up, sports are resumed and our daily lives are taking on the ‘new normal’, it doesn’t mean that mental health can take a back seat.

Covid-19 has forced more people into isolation, coupled with the fear of the unknown, which has left many people needing help.

The Campaign Against Living Miserably is here for you. Our helpline and webchat is open 5pm to midnight 365 days a year and can listen and help with all of life’s problems.

CALM SERVICES

n Helpline 0800 58 58 58 n Webchat https://www. thecalmzone.net/ n Facebook https://www. facebook.com/theCALMzone n Twitter https://twitter. com/theCALMzone n Instagram https://www. instagram.com/calmzone/

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