RHS Wisely Go Green with Pellenc

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RHS Wisley has purchased a range of environmentally-friendly battery-powered Pellenc equipment to keep tree & hedge cover along with grass clippings & debris in check, quietly and without fumes.

Wisley – the flagship garden of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), one of the world’s leading horticultural organisations and now operates a fleet of Pellenc Helion hedgecutters and Airion blowers to help maintain its 360 acre estate. Peter Anderson, machinery maintenance engineer at Wisley also added the Pellenc Solerion solar panel charging station to ensure that all batteries are always ready to be used when required.

Over the past two years, Peter has purchased a number of hedgecutters, blowers and batteries from his local Pellenc dealer Surrey Power. Peter says the usability and functionality of the Pellenc products along with low noise and vibration levels, together with equipment reliability and ease of servicing are some of the key reasons why he has chosen Pellenc.

“They are extremely lightweight with low noise and vibration levels,” said Peter. “When the estates team first saw Pellenc, some staff members were sceptical as they felt that battery-powered equipment wouldn’t be able to do as a good of a job as the petrol-powered equipment, but as soon as they started to use it, they were so impressed with the power that they now return to it first time.”

Peter was introduced to Pellenc two years ago by Surrey Power, his local dealer. Prior to purchasing any new machine, he always undertakes a lot of research, reading up on the latest reviews and talking to other end-users. Being the RHS, he also wanted to reduce their emissions and noise levels for visitors. He discovered that Pellenc’s outstanding features and performance absolutely blew the competition away.

“We are open 364 days-a-year and wanted to reduce the amount of noise for our visitors. We also wanted to reduce the noise and vibration levels for the operatives using the equipment. We have a large amount of student volunteers so I wanted to ensure that the equipment we gave them was lightweight. Pellenc ticks all of the correct boxes.”

In the last five years, Pellenc has gained market recognition by offering a unique range of ‘zero emission’ battery-powered handheld tools, thanks to the development of Lithium-ion ultra-high performance batteries. This exclusive Pellenc technology allows for a drastic reduction in the production of greenhouse gases and noise pollution. It is also comfortable for users, meets new sustainable development demands and offers excellent economic profitability.

“The products are very well engineered and are extremely low maintenance with their brushless motors – another reason for the purchase,” adds Peter.

Etesia Attila Tames Parish Council’s Rough Grass

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This year’s weather has seen rain alternating with spells of warm, dry sunshine – the ideal conditions for encouraging grass, weeds, saplings and other unwanted plants to grow strong and lush. Holywell-Cum-Needingworth Parish Council in Cambridgeshire has chosen Etesia’s Attila 98X four-wheel-drive ride-on brushcutter to clear this sort of overgrown vegetation.

The Parish Council have responsibility for over 13 miles of designated walkways and common land, banks, slopes and uneven ground to keep open and in good order all year around which is no mean feat.

As Jane Bowd, Parish Clerk at Holywell-Cum-Needingworth Parish Council points out, “Much of the route is grass, scrub and rough turf. The terrain is often uneven or waterlogged as some of the houses in the parish are built on a bank which is not easy to reach, but still require maintaining. It’s public money that we spend so we have to look at other products, but we’re very happy to stay with Etesia because we know that are excellent at what they do – nothing can compare to these machines.”

With a cutting width of 98cm and up to eight cutting heights which can be adjusted by centralised lever, the Etesia Attila 98X ride-on brushcutter is reliable, efficient, comfortable and safe to use. Special attention has been paid to sound and vibration levels to reduce them to a very low level. A low centre of gravity, four-wheel-drive and a powerful 23HP Briggs & Stratton engine plus heavy-tread tyres and differential lock provide greater stability on slopes up to 30°.

“We call it the Daddy – it even pulls logs out of the way and does everything a ‘normal’ mower can do and so much more,” explains Ian Armstrong, Head Groundsman for the Parish Council. “It goes through waist high material with ease – nothing seems to stop it.

