Monday, August 23, 2010

0 Black & Decker NPT318 18-Volt Cordless Electric Pole Hedge Trimmer

Review Black & Decker NPT318 18-Volt Cordless Electric Pole Hedge Trimmer


Buy Cheap Black & Decker NPT318 18-Volt Cordless Electric Pole Hedge Trimmer From Here Now!

Usable length of 6.5', provides reach of up to 10'. 180 degree pivoting head locks into 5 positions for cutting high and low growing hedges. 18" dual-action cutting blade with 7/16" gap for smooth, comfortable trimming of hedges and shrubs. 18-volt battery-powered for hassle free trigger starting. Unit disassembles for easy storage and transport. Carry bag included. Specifications: 18-Volts, 2,400 RPM, up to 10" range, 78" overall length, 7/16" branch size. 8.1 lb. tool weight.
Readmore

Technical Details

- Designed for trimming shrubs and hedges with a height of 10 feet
- Pre-hardened, machined steel, 18-inch, dual action cutting blade won't create excessive vibration
- Battery supplies 2,400 RPM and up to 50 minutes of performance on each charge
- Dimensions: 8.2 x 8.1 x 45.2 inches (WxHxD); weighs 8.1 pounds; 2-year warranty
- Comes with one 18-volt pole trimmer, one 18-volt battery, one 18-volt battery charger, carrying bag, and blade sheath
See more technical details
Customer Buzz
 "2 months use" 2010-08-16
By Bill
I am in my 70s and fairly fit, have a large garden. This hedger weighs about 8 or 9 pounds not too bad at all. but hangs out about 4-5 feet. I cut hedges of various types, privot, juniper etc. The hedger is long and therefore the weight is out about 4 feet, it helps to latch the switch on freeing up your grip. I generally cut for 30-40 minutes and take a break. The adjustable cutter angle is helpful but at 45 degrees throws off the balance somewhat. I am happy with this hedger, battery life is good, way beyond my 45 minutes of work and charging is no problem. I recommend this hedger if you are able to hold 8 pounds out 4 feet or so physically, otherwise get a norml lenght hedger and use a ladder or taller hedges..

Customer Buzz
 "Big disappointment" 2010-08-04
By Beth
I was so excited to get this. My hedges are about 10' high and 10' wide. I only need to trim them once or twice a year at the most so it didn't make since to spend the money on a comercial one. Then it came. It is heavy and flimsy. It did reach the center of the hedges that I could not reach with my regular hedge trimmers but, after about five minutes it started to smoke and smell and shut off. I let it cool down and tried it again and the same thing happened. I sent it back and am waiting for my refund.

Customer Buzz
 "Pleased, but could be better" 2010-08-03
By J. Mahon
I bought the Black and Decker NPT318 Cordless Pole Hedge Trimmer based on the reviews on Amazon. And I was pleasantly surprised. I have lots of tall bushes, so I needed an extended reach trimmer. My previous trimmer was the Remington Axcess trimmer with telescoping, tilting handle, AC powered. I finally stripped out the metal gear box trying to cut too large of branches, so time for a new one. Though I worked the Remington VERY hard for 3 years, I liked it, and it held up well (except for the plastic tilt release lever breaking off the first week), the Amazon reviews about it's plastic parts breaking were so bad that I thought maybe I got lucky and had received one of the few good ones. So I decided to look for a different trimmer.



First, I liked the fact that the B&D NPT318 was battery powered .... no more cords to cut and trip over! The battery life was excellent considering how hard this tool works (about an hour of start & stop trimming). And it does cut branches under 3/8" very well. The Remington cut up to 3/4", so the B&D is a compromise in this regard. It is light enough to give you good vertical reach without tiring you out. I even used it one-handed for some tall straight up stuff. But reaching out horizontally is a workout for the shoulder muscles! And the overall tool balance is not as nice as the Remington since the B&D pole does not telescope. This problem is compounded by the fact that the trigger switch cannot be locked in the "ON" position, so you must constantly hold the switch end of the tool, rather than locking the switch "ON" and grabbing the tool farther up the handle where it would be balanced. The B&D is easy to use if you are about 3 -4 feet from the bush, but it is difficult to use close in because you have to keep one hand way back behind you on the trigger. And, depending on your landscaping, or if you're on a ladder (yeah, I know but I don't own a cherry picker!), sometimes you just can't get far enough away from the bush. A telescoping handle would solve this problem! The easy-to-tilt power head helped somewhat in this situation. The motor end of the tool is light weight, so tilting the head does not cause balance problems. Lubricating the blades every hour or so with 30 weight motor oil reduces blade friction, extending the battery life and keeps the blades sharp. You'll also want an extra battery or two. The NPT318 comes with the standard 'cheapy' dumb charger that takes up to 9 hours to recharge a battery. I bought and recommend the B&D model BDFC240 smart charger ($30) which charges up 9.6V - 24V B&D batteries in under 2 hours.





Note to the B&D engineers: go with a 24V battery and increase the cut size to 5/8 or 3/4". Telescoping pole! "ON" lock for the trigger!



