EGO Power Multi-Tool MHSC2002E kit Review

If you have a lot of land with a variety of growth to tackle then the EGO Power Multi-Tool MHSC2002E kit comes highly recommended. This battery-powered kit can work as a grass trimmer, brush cutter, hedge trimmer and pole saw all-in-one. Impressively, the battery-powered device is as powerful as a petrol one, but quieter and minus the fumes. Whether you’re a professional gardener or just in need of a flexible tool for all such jobs, the EGO Power Multi-Tool MHSC2002E kit comes highly recommended.

EGO Power has been championing battery-powered gardening tools for a number of years and it’s proven a big hit with commercial users. In areas such as schools, parks and anywhere that two-stroke fumes and a high degree of noise are frowned upon, EGO makes cordless tools for petrol tool-sized jobs. No surprise then that the comprehensive EGO Power Multi-Tool MHSC2002E kit is a bit of a beast, packing in everything you need for the majority of garden jobs.

The EGO’s monster 5Ah/56Volt battery pack and potent brushless motor successfully deliver all the gumption of petrol power and excellent run-times. Every one of the five tools supplied is robust and effective, and tool change isn’t too much of a faff either. This is no lightweight tool for compact gardens, however; the overall weight and build mean that only heavy-duty users need apply.

EGO Power Multi-Tool – What you need to know

• Charging and run-time: Super-fast 45-minute charging and potent 56v/5Ah battery gives 60-120 minutes’ run-time depending on the tool.
• Pruning performance: Good pole reach, and powerful chain saw and hedge trimmer deliver unrivalled cordless pole pruning.
• Cutting and trimming performance: Massive 38cm cut-line trimmer and brush blade deliver excellent results, although the pole length makes operation a little unwieldy.
• Handling and maintenance: It’s as big and as heavy as a petrol machine, so will require a strong arm. Yet, with extremely low running costs, minimal maintenance and first-class eco credentials compared to a two-stroke petrol equivalent, the EGO Multi-Tool chimes another death knell for fossil fuels in garden maintenance.

Related: Best grass trimmer

Commercial power, run-time and build quality, EGO Power’s Multi-Tool offers pro results for those with pro-sized arms

The EGO Power Multi-Tool is a swiss-army knife of garden power tools. The MHSC2002E set on test is the fully loaded model and is a long way from fitting in your pocket. The core Multi-Tool Power Head packs in a 56-volt brushless motor with a two-speed gearbox, variable speed on the main handle trigger, a short pole section with steel shaft drive, and an adjustable loop handle for support with your other hand. And you’re going to need that as the battery pack is a 5Ah monster weighing in at over 2kg on its own.

You can buy the Power Head and add the tools as required, but our fully loaded kit came with all the toys. This includes a line trimmer with rapid reload head (STA1500), brush-cutter blade (ABB1203), hedge trimmer (HTA2000), pole saw (PSA1000), lawn edger (EA0800), a 5.0Ah battery and rapid charger (CH5500E). The charger is a robust, fan-cooled upright dock with four charge-level indicators and will take the 5.0Ah pack from flat to full in a super-speedy 45 minutes.

The pole saw has a 25cm bar and small oil tank, while the hedge trimmer boasts 51cm laser-cut and diamond ground blades with an adjustable neck for squaring off the top of your hedges. The brush-cutter is a 35cm tri-blade affair and the line strimmer offer a 38cm cutting diameter with bump-feed head. The edging tool is a new one, but uses a horizontal 20cm blade and a guide wheel to stop it digging its own trench.

All five tools are built onto another shaft-drive pole and coupling them to the Power Head is a push-fit spring clip, secured by a locking thumb nut. The two shafts make for tools that should realistically be prefixed with the word “pole” as they all have extended reach.

That’s a double-edged blade in use, because while it affords good reach for high-up branches and a wide arc swing for the ground-level tools, it isn’t easy to get up close and personal to the items being cut. It makes trimming lower hedges awkward and chain-sawing logs off the sawhorse is almost impossible.

A big battery gives the Ego Power Multi-Tool better balance for ground-strimming

Heft any one of the tools into action, ideally using the supplied shoulder strap, and the Multi-Tool gains a better balance. The big battery positioned behind the main handle counterbalances the tool head and long shaft, making for a fairly manoeuvrable if still very weighty unit.

The controls are chunky, comprising a slider switch to choose between one of two gearbox speeds, a thumb-operated lock-release, and variable speed trigger. The level of speed control afforded by the trigger is limited, but it does allow about three rough levels of cutting gumption. And gumption is something the EGO certainly isn’t short of.

The pole saw and hedge trimmer, in particular, pack a mighty punch for battery-powered tools, cutting through larger branches quickly and lopping through thick hedge twigs that would stop lesser cordless units. Used up high, you do feel the momentum of all that weight, but if you have a strong arm then the units are no heavier than two-stroke petrol equivalents.

The length of the tool with the strimmer and brush-cutter does mean a shallow angle of attack and the head is a fair way away from you if, like myself, you’re a bit vertically challenged. It isn’t a deal-breaker, but the shallow angle does make wielding either tool a little bit more cumbersome than you’d find with a shorter shafted appliance. That wasn’t so much an issue with the edging tool, since the wheels guided the head easily.

This EGO Power Multi-Tool kit is big, weighty, robust and powerful and offers a tool for almost every scenario. If you don’t need every part, or could use one of EGO’s other optional tools such as a short hedge trimmer (HTA2000S), cultivator (CTA9500) or an extension pole (EP7501) for even greater reach, then you’d be better off building your own setup.

No matter which tool you choose, the Multi-Tool packs in remarkably potent performance and inspiring build quality. The sub-one-hour fast charger means you can get by with just one battery and the occasional lunch break for a whole day in the garden. Factor in the price of the MHSC2002E kit, which is about the same as a professional spec petrol brush-cutter alone, and the very low running and maintenance costs, and EGO’s Multi-Tool is a beefy bargain no matter how it is configured.

Why buy the EGO Power Multi-Tool MHSC2002E kit?

EGO Power has delivered a big, butch and burly cordless Multi-Tool, with all the power and versatility of light commercial grade petrol tool. The 5Ah battery and powerful 56v motor give the pole saw and hedge trimmer unrivalled cordless cutting power and keep the brush-cutter blade spinning through some seriously tough weed beds. The 38cm line trimmer is potent if you upgrade the supplied line to a diamond or edge profile cord, and the lawn-edging tool is probably very useful… if you have formal edges to cut.

Run-times are outstanding throughout, ranging between an hour and two hours depending on the tool. That excellent run-time is backed up by one of the fastest chargers we’ve seen, capable of recharging the 5Ah battery in under 45 minutes!

We’d have liked some way of attaching the hedge trimmer and pole saw tools directly to the handle for close-up work, as the pole length limits their all-round abilities. If you’re okay physically wielding the EGO Multi-Tool then it’s a phenomenally powerful and versatile piece of garden machinery that all but eliminates the issues and running costs of petrol power. Thoroughly recommended.