“When we do our hedge cutting around the outside perimeter of the sports pitches, we leave the branches on the ground and just run over them. Then, when we cut the grass the Etesia mulches it all up. It’s so fast and is certainly the best mower for what it does on the market – no question.”

“As with any grounds maintenance tasks, we don’t get a lot of feedback from residents when the areas are looking good, but when it looks bad – we certainly do,” added Jane. “The past year, with the poor weather, we had some complaints at the beginning of the year with the length of the grass as our other mowers couldn’t get onto the grass to cut it. We have a policy here to mulch, rather than cut and collect, so we just took the Etesia AV98X out to cut all the areas that the other mowers couldn’t.

“You can’t expect our groundsmen to do the job if they haven’t got the right tools – with Etesia they know that they can’t use that as an excuse.”

No fumes and less noise for Heritage gardens with Pellenc

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The 35-acre Polesden Lacey National Trust property on the North Downs at Great Bookham, Surrey, one of the Trust’s most popular properties, is now using Pellenc battery-powered equipment to keep tree & hedge cover and grass verges in check, quietly and without fumes.

Senior gardener at the National Trust property Chris Gaskin has the constant task of maintaining the grounds, yet preserving the delightful views across the North Downs countryside. He has now found a way of achieving this that is easier and far less obtrusive to visitors.

It is the Trust’s Greener Garden Fund for more ecologically sound outdoor upkeep of its properties that aided the purchase of a Pellenc Helion lithium-ion battery-powered hedge trimmer and Pellenc Excelion lithium-ion battery-powered strimmer, which was supplied by local dealer Surrey Power.

Work to keep the property’s garden trim begins in mid-May and finishes in late October, which is peak visiting time and before now, when petrol equipment was previously used. This presented Chris with a variety of health and safety issues as well as user and visitor discomfort. Noise levels, petrol fumes and carrying petrol cans around site were the main offenders.

The Pellenc range of products use a back-pack battery and drastically cuts noise, user fatigue, and detrimental effect on passing visitors. These plusses alone would tick boxes in the Trust’s Greener Garden checklist, but a further bonus at Polesden Lacey is that power for the batteries comes from an on-site solar panel. Three to four hours of free charging is enough for a day’s operation, so Chris’ cutting work is about as energy efficient as you can get and with zero carbon emission.

Whether you are using the pole, universal or telescopic model, the range of Helion hedge trimmers will improve your working conditions. They are extremely light (between 3 kg and 4 kg) thanks to the use of a revolutionary 1,200W motor developed by Pellenc.

By using the 4-speed selector switch, you can adapt your tool to the type of cut required. For easy topping off, the flexible +90°/-45° head is fitted on Pole and Telescopic models, whilst a +/-90° pivoting handle has been fitted on the Universal model for vertical cutting.

The Excelion brushcutter is a unique tool as it combines a brush and a grass cutter in one, whilst the multifunction head, developed by Pellenc, can be fitted, without the use of tools. The 4-speed selector, exclusive to Pellenc, makes it easier to adapt to the vegetation: slow speeds are recommended for edges and urban areas for example. Silent, rapid and extremely lightweight, Excelion is the new brush cutter for professionals.

“The new Pellenc equipment is a lot more user-friendly compared to the petrol equivalent and the environmental advantages are considerable,” he says. “We are a lot more comfortable doing the work when visitors are here because they are not inconvenienced at all. In fact, they do not even notice we are here and that means we can start our maintenance work much earlier in the day.”

Chris has four full-time staff in his department and upwards of forty regular volunteers. He says that a real bonus is that the new battery-powered equipment is used with ease by everyone involved in the garden maintenance work.

“The benefit here of switching to battery-powered equipment is the ease of use. They are so much lighter, yet just as effective as petrol machines, and of course quieter, free of fumes, and without potential harmful vibration.”

Etesia PRO46 Pedestrian Mowers Remain Local Authorities First Choice

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Nottingham City Council has taken delivery of eight new Etesia PRO46 pedestrian mowers to maintain the large parks located throughout the area, which brings the fleet size to over 40 mixed Etesia machines in all.

