Black & Decker GT516

This review sounds absolutely spot-on. I had EXACTLY the same problem with the GT510. The high-pitched squealing noise and smoke is as a result of the gears slipping due to a colossal design fault. The upper bearing for the main drive spindle is THIN PLASTIC. My GT510 lasted only two hours.

The previous person to comment on this review obviously hasn't taken a look inside one of these hedge trimmers. It's nothing to do with misusing the hedge trimmer or expecting too much of it (unless of course being able to trim hedges is what you expect); the fact is that this thing is seriously flawed in its design.

My previous Black & Decker hedge trimmer of a similar specification had no trouble with my hedge over nearly a decade of repeated use, so there's no reason why one shouldn't expect the same from a new replacement.

I'll be publishing my GT510 review shortly, so hopefully people can be warned before wasting money on this kind of rubbish.

I agree the "motor is not up to the job" simply because the job you are requesting it to do is far and away too much for what is designed to be a lightweight hedge "trimmer" for relatively small hedges consisting of new, green growth. To ask any electric machine to regularly operate without fault on a 6 foot by 40 foot hedge is quite frankly ridiculous, and although I generally avoid Black & Decker products due to their inherent poor quality, even I on this occasion think to are wrong to blame the tool you are using for what is a job that should be left to a petrol machine or at the very least a top quality electric hedge cutter costing far in excess of what your current machine has cost.