Gardena AssistCut Cordless Secateur

Poor

Arrived faulty would not charge

roysie39, 65 or over, surrey

Makes cutting so much easier on the hands.

Well, I am quietly impressed with these secateurs. On first inspection, they seem slightly large for my hands (large female hands) but unless you were using them for hours, I don’t think that this would have any impact. So, I charged them up, took them to the garden for some tidying and pruning, made sure that they were turned on, and cut a twig. They cut the twig, but no different than secateurs without power assist and they made no noise. I checked that they were turned on and tried again on a bigger stem, and that’s when you get the benefit of the powers assist. It very cleverly knows that power is needed and depending on the size of the stem, it assists in waves as you apply pressure on the handles. I have a health condition that causes pain & fatigue, and having some added ‘oomph’ to the blades has proved invaluable. The blade opening is not huge, so you won’t be chopping any trees down with these, but if you want some additional strength to make trimming and chopping easier, then these are the ones for you.

Sugar37dog, 55 - 64, Bristol

Powerful and effective secateurs- a game changer.

These fabulous powered secateurs are such a good addition to my gardening tools- I really wish I'd had them years ago. They are as easy to charge as a mobile phone, using a cable that plugs into a USB and once charged they last for ages. You can use them without charging and they work in the same way as normal secateurs, but if you charge them up you can cut through much thicker stems and even small branches (up to 2.5cm according to the instructions). The thickest branch I cut through was 2cm- and I managed this with ease. I tried the same branch with a pair of sharp scissors and barely managed to cut through the outer bark. The secateurs are easy to use and have a safety lock- which is definitely expected for an item such as this but is reassuring nonetheless. I did find them a little on the heavy side compared to normal secateurs and they are also a bit bigger than I expected but as they were so easy to use and so effective on really thick branches I personally didn't find this to be a problem. If you had mobility issues, they may be a bit cumbersome and hard to use though. For me, the ability to easily trim back overgrown branches and hedges and do some heavy pruning makes these secateurs really worthwhile and I'm extremely pleased with them.

Debbie W, 45 - 54, East Yorkshire

Won't replace your everyday secateurs, but useful

These secateurs are useful. They cut through shrub branches like butter but they are heavy to hold for any length of time. You can use them as normal ones (unpowered), but I don't think many people would because they are bulky as well as weighty. I have damaged tendons in my thumb, so cutting back thicker shrub branches puts a great deal of painful pressure on it. The secateurs definitely made it an easy job, but they are twice the weight of normal secateurs (just over 500g), so unless I have a specific thick shrub I wouldn't use them. The maximum cut is 2.5cm, which is just over a thumb thickness. You could deal with an overgrown hedge as the battery lasts for around 1400 cuts before recharging, which is a simple affair of just plugging a cable into it, like charging a phone. If the blade is turned on to powered mode and something comes in contact with the sharp edge, it cuts. I've a slight worry about safety, but obviously didn't test that! Of course you need to take care with all secateurs, but you don't want to loose your concentration with these. It is useful that they open to two different widths to accommodate smaller or larger hands. I just wish they could have had less weight and bulk, but they are certainly useful for major cutting back projects, especially if you have arthritis or hand damage.

Norfolk Nana, 55 - 64, Norfolk

Good

So far, very lightly used. So can't say much about the quality. But I think it's a bit overpriced.

Pruner, 45 - 54