Finally, a cheaper garden battery tool. Compact is aimed at gardeners

We monitor battery garden technology regularly. Some time ago we tested the Stihl professional chainsaw (more here), recently the new Oregon chainsaw. The devices functioned satisfactorily, but a potential buyer might have been deterred by the rather high price, which in the case of batteries in a set with battery and charger was over 10,000 crowns.

Stihl has now decided to enter this segment with the new Compact series, which is intended for home users. Moreover, at prices that are overwhelmingly low for a brand with this reputation. You won't even pay seven thousand for a set of saws with a stronger battery and charger, and they also offer other devices without a battery, the so-called shavers, at a fairly good price. Of course, one battery can be used in each of the machines.

We decided to test this set for gardeners to find out if it is just a marketing ploy, or if it can really do some work.

We agreed with the gardening company Tomáš Mach and asked them to test the machines in practice. We gradually tested how the hedge trimmer, the blower, the trimmer and finally the saw worked.

"If I were to buy battery-powered equipment for my home, I would probably have to be determined to use the entire battery program in order to use one battery and a charger, which in themselves are not cheap," says Tomáš Mach.

He also considered that electric tools are significantly quieter than the gasoline ones that are commonly used. "However, when you go to work all week, you don't have many opportunities to devote yourself to your own garden. So there is a weekend left, which the neighbors may not agree with," he explains.

The tried-and-tested set is appreciated as a set that complements the basic mower for everything that needs to be done in the garden. Everyone has a piece of fence, so they need a hedge trimmer, everyone needs to cut pieces of lawn in places where a classic mower can no longer reach, for example around trees and curbs.

The blower will help with "sweeping" the sidewalks and deal with dry fallen leaves. And a simple saw is certainly useful for cutting through thickets, hedgerows or trees.

How it worked

Hedge trimmer HSA 56 weighs not even four kilograms and can cut branches up to 16 mm thick. The manufacturer claims that it can adjust up to 70 meters of two-meter-long fence on one charge. The gardener was particularly enthusiastic about this tool. In practice, he uses a much heavier gasoline engine, so he would take this machine right away. When cutting fences, every extra kilo counts a lot. "If you need to cut somewhere far from an outlet, this is the ideal solution," he enthused.

The BGA 56 blower is designed for dry leaves and for cleaning sidewalks, it can also be used to blow away fresh dust, for example, from the terrace of a house. You probably won't be able to blow wet leaves off the lawn with it, but to be honest - this is often a problem even for much more powerful petrol machines.

However the FSA 56 trimmer absolutely convinced. The manufacturer claims that it can mow up to 1,000 meters of lawn edges on one charge, which is far more than our body can physically withstand. According to the gardener, it is perfectly adequate for use in the garden and mowing difficult sections.

Finally she drank. Everyone knows that a proper saw should at least be of the farm category, and you can't do without gasoline. Especially for people who prepare wood for winter.

The MSA 120 C-BQ saw is a little different. You will definitely not go into the forest with her to mine, that is not her goal. Rather, it belongs in a kit for work around the house, cleaning the land, pruning trees. It doesn't even weigh four kilograms, so you can travel with it even to the tops of trees. The gardener looked at it with a bit of distrust at first, after all his professional pruning saw cost almost twenty thousand crowns, but after the test he recognized that such a saw could be enough for home use.

For whom it is suitable

Professionals are talking about the Compact set. It is intended for people who are fans of the accumulator program and at the same time are fans of the brand and believe in it. In addition, compared to the competition, it offers a favorable price, apparently in the hope that it will also attract professionals to the battery program.

For people who are looking for an alternative to electric garden equipment and are tired of dragging a cable around. And gasoline alternatives are difficult or difficult to control for them, simply uncomfortable.