After a couple of hours researching I decided multifunctional garden tools was the one. This model was a little more expensive but had great reviews and looked sturdy.

I bought it and waited for it to be delivered. On its arrival I decided to have a good look at it and read through the manual. It was indeed more robust and sturdier than my last purchase.

The first project was to cut the hedge; I mixed the fuel and started her up after 5 pulls. It did everything I asked from it and cut both the hawthorn with no bother. Later that year I decided to lower the whole hawthorn hedge.

By using the chainsaw attachment I effortlessly cut through the 4 inch diameter branches. As I got to the last few bushes a branch fell on top of the saw forcing the plastic case into the chain. This completely busted the case and the chain and I had to complete the job with a hand saw. 
petrol multi tool
The garden multi tool was good for a year and a half until it started to become difficult to start. I would find myself spending ages pulling at the cord to get it started. I knew I wasn’t flooding it, it wasn’t the spark plug or fuel mix so I was getting rather frustrated.

Then I pulled quickly and the cord came loose from the mechanism. Annoyed but patient I decided to unscrew the back to re-connect it. I do not think of myself as someone who is mechanically minded but I can do very basic repairs.

I found the springs and plastic which held the wheel in place very flimsy and cheap. One of the plastic attachments had broken in two so decided to screw it back up and seek help. The first two lawn mower repair shops would not touch it as it wasn’t a recognised brand t them.
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I did find a guy that would look at it for me but gave me quite a dismal summary of the situation. He said it was basically not worth fixing and would not be able to get the parts for it. Now I am not completely convinced this is completely the case but three repair services could not help. The fact that I could spend more repairing it than it was worth rendered it a write off. 
A LESSON LEARNED
During my time running around to different repair shops I did obtain some interesting information. Most of the time I got the same response ‘do not buy cheap stuff off Amazon!’ But a couple of people said that when using these machines it is good to use a fuel additive.

This can stop the fuel corroding working parts when it has been left idle for long periods. One repair shop guy advised me to only buy things which were built in the same country with accessible spare parts.  I decided in the end to buy individual professional tools for each of my main gardening chores. automatic chainsaw included hedge cutting, tree cutting and strimming.