My Stihl FSA135 with AP300S batter(ies) - 45min as strimmer, 100min as brushcutter (it says) - is totally brilliant - quiet, powerful, usefully 'intelligent', instantly ready - a world away from the Stihl same-size petrol one that I still have - noisy, smelly, vibratory, often a faff to start, often stalls when un-rev'd for a minute. Way to go, without a doubt.

Posted By: VictorianecoI don't think the battery ranges are worth their money / run time personally

For myself, I will never buy another fossil-fuel powered anything :) Totally electric here.

But if you buy a battery-powered tool then always buy two [sets of] batteries, and a reasonably fast charger. Then you just run the tool until it stops, swap batteries and put the used ones on charge, then run it again until it stops. Usually you will have finished whatever job it was before that point, but if not then rinse and repeat or stop for a coffee or do something different whilst the first set finishes recharging.

It makes sense to buy all your battery tools from one brand, so you can swap batteries between the tools. After a few years, when you notice a drop in performance on the first set of betteries, buy a third set.

Posted By: VictorianecoWould also need some tools;

- secateurs
- lawn edging tools

Any other reccomendations?

Depends what you're doing, of course, but spade, fork, hoe, rakes (soil and lawn), shears (light ones and strong ones), trowels etc etc.

I use a robot mower, which SWMBO says does a better job than I ever used to do.

I'd second PiH's recommendation of a shredder. I use a corded one.

Posted By: revorFor me the size of your plot would be the deciding parameter.

+1

I have a petrol strimmer which suits what I need to do in terms of power and work duration. SWMBO has a battery one and both she and the strimmer run out of steam about the same time.

Consider 2 or 3 compost bins (rotational filling/use to augment the shredder) and perhaps a green house to match the size of the plot, your gardening enthusiasm and time available.

Victorianeco - how big is the garden ??

Hi

The garden is ~30m2 of lawn at the front, about 35lm of bushes and shrubs and a block paving driveway.

The rear garden is ~60m2 of lawn and lots of bushes and shrubs

I would probably go for Makita if I was to look at cordless.

I'd also like a jet wash for cleaning the patio and driveway as my nilfisk burnt out last week....

with that area, quite small, I would go for a mains electric lawn mower - based on price, less than half the cost of a battery one. Ditto hedge trimmer plus mains shredder. Distances won't be that much to make a power lead an issue. If you think you need a strimmer then it is going to get v. little use so a top of the range one might be excessive. SWMBO has a Lidl one does the job and came with a 3 year guarantee.

Posted By: Peter_in_HungaryI would go for a mains electric lawn mower - based on price, less than half the cost of a battery one.

IMHO, cordless is worth the extra money. The only reason I'd use anything corded is (a) if it is static whilst in use and (b) if the power/energy draw is so large that batteries can't reasonably handle it (shredder meets those criteria).

Re cordless vs mains, the environmental impact of cordless (i.e. Li batteries) has to be much higher than a mains machine. Fossil fuel machines can be justified when the location of use or duration of use precludes either battery or mains. Cost also is a consideration. Just IMO

After guiding a lawnmower around too many lawns too many times, I'd get a robotic one.

Could someone recommend:

- electric shredder
- compost bins (local council do not have an active scheme)
- jet wash (don't mind posting extra for something commercial grade as I can use it for work)

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: Victorianeco</cite>- electric shredder</blockquote>

I have a petrol Eliet and it is very well made they do electric version(s) but high quality means pricy. I have a lot of machinery for my smallholding and I reckon this is one of the best quality bits of kit I have.

I've just ordered:

Lawnmaster shredder
Bosch Aquatak 140 pressure washer

Now I'm looking for some garden secateurs, spades, fork etc. Are Spear and Jackson the go to brand?

The best advance in strimmer design in years is the easy-loading system. You just turn the head until the holes are aligned straight through, feed 2 metres of line through until the lengths are equalised, and then wind it up.

Remember having to release the clips, take the cover off, wind the line round two separate spools trying to remember which way you wind them, trying to hold it all together while you click the cover back on, then bashing it on something hard to try and get the line to unspool a bit. Then when you dismantle it again to find the fault it all springs apart and you have lost bits in the grass.

Compost heaps; we have four, about 1X2 yards each. Fill the first one, which takes about 6 months, then turn it all into number 2. Always fill number one, turn each heap into the next one along, so you are always filling no.1 and using no. 4. The sides can be progressively lower, because the heap gets smaller as it rots on passage from 1 to 4.

We used to run 2 cold compost bins made of plastic, LA issue and recently moved to 3 hot composting bins made from pallets. Have just got rid of the cold bins had rat problem and when I emptied them the compostable bags had not composted at all but contents had. The compostable bags may as well have been carrier bags. Got thousands of worms though.

Makita 18v X2 strimmer arrived today. I was like a kid at Christmas

Really good fun attacking the overgrown shrubs, the batteries (5.0ah) only lasted 20 minutes though. So the old black and decker corded hedge trimmer came out.

I can definitely see the advantage of using batteries, I'll need to buy an extra set and a dual fast charger. By the time they arrive the bulk will be done with the hedge trimmer

Hand shears and a push mower if you want a greener option to battery powered. Keeps you fitter too!!!