REVIEW – Over the last few months, SnapFresh has released several new additions to their line of cordless tools. I’ve already reviewed their leaf blower, drill, and hex wrench–and for the most part, I’ve liked them–so I’m going to take a look at one more: The SnapFresh Cordless Hedge Trimmer.
What is it?
This is a consumer-grade, battery-powered, cordless hedge trimmer that uses the same 20V/2Ah battery found in other SnapFresh tools. It comes with a protective sheath and a safety switch to prevent accidents. This trimmer is made by SnapFresh, a brand owned by Ningbo Babytec, a Chinese company.
What’s in the box?
- SnapFresh Cordless Hedge Trimmer with sheath
- Lithium-ion battery with charger
- Manual
Hardware specs
- Power: 20 V
- Battery: 2 Ah
- Dimension: 36 x 7.5 x 7 in
- Cutting length: 22 in
- Weight: 7 lbs (+ 0.7 lbs for the battery)
Design and features
The design of the SnapFresh Cordless Hedge Trimmer is very similar to that of the other tools in this line. It sports a lot of SnapFresh’s yellow-green plastic mixed in with grippy, black material around the handle; despite this, it feels solid and sturdy. The safety handle and the protection guard are both made of black plastic, and if anything is going to break first, it will be the safety switch, as it feels just a bit flimsy. Overall, however, for an entry-level trimmer, it seems to be a fairly robust tool.
Installation and setup
The SnapFresh Cordless Hedge Trimmer arrived in a long, bright green box. To set it up, I inserted the battery in the charger and then plugged it in. It takes an hour to charge, and when finished the red LED turns off and the green LED turns on. I then attached the safety handle and the protection guard and used SnapFresh’s cordless drill to drive the screws used to hold them firmly in place. Once the battery was charged, I popped in it and then removed the sheath.
The sheath, by the way, is very hard to remove. I had to get someone to help me pop it off the first time. On the positive side, this means it’s very unlikely that a child will be able to remove it and cut themselves with the trimmer. On the negative side, some adults are not going to be able to use it without someone to help remove the sheath. I hope it loosens up some over time. The trigger on the handle activates the trimmer, but as a safety precaution, the safety handle must also be squeezed before the trimmer will work.
Performance
I used the SnapFresh Cordless Hedge Trimmer out in my yard to trim some small bushes, a large Knock Out rose, and some vines and thorns growing on the back of my lot. It cut right through the small branches of my bushes without problems. In some places along the bottom, where many branches clumped together, I had passed it through a few times, but it got everything.
Similarly, for the rose bush, it cut through all but the thickest of branches with ease. It was so easy to shape the rose while pruning. The Knock Out rose bush grows at a prodigious rate, and I have to prune it frequently–though I usually don’t prune it so drastically–and battery-power trimmer is so much faster than using my manual trimmer. As much as I appreciated the hedge trimmer for my bushes, I was most happy for the work it did on some vines and thorns. These evil things are perpetually trying to choke out a small clump of trees, and keeping them in check using a manual trimmer and shears is a total pain, both slow and prone to getting stabbed. SnapFresh’s hedge trimmer tore through them with ease. I was laughing with joy at times as I mowed them down. I know that these are not the primary target for which this hedge trimmer was designed, but it worked great. Here’s a video (in 1080p) that shows the SnapFresh Cordless Hedge Trimmer at work:
The trimmer is both light and well-balanced. I found it to be easy to hold and operate, though it does require two hands, due to the safety feature. Given that it’s a trimmer, this is probably a good thing. I had no problems operating it even when rotating it 90 degrees or when lifting it in the air to trim things over my head. It’s light in part because it’s small and battery-powered. While this makes it portable, it does limit its total power. If you have large and thick bushes in your yard, you may need an electric or gas-powered trimmer instead; for the bushes in my yard, however, it has plenty of power.
What I like
- Fairly solid and sturdy
- Plenty of power for light job
- Easy to handle
What I’d change
- Make the sheath a bit easier to get off
Final thoughts
The SnapFresh Cordless Hedge Trimmer is an entry-level, battery-powered, cordless hedge trimmer. It’s lightweight, easy to maneuver, and has sufficient power for small to medium trimming tasks around the yard. It conveniently shares the same battery as their other yard and power tools. I am glad SnapFresh sent this trimmer to me, as I’m quite happy with its performance. May the vines and thorns in my yard never know peace again!
Price: $84.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by SnapFresh.
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No hairs or scuff marks on the brand new trimmer? I’m surprised!
Not a one. The leaf blower and the hedge trimmer were just fine. I don’t know why the drill and the impact wrench were different.