Selected following a thorough demonstration process by council supervisors and staff, the Etesia commercial walk-behind mowers were chosen to maintain a wide range of facilities including parks, gardens, traffic islands and other open green spaces.

Nottingham City has a historic network of open and green spaces with over 20% of the City’s total land area made up of accessible, open and green spaces. These spaces are designed for recreation and enjoyment as well as improving the quality and beauty of the local environment. The majority of these spaces are public parks, natural spaces, allotments, cemeteries and sports grounds. Nottingham City Council manages, cares for and develops these spaces and has achieved 15 Green Flag awards and 11 Community Green Flag awards for 2011/12, the highest number in the East Midlands.

“Nottingham City Council looks after 136 parks and gardens across the city which range from large tourist attractions such as the impressive Arboretum through to the smaller neighbourhood parks,” explains Gary Watts, Horticulture Supervisor at Nottingham City Council Parks Department. “Our aim is to offer a wide range of quality attractions that entice visitors to the City and that are accessible, attractive and useful to residents. Etesia help us to achieve these high standards.”

Designed to meet the rigours of a wide variety of commercial grass cutting applications, Etesia’s Pro 46 pedestrian rotaries are specified by contractors, local authorities and landscapers. The special shape of the mowing deck produces a powerful suction and blowing effect to ensure a quality cut with maximum collection. As an option, a mulching kit and mulching blade convert the pro 46 mowers into formidable mulchers. The Pro 46 rotaries are lightweight and compact, making them ideal for mobile grass cutting units. The handlebars fold, without the use of tools, for easy transportation or storage.

“The Etesia mowers have a very low vibration level. Like many councils, we use a point scoring system. Every minute you work, works out to 1 point per minute as it’s the easiest way to work. Etesia are very low – 1 point per minute where as some other equipment we’ve used has been a lot higher which means than that our groundscare team can’t use the equipment for as long.

“The option to cut and collect grass was another big factor in our purchase. We have a lot of traffic islands where we have to cut and collect and the Etesia leaves the best possible finish.

The Council generally replace their fleet of mowers every 2-3 years. For the past six years they have chosen Etesia and have been very happy with their purchase. “When we first decided to buy Etesia, their mowers come out on top on both the operators’ and mechanics’ evaluations, for comfort and ease of use, robustness, manoeuvrability, easy maintenance and the fact that they have easy-to-fold handle bars and are easy to transport between sites on the back of our ATV’s. Operators like the mowers because they produce a very good cut and it’s also an advantage to standardise on one manufacturer of mower as it helps with regular servicing, maintenance and spare parts.

“The Etesia’s are extremely reliable. We use them every day and nothing ever goes wrong with them. I would recommend Etesia as they are excellent in what they do.”

For further information, or to arrange a free demonstration, please contact Etesia UK on 01295 680120 or visit www.etesia.co.uk

For more news, reviews and insightful views, you can follow Etesia on Twitter @EtesiaUK and like the company’s Facebook page – www.facebook.com/EtesiaUK.

Ian Collington Walks 37 Miles for Charity

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Etesia UK southern area sales manager Ian Collington will be walking 37 miles of Ivanhoe Way in 15 hours for the Wishes 4 Kids charity.

Setting off at 4am from Ashby De La Zouch on Saturday 15th June the challenge is to complete the 37 mile Ivanhoe Way Public footpath in 15 hours or less. Starting in Ashby De La Zouch, the route passes through Staunton Harold Reservoir, heads to the rocky outcrops of Charnwood Forest, before going out towards Bagworth. The second half of the route heads over to Shackerstone, along the route of the Ashby Canal, then towards the Moria Furnace.

Any amount donated will be greatly appreciated by Ian and the charity.

Please see this website for more details: http://www.ivanhoechallenge.co.uk/

We wish Ian luck!

Pellenc Announce Extended Warranty for Helion Hedgecutter and Battery

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To celebrate its 40th Birthday, Pellenc is offering to extend the warranty for an additional year on the Helion hedge trimmer and battery purchased at the same time.

