If you like getting busy in the garden and the backyard, Stihl has a new range of battery-powered products to help you get the job done quickly and efficiently.
Tech Guide looked at the Stihl GTA Garden Pruner Kit, the Stihl RMA 460 Battery Lawn Mower and the Stihl BGA 57 Battery Blower.
And being all battery-powered there’s no need to have any kind of liquid fuel hand.
That’s one thing that’s stopped some of our yard work in its tracks when we didn’t refill our can of two-stroke.
This is not an issue with the Stihl battery powered range of products.
We used the AK 30 battery ($230) which has a capacity of 180Wh and 36V voltage. On the front of the battery is a LED level indicator.
This was the battery we used to power the RMA 460 mower and the BGA 57 blower.
The Garden Pruner came with its own smaller battery and charger.
STIHL RMA 460 BATTERY LAWN MOWER – $529 (skin only – no battery)
We enjoy mowing but the part we don’t like is the shoulder dislocating start for a fuel mower.
That’s a thing of the past with the RMA 460 battery mover. To start it up pull up the lever near the top of the handle and press the start button and you’re off.
The battery slipped into the top of the mower below a transparent flap. There’s also room under the flap to store a second spare battery if you need to make a quick change.
Everything else about the mower was like a regular mower including the ability to adjust the height and the length and angle of the handle.
The RMA 460 is quite light thanks to the fact there’s no massive petrol engine onboard so it’s easy to move around the yard.
On the back is a 60L soft grass catcher, another contributor to the mower’s lighter weight, and it was easy to empty and reattach.
And the power and efficiency of the mower was never in question – it handled our long grass with ease.
We were told to take care hosing the blades – you don’t want to soak the electric motor under the hood – which we had to do once after missing one little present from our dalmatians that we wouldn’t see in the long grass.
The battery, when used with the mower, has a run time of about 30 minutes which was long enough for us to mow our average sized backyard and front yards and with enough juice left over to tidy things up with the BGA 57 blower.
STIHL GTA 26 GARDEN PRUNER KIT – $299
This is one tiny but might product from Stihl.
It looks like a tiny chainsaw but it’s official a handheld garden pruner and what a pruner it is.
The GTA 26 is also battery-powered, and the kit comes with a battery and its own charger along with oil for the chain and a handy storage case.
This is one product you need to exercise extra care when using it.
It required two-handed operation for it be used most efficiently.
Despite its handheld size, the GTA easily cut through branches more than 4cm in diameter.
We needed to cut back a few trees including a dying mango tree in our yard, and it was effortless cutting the lower branches.
The GTA 26 also made light work of pruning bushes and other smaller branches.
Now remember we emphasises two-handed operation – that’s really important.
One hand goes on the main handle and the other on top at the back of the unit to provide added stability especially when cutting through thicker branches.
Using this one-handed could be dangerous and bounce around while cutting.
The GTA 26 can through a finger as easily it can a branch, so you need to respect the power and use it safely.
On a full charge you get 30 minutes of use. And that’s not 30 minutes from when you start but 30 minutes made up of all the times you’re cutting branches.
STIHL BGA 57 BATTERY BLOWER – $329 (skin only – no battery)
To clean things up is there a better feeling than using a blower?
The Stihl BGA 57 takes the same battery as the RMA 460 mower and it was simply a case of transferring the battery into the back of the blower with a satisfying snap.
There was still a couple of bars of power from the four LEDs after we did the mowing which was more than enough power for the blower.
What surprised us was the power – we were blowing leaves from metres away which made the tidy up even faster for us.
It also has a nice balanced feel which makes it easier to use to target the debris you want to corral.
The blower tube has three length adjustments for users of different heights.
It also has a symmetrical trigger so it’s just as easy to use for a left hander and a right hander.
