First off, yes, the instruction manual is pretty useless.
That being said, it's an excellent bit of kit that needs little explanation and does the job well - although it's a little fearsome beastie : It's a moped engine on a stick - think about it!)
Bought a foil visor (with muffs) on Amazon and wearing them is a must - it's pretty noisy.
Get some good strong leather gloves - gives you a little protection but mainly absorbs some of the inevitable vibration (It's still a moped engine on a stick.)
Nip up to Halfords and buy a cheap petrol can - whilst there grab some of their 2 stroke oil (for garden equipment) and some chain saw oil.
(The hedge trimmer has grease nipples for it's gearbox - woot! If you don't have one, grab a grease gun and some grease too.)
Everything slots together pretty smoothly (the trick of pressing DOWN on the release catch to remove the attachments needs a small degree of luck until you get the knack.)
Starting it is a standard 2 stroke lanyard pull. Pretty smooth actually - but being at the rear of the motor it has a tendency to want to roll over.
The kill switch stops it dead - perfect.
Worth tightening up all nuts and screws.
So far, it's all that I could have hoped for and more.
(I am totally unfit, so a 20 minute stint with the beast is enough for me in this sunshine - but it's done the same amount of hedge trimming as I normally do in an hour - mainly due to the huge reach and not having to mess about with ladders and fighting to get in amongst the shrubs. Excellent!)
Edit: Now 5* - This really is a very, VERY good machine!