Which clippers? and any tips?

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jennywren07

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I usually get someone in to clip out my mare but i small windfall means ive decided to buy some clippers and do it myself, but which clippers are best?!? shes good to clip so doesn't matter too much in terms of noise or cordless/not, they'll only be doing one horse and i've got around £250 to spend

Also any tips for the best way to clip? i've never done it myself and im going a chaser clip (have a feeling this could end in a full clip :S )
 
I have Wolseley Swift clippers and really like them. A good website is http://www.peasridge.co.uk/clipperadvice/buyers_guide.php

I went to a clipping demo before I clipped myself and got lots of tips, I bought some trimmers to do the tricky bits as I was frightened of nicking the skin.

I would really like clippers with a battery so you don't have to worry about the cables and horses treading on them. If you have a clipper that is plugged in you must have a circuit breaker for safety.
 
Hi jennywren07,

You will only need a light duty clipper. Its always a good idea to get a set of spare blades as a half clipped horse dude to dull blades is never a good thing! Your budget of £250 should get you a clipper and 2 sets of blades with enough left over for a cheap meal for one.

Its worth saying at this point that I am personally against ebay, happy go lucky clippers and I don't like rewarding 'patent loopholers' with business to save a buck or two either. A descent brand has got their name from experience, expertise and quality, not copy catting. I only ever consider companies with years of experience in grooming and clipping...anyway, rant over, here are my suggestions!

There are 4 clippers well worthy of consideration. All are common, branded clippers. Expert help in regards to repair or advice is very easy to find in the UK for all of them.

I think when considering any clipper there are a few important things to consider.

Weight
Power
Size (and/or how well the hand peice is designed to fit the users hand)
Reliability
Price
Noise Level

Therefor you will read with each of the 4 reviews below those 5 repeated as I think that is what is important.

I would usually suggest a Heineger Progress as the best light duty clipper (but please, this is not my conclusion so dont stop reading now!) . It is the lightest (of my suggestions) bar the Lister Star. It has a 65w motor so it is not the most powerful but it is easily all the power you need and more. It has a slimline design making it easy to hold for almost everyone. It is slightly long making certain areas awkward but this is nothing that can not be overcome by clipping at an angle in hard to reach places. Heineger are phenomenally reliable as a general rule but with the adoption of the molded armature/field coil/brushes you do get and expensive repair should something go wrong. As it is moulded its impossible to say why they go but unfortunately sometimes they just do! Obviously no need to worry (as with any clipper) while it is under warranty. All heineger clipper are nice and quiet making them suitable for nervous horses if need be. A quick google search suggests you can pick one up for £208 and a spare set of blades for £28.

Heineger also make the Handy. It is more powerful, heavier and larger to hold than the Progress. It is also slightly noisier. It has the same reliability and price (google search: £207 and the same blades) as the Progress. For one horse its probably better to get the smaller, lighter and sufficiently powered Progress clipper but worth considering if you have any reason for a more powerful clipper in the same price range.

Similar to the Handy is the Wolseley Swift. Again, its is slightly more power than you need, with that power comes weight and a larger handpeice. The swift is easier to hold (more slimlined design) than the handy but is significantly heavier. It is quiet, which is useful but is comes with a plastic moulded head. This to me is my idea of a small design disaster. Maybe not by clipping only one horse but with any meaningful use the head will need replacing in a comparatively short amount of time as the comb studs wear and are moulded with the entire head. Not ideal. I wouldn't usually suggest this clipper as it is outclassed in most areas by the competition. However, I left it out of another similar post and the renowned 'TheEngineer' suggested it and so has katherine1975 in this thread so I thought I would include it this time. A google search finds a price of £261 and £30 for a spare set of blades (imitation wolseley blades are everywhere, the price quoted is for blades made by wolseley) This is £50 over your budget but have reviewed the clipper anyway for the reasons above.

This leaves us with the Lister Star. This would not usually be my recommendation but given the deal that I fund on Google it has to be a very serious contender! The reason I dont usually recommend them is the plastic head. Although you can replace the comb studs for very cheap, we have 4 test clippers to test the horse blades we have sharpened, they have all been used roughly the same amount, in similar manner and were all bought at the same time MANY years ago.

(**small technical detail, our clipper started off as a neon, but has had so many new parts in it it is only the case that is original. The reason I say that is someone is bound to say - you couldn't have been using it for years as it was only created a couple of years back. It is the same thing as the neon, just has a different material case and an extra head securing pin**)

However, the lister star (although quiet when new) has become the noisiest clipper, (if Mr Lister reads this, can you put some heavier duty grease in the bearrings please!) It has needed countless comb studs and has had 2 new motors in it. They were all bought at the same time but it is the star that has needed most maintenance. To be fair, we do hammer them as we sharpen and test ridiculous amounts of blades a day so my rant may not be the slightest bit relevant to your situation!

So red herrings aside, the Lister Star is incredibly light, it has a slightly larger circumference than the Heineger delta, but still small enough to be comfortable to hold and is shorter so is very agile. As I said above it is quiet when new and may well stay that way for a long time with only light use. It is the least powerful of my suggestions but more than enough for your needs. Now, the reasons it is my recommendation for today:

For the amount of use you will give it, your unlikely to find any faults with reliability and there is currently a very good deal found on Google. You get the Lister Star (+ free Lister Legato Trimmer worth £70) with 1 set of blades for £190. Add in a spare set of blades for £28 and you have a more than suitable clipper and a very good, reliable trimmer as well. ALL you will for the clipping side of things - excellent option. If I were in your situation, this would be my buy.

So there you have my recommendation for a clipper.

As this post is already pretty lengthy I will keep the next bit short and anything I can say is said better here:

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/horse-care-index/1370/59328.html

Also, a couple of weeks ago, this thread was started by TheEngineer, excellent thread and I have also posted a detailed piece on looking after you blades:

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=477090&highlight=TheEngineer
 
Lotty said:
I have the Hauptner 2000 and I really rate them.
Click to expand...

Hauptner 2000 clippers are amazing, I have not a bad word to say about them. However, they're heavy duty clippers, they have 4 times the power of the lister star!

New, they cost about £273 and then a spare blade will cost another £45 - expensive!

Hauptner 2000's (& the 3000's) are my first recomendation to anyone that wants an all round amazing heavy duty clipper.
 
Thanks to Mr Shear Ease for his usual sound advice. I would echo most of his comments and come out in favour of the Wolseley Swift or Heinegar Handy as the two favourites. I know Wolseley are doing a "scrappage scheme" this year, where you send them any make of old clipper and they will send you a £20 plus vat voucher to redeem with your dealer on a new Wolseley, so worth a look. Their blades are still, like Heinegar, made with German Steel and of good quality. I am not a fan of the star/neon, as I found the rebranding of the Neon a somehat cynical ploy to mask poor life. I see many neons with shot motors and pcbs which end up in the bin. As an aside, the Wolseley Swift head, has been in use on their MkII and MkIII machines since 1989. Whilst the lugs do eventually wear, the cost of a new plastic moulding is no more than a gear and shaft for a Lister, or a set of new Heinegar leaf springs. So not excessive. Good luck with your clipping and I hope you find a clipper that suits.


Ian
 
Another vote for Heinegars here, I have the progress and they are brilliant, plus one set of blades has done 8 clips and 2 sets of feathers and they are still sharp. I got mine for £160 as well including spare blades.
 
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