Stihl ASA 20 Cordless Secateurs Review: Pruning made way easier

Design and features

• Uses the 10.8V AS battery system
• Two cutting settings
• Useful LCD

Stihl’s rapidly growing its range of tools powered by its AS 10.8V battery system. Taking in everything from the Stihl GTA 26 pruner to the Stihl BGA 30 Cordless Blower, the range is designed to be light and easy to use.

That battery system is particularly well-suited to handheld tools, such as the Stihl ASA 20 Cordless Secateurs that I have on review here, with the tiny battery not adding much weight and keeping this tool firmly within the one-hand category.

Yes, the ASA 20 is heavier than a manual set of secateurs, at just under 1kg with the battery, but the weight is well distributed, and I’ve used the set for long periods without even really thinking about it.

Build quality is as you’d expect from Stihl, with a reassuring feel to it. This is a product that’s designed to last.

It’s thoughtfully designed, too. There’s a cover for the blades, so you can store the Stihl ASA 20 Cordless Secateurs safely. It’s a rugged plastic cover that clicks neatly into place.

The battery goes into the handle, clipping into place. If you don’t have an AS 2 battery already, you can buy the Stihl ASA 20 Cordless Secateurs with a charger and battery; if you’ve got other tools, then you can choose to buy these clippers as a barebones system instead.

Using the Stihl ASA 20 Cordless Secateurs is easy. First, you need to power them on using the dedicated power button.

Once there’s a beep, the secateurs are ready to use. Following the handy sticker on the side, two squeezes of the trigger open the blades ready for action; holding the trigger in for three seconds switches between to the two cutting widths (19mm and 25mm); holding the trigger for five seconds closes the blades, so you can power the system down.

The current cutting mode is shown on the handy LCD, which also shows you the current cut count. 

To use the Stihl ASA 20 Cordless Secateurs, just line them up, squeeze the trigger and let the motor do the rest. It’s that easy, and there’s absolutely no fatigue in using them.

There’s only a basic battery meter on this, with three LEDs that extinguish one at a time. 

Every 4000 cuts, Stihl says that the blades should be oiled with Stihl Multioil Bio, and the company recommends getting the product serviced annually.

Performance

• Fast to use
• Cuts through thicker branches with ease

Using the Stihl ASA 20 Cordless Secateurs is a joy. With simpler cuts, such as deadheading a buddleia, I found this tool far faster than using a manual pair of secateurs. 

The controls are very intuitive. With a progressive cut, the blade only moves as far as the trigger is pulled, so as soon as you’re through a branch, you can release and move on. It’s a little thing, but it makes the Stihl ASA 20 Cordless Secateurs feel like manual secateurs, only faster.

I just clipped, moved on, clipped, moved on, and so on. In fact, it’s almost harder to stop pruning; the Stihl ASA 20 Cordless Secateurs make life that easy. And, they cut cleanly, too.

There’s no need to switch tools as with regular secateurs, either, as the Stihl ASA 20 Cordless Secateurs’ two modes make it well-suited for all typical garden jobs.

Even dealing with thicker growth is easy. Approaching the 25mm limit of the tool, I cut my large rosemary back. Its thicker branches were dealt with just as easily, with no motor grinding or noticeable change in performance.

On a full charge, the Stihl ASA 20 Cordless Secateurs can last for up to 2000 cuts. In other words, a full charge will let you do a full job, regardless of size.

Should you buy it?