At last: powered secateurs! For you, branches, the war is over

Bosch EasyPrune makes it easy to prune, by using the same tech found in electric bikes

Duncan Bell
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So, spring is nearly here – don't laugh – so if you're a gardener, you should be readying yourself to resume the never-ceasing battle against nature. A key weapon in your arsenal this year: EasyPrune, the first power-assisted secateurs from Bosch.

The German drills-to-driverless-cars mega-brand also makes motors for electric bicycles. These apply more power when you hit a gradient, and EasyPrune takes a similar approach to stubborn shrubbery.

The EasyPrune is not a great deal bulkier than a standard pair of secateurs, and as Bosch puts it, "Cuts cleanly into any wood, from fibrous to thick," trimming errant branches, "with a diameter of up to 25 millimetres."

This may sound inconsequential to non-horticulturalists, but pruning branches is not generally a fun task. It can be hard work, and it makes your hand and wrist sore. EasyPrune may have a stupid name, but it gives up to 450 power-assisted cuts per battery charge, and that could save a lot of wrist ache.

To ensure that the cutting operation is controlled at all times, the power-assist function only kicks in when the handles are actively squeezed together as they would be with conventional secateurs. 

Again rather like electric bikes, there's a choice of three power settings – if you only use the most powerful setting, you will get shorter battery life, of course.

Your standard, non-powered secateurs also get jammed all too frequently on sturdier twigs. But not the EasyPrune, which, "delivers a far superior and therefore satisfying performance." The power-assist means you no longer need to stop, prise the branch out of the tool, then reposition it to recommence hostilities.

• Bosch EasyPrune has an RRP of £84.99 

Duncan Bell
Duncan Bell

Duncan is the former lifestyle editor of T3 and has been writing about tech for almost 15 years. He has covered everything from smartphones to headphones, TV to AC and air fryers to the movies of James Bond and obscure anime. His current brief is everything to do with the home and kitchen, which is good because he is an excellent cook, if he says so himself. He also covers cycling and ebikes – like over-using italics, this is another passion of his. In his long and varied lifestyle-tech career he is one of the few people to have been a fitness editor despite being unfit and a cars editor for not one but two websites, despite being unable to drive. He also has about 400 vacuum cleaners, and is possibly the UK's leading expert on cordless vacuum cleaners, despite being decidedly messy. A cricket fan for over 30 years, he also recently become T3's cricket editor, writing about how to stream obscure T20 tournaments, and turning out some typically no-nonsense opinions on the world's top teams and players.

Before T3, Duncan was a music and film reviewer, worked for a magazine about gambling that employed a surprisingly large number of convicted criminals, and then a magazine called Bizarre that was essentially like a cross between Reddit and DeviantArt, before the invention of the internet. There was also a lengthy period where he essentially wrote all of T3 magazine every month for about 3 years. 

A broadcaster, raconteur and public speaker, Duncan used to be on telly loads, but an unfortunate incident put a stop to that, so he now largely contents himself with telling people, "I used to be on the TV, you know."

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