Black & Decker GTC610 18v Cordless Hedge Trimmer Review

Overall Rating

Double blades, good reach

Poor motor, poor battery, soft blades, poor casing design, overheating.

I have had two Black & Decker GTC610 cordless hedge trimmers. The first never came anywhere near Black & Decker's claims of 40 mins battery life. The blades also seem to be too soft. After a week B&D suggested I return it for replacement.

The second one was little better and even after three weeks, the battery life (I had four) was never better than 15 mins. Black and Decker's claims you can trim 50 metres of hedge are ludicrous.

When cutting dense (not thick stems) hedge, the trimmer began to squeal, developed a nasty smell and became hot around the lower casing. Investigating this (by removing the cover) revealed that the motor was nearly red hot and might well have burned out if I had not stopped in time.

It would seem that whoever designed this product simply did not know what they were doing. Although it claims to be an 18 volt device, there appears to be a complete miss-match between the battery, the motor, and the charger, which is a crude device itself with no LED`s to warn the owner of the state of charge (as E.G. Bosch provide.)

Another bad feature is that the bottom of the trimmer is not flush - as it should be. Therefore it is difficult to get a flush cut. The line of the guard on the B&D GTC610 continues below the blades by approx 1 1/2 " and gets in the way when traversing the trimmer across the hedge.

There is no engineering reason why this should be so - it`s just a bit of redundant plastic.

The GTC610 looked at the beginning to be a very good product, but unfortunately it appears to have been developed by a product committee more interested in styling rather than function or engineering.

It turned out to be a thoroughly bad product, and not to be recommended. Anyone who has bought one and has the slightest doubts should take advantage of Black & Decker's 30 day refund offer, and get their money back. I did, and bought a Sovereign SHT 24-2 which is a similar (but 24 volt) trimmer, at about 2/3rds the price. It outperformed the B&D GTC610 by a factor of three, straight out of the box. Not perfect, the battery is very difficult to fit - but Sovereign supply a spare battery as part of the deal, not through the tortuous procedure B&D force on their customers (you have to pay for this too). Not as well finished as the GTC610, but works much better and no overheating noticed so far.

The GTC610 is a product best avoided by the average customer. Even with a three year guarantee, it is likely to be a hassle. My experience suggests that it is unlikely to last more than 6 months. Then the owner is left to the mercy of Black & Decker's service set-up - meaning in the UK a variety of thinly spread independent service agents (there are none within 40 miles of Cambridge) with no way of contacting B&D directly, and effectively, no back up at all.

You are supposed no doubt to throw the thing away, and start again.

Better to pay the extra and get Bosch?