As a librarian I review "everything", expecting that this would be an adequate hedge trimmer with the exception that the battery life was somewhat short, and less powerful than a corded trimmer I went ahead and tried it. After a 11 hour charge I procedded to trim my yard of extensive gardens and shrubery and trees. I was pleased to find out that the battery charge lasted for over an hour of on and off starting of the trimmer to complete the whole yard of trimming. Unless you have very thich branches to cut, this, is a great trimmer to buy.

This is the best trimmer I have ever used. The battery lasts long enough to trim all of my hedges. It is comfortable to hold

This is my second one in three years. My battery charger quit working,so I bought a whole new unit. I really didn't use the hedge trimmer that much and felt it should have a longer life and be of better quality. The product is lightweight and easy to use and the price is okay. All other rechargeable trimmers are more money. If the first one didn't have the battery charger problem, I would have rated the product higher.

I or my wife the user of this product says,"love it." Great battery life and lightweight and easy to master. If you have alot of hedges another battery may be needed, but she says she has enough battery life. I reccomend this to all ladies or men taking care of the home landscaping needs.

I've had a Black & Decker cordless hedge trimmer for over a year now. I liked it immediately and still like it. It does a good job of trimming bushes. We have a lot of bushes in our yard and it does a good job on all of them: laurel, holly, boxwood, blackberry and a couple others.

A freshly charged battery seems to last about 30 minutes or so and deliver decent power. Small branches and leaves are cut easily.

The cordless aspect is great. I don't have to drag a power cord around or deal with the hassle and pollution of gas.

I lent my trimmer to my Dad, and he liked it so much I had to buy him one for Christmas to keep him from borrowing mine all the time.

So, here are the caveats:
1. Buy an extra battery or two. Nothing is worse than getting half way through a job and having your battery die. You'll be a lot happier with this trimmer if you buy an extra battery or two.
2. It's not super powerful. A half inch holly or laurel branch is hard to cut. You can sometimes gnaw through them with the trimmer, but it takes some determination. I'm sometimes determined and sometimes just switch to hand clippers. I haven't used a gas powered trimmer, but I'd bet they work better on thick branches.
3. If you have weak arms you'll find it tiring to use. Even average arms will tire about as fast as the battery.

I saw other reviewers complaining that the batteries wear out. I've heard that you can often refresh batteries by running them down all the way and then charging them all the way. I've done this a couple time with mine and it does seem to help. After a year and about 20 to 30 uses the batteries are still working fine.

One last comment: I liked this trimmer a lot, but found it difficult to trim high bushes so I also bought the matching cordless Electric Pole Hedge Trimmer (ASIN: B0007NP05U). The pair together provide good versatility *and* the batteries are interchangeable.