With over 10 years of experience in lithium-ion batteries, the company is seeking to strengthen their position and expertise in battery technology. Pellenc is the pioneer in environmentally-friendly battery-power tools for the landscaping, local authority and groundcare market.

This extended warranty applies to Pellenc batteries as long as the battery is purchased simultaneously with the trimmer (Pellenc Battery: ULB 400, ULB 70P, ULB 1100 and POLY5) through the UK distributor Etesia UK.

Pellenc has replaced the ‘old’ combustion engines with a brand new electrical technology. The Pellenc technology associates an electric motor and a revolutionary battery. The patented electric motors, with an unrivalled power-to-weight ratio, develop an extraordinary power output with unequalled durability.

Light, odourless, noise-free, with no starting problems and no filling the fuel tank, your old petrol chainsaw, hedge trimmer or brush cutter will seem to belong to the past. Pellenc has overtaken most of the manufacturers of tools for maintenance of parks and gardens through its Research and Development department, which is particularly efficient. This team includes more than 100 researchers and is working steadily to provide you with tomorrow’s solutions today.

The extended warranty runs until 31st July 2013.

Landscape Contractor Chooses Etesia for all Grass Cutting operations

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Designed to meet the rigours of a wide variety of commercial grass cutting applications, Etesia’s Pro 46 pedestrian rotary mower is specified by contractors who want to profit from grass cutting. Reliability of mowing equipment is essential for this work which is why one Sussex landscape contractor chooses Etesia for all grass cutting operations.

Green Grass Services, set up by John Vincent five years ago, specialises in grass cutting and landscape maintenance in the south east of England. In over 30 years of working within the industry John says that there isn’t a pedestrian mower he hasn’t used. The company ensures that there is always an Etesia mower in their fleet of maintenance equipment and has done for over twenty years.

“When we spoke to Matt Clark at South East Groundcare about which mower would be best suited for this type of work, we stressed the importance of the ability to cope with cutting in all weather conditions without clogging. Etesia are renowned for being able to cut in the wet and our previous experience with their machines was excellent. We decided to change our entire fleet over to the Pro 46 PHTS.

“The Pro 46’s are light and easy to manoeuvre when grass cutting and also light enough to lift on/off our commercial vehicles. We just empty the grass boxes and take for green waste when each job is finished. The quality of cut is always excellent. The mowers are worked really hard throughout the year and just routine servicing is all we ever need. They are a real work-horse. You certainly get what you pay for and they were a sound investment, more than earning their keep.”

The Single bladed Etesia Pro 46 has a 5hp 160cc Honda engine. Cutting width is 46cm, the detachable grass box with ‘full’ indicator has a capacity of 52 litres, and overall weight is just 37kg. Designed around the operator, the handlebars are ergonomically shaped and mounted for ease-of-use. New ‘soft-touch’ controls reduce pressure on the hands and fingers during operation. Extensive testing of these latest models has shown low vibration levels that meet stringent Health and Safety guidelines. There are six models available in the range, with options including mulching facility.

“The Pro 46 is well built, solid and 100% reliable. We can’t be without them. If you want a commercial mower to last, which is trouble free, buy an Etesia.”

Pellenc Launches the Rasion Easy Pedestrian Mower

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Following the successful launch of the Pellenc Rasion Basic and Smart models in 2015, the company has announced the latest pedestrian rotary mower in the range – the Pellenc Rasion Easy.

The Rasion Easy is a combination of the previous two models launched last year as Etesia UK operations director Les Malin explains: “We found that the manual operation of the Rasion Basic has been more appropriate to commercial operators yet they also liked the self-propelled element of the Rasion Smart. For this reason, Pellenc has launched the Rasion Easy – a combination from both of the previous models.”

The Rasion Easy has an IP54 water rating, which as time goes on will be the standard through the rest of the Pellenc tool range, and features a grass density detector – a patented feature exclusive to Pellenc which allows the mower to detect the height and density of the grass and change the engine speed accordingly. This saves power as operators do not have to run the machine under full-load unnecessarily.

