GTech LHT50

Design and features

• Splits into three for simple storage
• Runs on an 18V battery
• Simple operation

The GTech LHT50 is all about ditching the weight, creating a pole trimmer that’s easy to pick up and use. Incredibly, fully assembled and with the battery installed, the entire unit weighs just 2.1kg.

It comes in three parts, which can easily be assembled and also disassembled for storage. There’s no storage bracket or eyelet, as with the Stihl HLA 56, so you’ll still need a bit of space to keep it all.

A rigid scabbard comes as standard, and locks firmly into place, protecting the blade when it’s not in use.

This hedge trimmer runs on an 18V battery, which is included in the box along with a clip-on charger. It takes four hours to fully charge a flat battery, which is a little slow. If you’ve got a bigger job to do, then it makes sense to get a spare battery. You can buy one for £54.99, although you can also re-use batteries from other GTech garden tools you might have, such as the Gtech Small Cordless Lawn Mower SLM50.

The battery contains a power meter, with charge represented by the four LEDs. Whether the battery is installed in the tool’s handle or not, you can see the current power level by tapping the button.

At the end of the 144cm pole sits the 31cm cutting blade. That’s not a particularly long blade, but it does keep weight down. Often, usability is more important than blade length.

For safety, there’s a shoulder harness and strap that can be quickly unclipped. Even though the hedge trimmer is so light and easy to wield, it’s a good idea to wear it.

There’s a two-part safety switch to prevent accidentally starting the hedge trimmer. First, the side switch has to be pressed, and then the trigger can be held in. The first switch is only on one side, so, depending on whether you’re left- or right-handed, it’s not always easy to reach.

As there’s no power button or way of disabling the battery connection, the battery should be removed for transport or storage.

This hedge trimmer operates at just one speed, which is fine given who it’s aimed at. Once running, simple sweeps up and down are easy to perform, thanks to that lightweight body.

To cut at different angles, such as on top of a hedge, the head and blade can be angled at seven positions in 20° increments. A simple button on the side of the head allows it to be turned until it locks into the next position.

With this kind of flexibility, it’s easy to tackle pretty much any job, whether you’re cutting the tops of hedges or need to clear some ground.

Performance

• Quiet
• Cuts through lighter growth easily
• Struggles with thicker branches

I set the GTech LHT50 to work on my front hedge, starting with the lighter growth. The lightweight body made it easy to hold the trimmer parallel to the hedge, and I soon lopped off the untidy strands, with the LHT50 working quickly.

It was also easy to trim the tops of the hedge by tilting the head forward and holding the trimmer vertically. However, the relatively short blade meant I couldn’t cut to the back of my deep hedges in this configuration.

GTech says that the LHT50 can manage branches up to 14mm in diameter. And that’s true, although it can be slow, taking a few chops to do so.

For thicker growth, I found that the LHT50 struggled. My hedge has sections intertwined with blackberry growth, and the thicker vines proved harder, and the hedge trimmer jammed up a few times.

Likewise, when trying to deal with my conifer tree, there were many branches that it couldn’t manage and that’s where a more powerful trimmer would be handy.

I did find the long reach useful when moving to the back of my house. As it’s in hilly Cornwall, the entry to the back is from the car parking area above the roof, down steep stairs to the back. This passageway gets overgrown with ivy and other plants that are hard to reach with a traditional hedge trimmer.

The long reach of the GTech LHT50 made it quick to move up and down the stairs, clearing the growth quickly.

Battery life is a maximum of 60 minutes, although the actual working time depends on the thickness of the branches you’re cutting through. I found that with my mix of hedges, I got around 40 minutes of cutting time and needed to charge the battery twice to tackle the entire run of hedge at the front (~25m).

At just 74.6dB, this hedge trimmer is very quiet. And, as the motor and cutting are performed at the end of the pole, the sound was a long way from my ears. You definitely don’t need ear defenders for this device.

Should you buy it?