Hitachi CG18DSDL/JL 18v cordless grass trimmer March 2012
Cordless grass trimmer from Hitachi
A grass trimmer is the easiest way to give your lawn those finishing touches. Which? Gardening takes a first look at this new cordless model from Hitachi to see how well it performs
Nothing sets off the perfect lawn better than a well trimmed edge. This new cordless grass trimmer from Hitachi claims to have up to 30 minutes running time on a single charge, and lower noise and vibration levels in comparison with other cordless grass trimmers, but will it leave your lawn as well finished as our Best Buys?
Hitachi original disc motor
At first glance this looks like an impressive machine. It seems well constructed and durable with a steel shaft and large plastic head guard. Driven by an 18v Li-ion battery, it has a unique disc motor housed in the large head, which directly drives the trimmer.
Low noise and vibration
It has an incredibly low noise output (quoted as 69db), so you won't be disturbing your neighbours on a quiet Sunday afternoon. It has no smoky emissions and we found that there was very little vibration, which is great if you need to use it for longer periods.
90-minute charge time and up to 30 minutes running time per charge
The battery took 90 minutes to charge and gave us 30 minutes running time until we saw a noticeable drop off in power. This should be enough for most lawns, and is nearly twice as long as our current Best Buy (Flymo Contour cordless 500XT). It would give you plenty of time to trim the edges of the lawn, but would not be enough to deal with any large areas of long grass.
Lightweight Li-ion batteries
The handle is comfortable to use and the trimmer is easy to manoeuvre, weighing 4.4Kg in total. We found that it was light enough for quick tasks, but it did become tiring when we used it for a longer period.
How it arrived
The grass trimmer arrived in a large box and required some assembly before we could set to work with it. All the necessary tools were provided and it was simple to put together. Once we had attached the handle and head guard and charged the battery, we were ready to go.
How well it worked
The grass trimmer coped admirably with most tasks. It trimmed along the edge of lawns and at the bottom of fences well, but wasn’t as good at trimming a vertical edge. The lack of an articulating head meant that we had to alter our grip, rather than move the cutting head. It dealt well with cutting long grass, but the single cutting line meant it struggled with the thickest tussocks and woody plants, such as thistles.
Verdict
Pros: well constructed, long battery life, very low vibration levels and extremely quiet.
Cons:at £299, it is considerably more expensive than both our cordless Best Buy (Flymo Contour cordless 500XT, £80) and our petrol Best Buy (Stihl FS40, £169).
