Review Of The Ryobi RHT2660DA Petrol Hedge Trimmer – Powerful Yet Easy To Use

The Ryobi RHT2660DA petrol hedge trimmer is a tool which will keep the serious gardener happy! It will handle most hedge trimming jobs in the larger garden, yet is compact and easy to use.

It’s often the case that a petrol powered trimmer is a better choice than a mains electric or cordless model. Looking after a long trailing power cable can be really awkward – something you would want to avoid if your hedges are some distance from the power supply. Alternatively, a cordless may not be the best choice if your hedges are going to take more than an hour or so to cut, as recharging would be an issue.

So if a petrol trimmer is for you, we think that the Ryobi RHT2660DA is a serious contender.

Beginning with the power supply, the RHT2660DA features a 26cc 675 watt (0.9 hp) two-stroke motor which provides plenty of drive to the blades. Starting small petrol engines can be a problem – but this looks to have been solved with the electronic ignition and Quick Fire carburettor. The carburettor is designed to operate at any angle whilst working.

The blades themselves are 60 cm (24”) long. They are double-reciprocating – which means that both blades move, to make cutting more efficient. The cutting speed is an impressive 1800 rpm. Another aid to efficiency.

With a spacing between the teeth of 28 mm (just over 1″), there should be no problem handling quite thick growth. There is a set of fixed teeth which engage with thicker stems to hold them steady whilst the blades cut through.

As the unit weighs only 4.9 kg (10.8 lb) you should be able to get the job done with minimum effort. The pivoting rear handle is a great feature. This can be locked into any position through 180 degrees, so helping to relieve strain to the wrists when cutting vertical and horizontal faces.

Ryobi are well known for their electric hedge trimmers, but theRHT2660DA is the only petrol cutter in their range – so one can have confidence that all their design effort has gone into the one model. We think that if your choice of machine is for a petrol model, you can’t go wrong with this at all.