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Cordless Electric Hedge Trimmer has Power, but What About Stamina?

24 February 2010 212 Comments

hedgehog1If you’ve read our previous articles on the equipment included in the Black & Decker CCC3000 18-Volt Cordless Electric Lawncare Center then you know we’re pretty big fans of the included equipment. We’ve done a separate review of the included NST2018 18-Volt Cordless Electric 12-Inch Grass Hog String Trimmer (which is also an electric lawn edger) and felt the hedge trimmer didn’t get enough press time in that overall review so we’re circling back and giving it a go here.

Let’s get to the good, first. And, folks, it’s mostly all good.

The Black & Decker NHT518 Hedgehog Cordless Hedge Trimmer

The Hedgehog electric hedge trimmer sports a 22 inch blade giving you incredible reach. The problem with some hedge trimmers offering similar length blades is that their weight practically voids the benefits you get from the longer blade. Not so with the Hedgehog which weighs in at a very manageable 6.4 pounds. That light weight combined with the long blade means great, straight, level cuts on even your most challenging shrubs.

Black & Decker claims its Hedge Hog will cut through ¾ inch branches. In our experience, that proved true and we even managed a 1 inch branch with a little wrangling. We don’t recommend pushing things, though, as the blade may lock up and leave you tugging and pulling to unjam it.

The handle on the Hedgehog is well designed and comfortably ergonomic. In addition, the placement of the battery in the back of the handle does an excellent job of balancing this trimmer’s weight to reduce arm fatigue. We’re also fans of the guard just behind the blade which did it’s job of keeping away backlash and debris from the user.

hedgehog2But there is one area where we felt the Hedgehog could use a bit of love and that’s in battery life. This cordless hedge trimmer claims to be able to cut 1200 square feet of hedge on a single charge. To most of us who haven’t bothered to measure our hedges, that sounds pretty impressive. What it translated into for us as we actually tried it out on our unmeasured shrubs and hedges was about 20-30 minutes of productive use on a single charge.

Our use of the Hedgehog would probably be described as moderate to heavy so if you have a light job load to address, 30 minutes of charge should probably do you fine. If you have more work than that we’d recommend picking up a spare battery. Better yet, purchase the whole Black & Decker CCC3000 18-Volt Cordless Electric Lawncare Center which gives you 3 useful tools (including the Hedgehog) complete with 3 interchangeable batteries!

To sum up, we do recommend this cordless hedge trimmer for small to medium jobs if you purchase it with a single battery. If you’re willing to fork out some extra money to keep a spare on hand or if you buy the 3 piece set, it’s a hands-down winner.

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