Eckman Extending Lithium Battery Hedge Trimmer

Bought one of these (3-in-1 Eckman 18v cordless lithium-ion multi tool) plus mini chain saw a couple of years ago. Hedgetrimmer was faulty but promptly replaced by Eckman.

I had two batteries but found that both were giving very limited usage time and have eventually stopped working but will not charge up. They have had only short term use, and whilst appreciating the inherent life span issues with Li-ion batteries, this is unacceptable.

I e-mailed Eckman and received no reply. In the e-mail I asked Eckman if they could offer any technical help as both batteries were showing a 20v output* and i wondered if it could be a memory effect issue. Still no reply so resent the e-mail and eventually received a reply from the Call Centre Manager - yes!!! She advised that new batteries could be purchased for £29.99 but, not unexpectedly, gave no technical advice.

Reluctantly I went on line (30/9/14) to order and was greeted with the message "OUT OF STOCK - EXPECTED 3/11/2014" This is too late for completing my Autumn trimming and disposal tasks.

The whole kit and caboodle is going on it's final journey to the tip this afternoon - NO MORE ECKMAN.

Poor products and service.

* There is a company called "Recellyourbattery.com" who advertise recelling of the Eckman LHT01B Li-ion battery for £45 pounds but there is an additional comment that "these battery packs feature internal charging circuits, we test these this first. If this component has failed unfortunately replacements cannot be obtained." My batteries seem to have a 20v output but will not drive the tools so I strongly suspect that the problem does indeed lie with the associated circuit board rather than the component cells per se.

I bought mine two years ago and it worked fine on my 8ft high mixed hedge albeit it is very cumbersome. The motor being located at the "trimmer" end of the unit makes it very heavy and tiring to use. I persevered, but last year when I tried to use it the battery only lasted for a few minutes then died. When put on charge it was showing fully charged after only 15 minutes! I wasn't sure whether it was the battery or the charger which had failed so I e-mailed the suppliers [ My SmartBuy] they told that they didn't have any facilities and that I should take it to an electrician to have it tested. After several attempts to get some sense out of them I ordered a new battery from them in March 2014. They took the order and the money and said they were expecting new stock on 22nd May 2014! When that date passed I contacted them only to receive a standard message to say that due to difficult trading conditions they had ceased trading. As I write this on 2nd July their website is still live! Eckman themselves don't seem interested and when I contacted them they said they will supply me direct but they're not expecting any stock until late August. Looks like the ladders are coming out again this year!! If you're thinking of buying one - don't.

I bought this with two extra poles to trim a very high hedge. It worked very well, even though with two extension poles it becomes unwieldy. If you keep the thing more or less vertical, it is manageable. It will cut 1 cm growth easily and bigger if you persevere. At first the battery life was very good - around 30 minutes cutting. After one season, I found the battery was almost useless. Trying to get the supplier and/or the manufacturer to replace it after 1 year and three weeks (1 year warranty expired!)proved a waste of time, so it now runs with a home-made lead connected to an 18 volt drill battery. I don't think that less than a year of life from a high-tec Lithium battery is acceptable. It still works well, and is better than climbing a ladder with my mains powered trimmer, but I can't recommend it because of the battery problem and the poor response from those who should be concerned about their image and their customers