The only reason I'm giving this a four-star instead of five is that upon disassembling my old broken one, I could see that there was a very fragile-looking, small diameter drive shaft coming out of the motor which had snapped - about the diameter of a plastic ink cylinder that you'd find if you took apart a typical retractable ball point pen. I can't help but think it only took a few jams of the blades at full run speed to cause failure of that drive shaft.

That being said, a large portion of the cost of this tool in its complete form is in the lithium-ion battery and charger, so it's a good value to be able to purchase the tool as a replacement without the battery and charger. I probably got about 30 hours of use out of my old one before it broke, and subjected it to some abuse in getting stuck on large diameter branches, So when you consider a tool used that much will begin to get dull, the motor brushes will be worn, and it will need a good internal cleaning, it was a pretty good value to me to be able to buy just the new, sharp, clean tool again, using the perfectly good battery and charger from my initial purchase.

The only reason I'm giving this a four-star instead of five is that upon disassembling my old broken one, I could see that there was a very fragile-looking, small diameter drive shaft coming out of the motor which had snapped - about the diameter of a plastic ink cylinder that you'd find if you took apart a typical retractable ball point pen. I can't help but think it only took a few jams of the blades at full run speed to cause failure of that drive shaft.

That being said, a large portion of the cost of this tool in its complete form is in the lithium-ion battery and charger, so it's a good value to be able to purchase the tool as a replacement without the battery and charger. I probably got about 30 hours of use out of my old one before it broke, and subjected it to some abuse in getting stuck on large diameter branches, So when you consider a tool used that much will begin to get dull, the motor brushes will be worn, and it will need a good internal cleaning, it was a pretty good value to me to be able to buy just the new, sharp, clean tool again, using the perfectly good battery and charger from my initial purchase.

I got this a year ago. Used it twice during summer/fall to trim a 30'x2' privet hedge. Used it twice this spring/summer on same hedge. Each time worked great. Cut well, lightweight, easy to use. This time, the 5th time used, it started struggling and the next thing smoke started pouring out and it burnt out. Five uses and dead? At $115 it isn't a disposable tool. Lousy quality.

Worked this three times and noticed that the shearing blades started to clatter louder. Then after another use I noticed the odor of the motor over-heating so I stopped using it. Now.....not please with this as the motor still has a burnt smell when you use it and that clattering sounds like something has gotten worse. I have nearly ten portable B&D items and this is the first time I've seen a quality issue.

I got this a year ago. Used it twice during summer/fall to trim a 30'x2' privet hedge. Used it twice this spring/summer on same hedge. Each time worked great. Cut well, lightweight, easy to use. This time, the 5th time used, it started struggling and the next thing smoke started pouring out and it burnt out. Five uses and dead? At $115 it isn't a disposable tool. Lousy quality.