When I removed the blades the first time, I was not that impressed with the design of the shields over the bearings. After just a few hours use, there was already debris inside them. I made the plastic cover shells (shown) to replace the blades when cleaning the deck. As the ground is uneven and rough, the blades do get a bit of a hammering, so get sharpened quite often.
With regard to hedges, this baby is just the job. Fortunately, my neighbour owns the machine, and does my hedging whilst he has the flail attached.