SUMMARY:

Pros:

-Battery powered

-Good run-time per battery

-Fairly light weight

-Good vertical reach up to 9 - 10'

-180 degree tilt head; easy to tilt

-Good balance when using vertically

-Cuts up to 3/8" very well



Cons:

-Gets heavy and tiring when reaching out horizontally

-No "ON" lock on switch; have to always hold it "ON"

-Difficult to use close in due to fixed pole length

-Pole does not telescope

-Only cuts up to 3/8" --- really!

Customer Buzz
 "No going back" 2010-08-02
By Oregon1974 (Hillsboro, Oregon USA)
After cutting 120 ft lengths of arbor vitae hedges for years I was skeptical that this product would work, especially with the terrible reviews of the B+D replacement batteries. But the generally positive reviews here led me to take a chance and get it. This review is a bit pre-mature because I've not had time to see how the battery stands up over time, but that's the only reason I didn't give 5 stars.



What I'm cutting: About 120 ft of arbor vitae 7 ft tall and 3-4 ft wide. I had new growth for midway through last season to now, about 8" worth generally.



How I used to do the job: I had built a rolling scaffold that worked, but involved climbing and lots of reaching over the very wide hedges. This job generally was a tiring full day's work and sometimes I would do it over two days.



How the B+D pole trimmer did the job: I finished the whole thing in about an hour, doing a better job than I'd done with the scaffolding. I could hardly believe how well it worked. The reviewer who said if you've done this job before with a regular hedge trimmer you won't find this tiring was correct. Like any tool it takes some experimenting to see the best way to use it, but the various positions give you lots of choices. You almost smile as you go right by those difficult places where it was hard to get the scaffolding in place.



Power of trimmer: I used to use a Little Wonder professional electric trimmer. When I started this one and listened to it I thought there's no way this is going to "cut it." But it just did. I was out for about an hour cutting most of the time and the battery seemed to lose none of it's power. In fact after I did the whole job I decided to do a couple of low hedges I usually don't do at the same time and continued on with that...and the same thing the next day. It's fun finding different ways to use the trimmer. The little manual recommends an upward sweeping motion to cut the face of tall hedges, but with the right angle adjustment I found I could just walk along the hedge holding the blade vertical to the ground, do this in 3 passes and the whole face was done with much less effort. The blade may not cut as efficiently in that position but it worked fine. Size of cut: This works well for arbor vitae new growth. It cuts the stuff less than 3/8th easily. All I know is that during the whole job it never jammed on anything for the type of growth I described.



I probably will trim more frequently now that it is so easy. But still it will into the fall before this happens. I'll come back with the battery story then. Frankly, even if I had to buy a battery every year or two there's no going back for me. But I'm hopeful that with good care the battery will last longer than that. In any case, my scaffold climbing days are over.



Customer Buzz
 "B&D 18-volt Cordless Pole Hedge Trimmer" 2010-07-20
By William E. Hanson (Winston-Salem, NC USA)
A bit disappointed in the quality of this trimmer; does not feel sturdy and the weight is not balanced well. I also have an Echo gas pole trimmer with a telescoping pole with reach up to 21 ft. that is substantial in weight, but well-balanced and rock-solid. Bought this one to be used on light-weight work on smaller shrubs and be able to work standing up versus bent over using a Mantis gas trimmer that has been great, but gets heavy after awhile. I like the ease of the pivot adjustment and is a snap to take apart for storage. The charger provided should have been the type that can be wall-mounted; this has to be laid on top of a flat surface. This trimmer is good for light work, but leave the heavy thick shrubs to gas trimmers.


Images Product

Buy Black & Decker NPT318 18-Volt Cordless Electric Pole Hedge Trimmer Now
Buy Black & Decker NPT318 18-Volt Cordless Electric Pole Hedge Trimmer |
Cheap Black & Decker NPT318 18-Volt Cordless Electric Pole Hedge Trimmer | Low Price Black & Decker NPT318 18-Volt Cordless Electric Pole Hedge Trimmer | Best Black & Decker NPT318 18-Volt Cordless Electric Pole Hedge Trimmer | Order Black & Decker NPT318 18-Volt Cordless Electric Pole Hedge Trimmer | Good Black & Decker NPT318 18-Volt Cordless Electric Pole Hedge Trimmer | Lowest Black & Decker NPT318 18-Volt Cordless Electric Pole Hedge Trimmer | Save Black & Decker NPT318 18-Volt Cordless Electric Pole Hedge Trimmer | Discount Black & Decker NPT318 18-Volt Cordless Electric Pole Hedge Trimmer | Purchase Black & Decker NPT318 18-Volt Cordless Electric Pole Hedge Trimmer | Shop Black & Decker NPT318 18-Volt Cordless Electric Pole Hedge Trimmer | Buying Black & Decker NPT318 18-Volt Cordless Electric Pole Hedge Trimmer | Where Black & Decker NPT318 18-Volt Cordless Electric Pole Hedge Trimmer

0 comments:

Post a Comment