A cutting width of 60cm with height of cut between 25-75mm, 70 litre grass box capacity and two front swivel wheels ensure the Rasion Easy is ultra-manoeuvrable. Weighing less than 30kgs and folding handlebars means that transportation between sites is effortless.

All Pellenc batteries and tools come complete with a three year commercial warranty as standard – the first manufacturer to offer this on battery-powered tools. Pellenc is exclusively distributed in the UK and Ireland by Etesia UK.
For further information, please contact Etesia UK on 01295 680120 or visit www.etesia.co.uk

Cut, collect and stripe with even more Etesia models

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Following the successful launch of the rear roller kit for their 41cm pedestrian rotary models last year, Etesia has announced that the kit is now also be available for 46cm models in their range.

Etesia pedestrian mowers have become world renowned for cutting and collecting in all weather conditions – even the wet, but before last year were not available with a rear roller kit for that all important presentation.

With the launch of the rear roller kit for the 46cm cutting width models, which are Etesia’s most popular models, users will be given much more choice in their cutting requirements – cut, collect, stripe and by fitting the mulching insert, mulch – making this particular range of rotary mowers a must in anyone’s armoury.

No tools are required to fit the roller kits to an Etesia machine – just simply hang the free floating roller on two locating pins behind the grass box. The roller has been designed so that it will operate free-floating at any height the machine is mowing at – ensuring perfect striping no matter the weather or height of cut required.

For further information, please contact Etesia UK on 01295 680120 or visit www.etesia.co.uk

Winner of SALTEX ‘heart’ Competition announced

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The winner of the SALTEX ‘heart’ competition has been revealed as Paul Woolley, proprietor of Diligentis – a garden maintenance business operating in South Staffordshire.

Overwhelmed by support from the industry, the SALTEX 2015 image – a heart formed of a blade of grass prompted industry professionals and volunteers to publicly show their support to the industry and SALTEX by forming a heart shape with their hands. As the photos begun to flood in, show organisers decided to run a competition for everyone who submitted a photo.

In doing so, SALTEX partnered with Etesia UK – a company that specialises in building high quality ride-on and pedestrian rotary mowers. Paul’s winning photo landed him one of the company’s newest models complete with a rear roller kit, worth nearly £1,500.

The PRO 46 PHCS has a 46cm cutting width and offers extreme versatility with the ability to cut, collect and mulch without the need for an accessory, and when Paul saw the competition announced in an email – he didn’t think twice about entering.

“We were interested because we were running an older Etesia Pro 46 which we have had for three years and thought that it would be good to get another one on-board to improve our operations. We looked at ideas to take a good photograph and we tried to think outside the box.

“At the time we were working on a manor house in South Staffordshire, which had a lot of coloured maple leaves across its lawn. So we formed a heart with the maple leaves using a rake. My business partner Howard Medlicott then positioned himself in the centre of the heart and I climbed a tree to take the photograph.”

Paul, who established Diligentis five years ago, has been presented with his prize by his local Etesia dealer – Burrows Grass Machinery, and believes that the new mower will enable him to add yet another string to his bow.

“I’m over the moon with the new mower – It cuts well in the wet and the new roller on the back now allows us to offer customers stripes on their lawn too.”

Both Paul and his business partner Howard – who has attended SALTEX for the last 15 years, were also pleased to see SALTEX move to the NEC, Birmingham in November.

“We both attended SALTEX this year and thought it was a fantastic exhibition. Firstly, you are not affected by the weather and secondly it is now situated centrally in the country – which makes it more accessible for everyone. The previous event at Windsor seemed to be very spread out and a bit sparse but at the NEC it was nice and compact meaning that you could see everything you wanted to.

“We went to look at what was out there on the market, to get advice and I got a lot of information that I wouldn’t have been able to get from anywhere else. It’s also a much better time of year being in November because work is a bit quieter.

“Overall, it’s two big ticks from us for SALTEX moving to the NEC.”

SALTEX 2016 will be held at the NEC, Birmingham on 2 and 3 November 2016.