Little Wonder is the best of the electrics but is priced close to the better brand gas models such as Stihl and Echo. Well worth the extra money though.

I have the same B&D trimmer. Got the same results. I picked up an Echo HS 150 gas powered trimmer today. The cutting performance was night and day. My time spent trimming was cut (no pun intended) in half.
I got so tired of lugging several hundred feet of extension cords around my property and most have been repaired several times. I had been playing with the idea of a gas powered trimmer for a couple years. I didn't really want to spend $300 on one. All i can say now is, I should have done it years ago.....

I need a new hedge trimmer and was considering the B&D model due to the large number of positive reviews on Amazon. Which B&D model did you use prior to your Echo purchase? Thanks.

I have lots of boxwood and boxwood hedge. The best and only method of trimming these is with hand held shears, cutting the stems of the new growth, not the leaves. Otherwise, you'll end up with bruised leaves that will try to heal themselves(?) by turning white on the edges,which lasts about a week. Ugly. But, that takes a day depending upon how much you have to trim and alot of patience. But, I regress: I use the Garden Groomer Pro (vacuums and bags cuttings)on the shorter hedges that border the flower beds and use hand shears on the topiary or columnar boxwood. I just put up with the ugliness for that week.

sohnc- I had one of the big hedgehogs. It worked well. Again but the performance is much better with the echo. The blades are much sharper and allow cutting of bigger branches.