Page 10 - OPE0922

MARKETPLACE
Trimmers & Brushcutters
Steelfort adds
fuel to LawnMaster range
STEELFORT HAS ADDED two
new petrol-driven products to its expanding LawnMaster range of outdoor power tools.
The LawnMaster Petrol Split Shaft Brushcutter (LMDGJ260H-BC) weighs 6.7kg, has a 26 cc, two stroke pull start motor, centrifugal clutch, ergonomic D handle topping the 1m shaft, 420mm cutting width, twin line bump feed and
comes with line trimmer and brushcutter attachments. Other attachments, sold separately, include a hedge trimmer, pole saw, and extension pole.
The specs of the second new product, the 6.1kg LawnMaster Petrol Curved Shaft Line Trimmer (LMCG260EH – not shown), mirror the brushcutter’s and both come with a 3-year warranty.
www.steelfort.co.nz
product, to the point where there is an almost bewildering array of options, and leaving battery a crowded market.
Gavin Lowndes and Steelfort admit as much, saying: “The lithium market is a really difficult one because while it’s topical and there’s certainly product being sold, we don’t have just the old traditional foes any more.
“We’ve got all the big power tool brands which are behemoths in their own right [and] pretty stiff competition.”
Steve Huddleston at Masport agrees: “Battery is massive. Ryobi, TTI, Ozito, they are massive companies with a massive battery platform and moving from power tools into power garden now, which wasn’t the case five or six years ago.
“Almost every tool company is now selling power garden products that weren’t before, so it’s really opened and widened the market.”
Steve says their ambitions do not stop there, having “consumed and taken over the corded market, which was the easy part, now they are having a dig at petrol.”
In this respect, there are some interesting crossovers around the market.
For example, I ask about Phil Needham about STIHL’s combi products, with the brand now having several battery combi power heads that take the same combi attachments as STIHL’s petrol combi products.
Quietly positive about the uptake of the products using STIHL’s AP professional battery platform, Phil Needham lets on that STIHL has “more in the pipeline” but using the AK compact battery and aimed at the home & garden user.
“Next year, all going to plan, we will have
an AK combi power head for the domestic customer,” he reveals.
“So there is plenty happening in that
space [and] we would expect and hope that some people that come in to buy a battery brushcutter might walk away having invested a little more into a battery combi system.”
Petrol persists in trimmers & brushcutters
But cordless products are not restricted to domestic users, confirms Phil Needham
who says Kiwi professionals’ confidence in battery products is growing, thanks in part to products like STIHL’s FSA135 brushcutter.
Part of the AP Cordless System, and a professional machine in terms of power output, it is “very comparable to the petrol equivalent,” says Phil, and has been purpose- designed for commercial operators.
Usability apart, he continues: “Internationally, there’s a very strong movement towards battery electric and
away from petrol,” which is being driven by legislation, environmental considerations and city councils which have said no to the use of petrol products in built-up areas.
While this sort of pressure is less prevalent in New Zealand, believes Phil Needham, land care and maintenance companies, off their own back, “Are using it as an opportunity when they’re looking at getting contracts to say, ‘This is who we are, and this is what we’re about’.”
Plus, with noise restrictions in certain areas and during certain times, the use of battery products can extend a contractor’s working hours and productivity.
As a result, says Phil, STIHL is “definitely
seeing a movement towards battery, that’s for sure.”
Having said this, the consensus is that petrol products are not on the way out any time soon, with both some consumers and especially contractors appearing hesitant about the extra upfront costs involved in battery products.
As a result, confirms STIHL’s Phil Needham: “Are we seeing petrol falling away? I’ll say not really. Traditional lawn mowing contractors, by and large, are still using petrol.”
They are sticking with tried and tested for good, economic reasons: “There’s generally a lesser outlay upfront to buy into that sort of petrol equipment.
“Often battery alternatives come with
a price tag when you get into the more commercial products where battery capacity needs to be considerably higher.”
Despite all this, says Phil: “We’ve been serving an increase in companies coming to us saying they want to trial [battery] product.
“I better not name names, just certain contractors and mowing outfits that want to see if battery works for them.
“There’s certainly an appetite for battery.”
Simple economics and Kiwis’ “appetite” for petrol
So some professionals are still yet to be completely convinced?
“I think it’s just economics, says Phil Needham, adding: “A lot of people underestimate what battery offers them because they just haven’t had a go with it yet.
“Or they have had a bad experience because they have made the wrong choice and bought into a system that’s not suitable for what they actually want from it.
“So they have let the price point dictate what they have sampled.
“But there’s no escaping when you’re doing longer hours and require performance, that there is a considerable cost.”
STIHL will not be alone in having worked through calculations over time which show that, over the working life of a battery powered machine, costs can more than be paid back even if you are effectively paying for your energy costs upfront.
“It’s just that a lot of operators in the space don’t have the capital to put into a higher initial outlay – it’s easier for them to absorb those costs over time,” says Phil Needham.
Petrol is indeed not merely persisting but growing, agrees Steelfort’s Gavin Lowndes, who says: “We are doing very well with battery, as are a number of people, but petrol lawnmower sales for example are still trucking along, no problem at all.
“I think that there’s still a market for petrol,” he continues. “Despite the media and everyone pushing against it, I believe there is still an appetite for petrol and I don’t see that changing dramatically any time soon.
“If we looked 10 years ahead, I’m sure
it would be completely different but considering how many lithium mowers are sold now, it must be a bigger overall market because petrol is just as big as it has ever been.”
Steve Huddleston at Masport agrees: “You
LINE
TRIMMER
IN MASPORT’S
MAX CORDLESS
RANGE
A LINE TRIMMER, turbo blower, hedge trimmer and
chainsaw lead off the Masport 60V MAX cordless outdoor garden equipment range.
Powered by 60V Max Lithium-ion batteries featuring Aerocore technology which allows the battery to run cooler (so the tools can work harder), all 60V MAX products feature the same all-new 2.5Ah or 5.0Ah AEROCORE smart batteries, which can be removed and shared with the other tools.
Backed up by generous warranties, including five years for the tools, and three years for the batteries and chargers, the 60V MAX range also includes lawnmower models using brushless motors.
www.masport.co.nz
010 NZOUTDOORPOWEREQUIPMENT SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER2022
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