Pole Saw

[SELKIRK]

With a B-day comming up I reviewed my wish/need/must have/will save money/need list for my wife. And a pole saw seems to be high up there. So my question is what is you favorite brand/size/type etc pole saw that you all might have or used?

Here's a few points on my needs and buying style.

With about 100 trees some thing always needs to be trimmed.
A pole saw has to be cheaper than falling off a ladder!
I'am always needing to cut limbs out of reach with out a ladder.
I like to buy something the right the first time.
I like to buy something that works well without being worked on.
My chain saw is a husky rancher which works very well.


CT Tree Guy-I know you must have something to say about them.


Thanks for any tips or help.

Selkirk

 

[Jagmandave]

Do you have electricity nearby where you'll be working? If so, one of those $100 electric ones works pretty well. I've had one for about 3 years now and it still works great.

If you need a gas powered one, then I'd suggest buying a good brand like a Stihl.........

 

[dooleysm]

We had a Stihl at the cemetery I worked at. If you've got trees to prune, they're worth their weight in gold.

 

[gordon21]

Go to Home Depot or Lowes or some place similar. There will be two basic gasoline choices. A fixed length one with roughly 9-10' reach or a telescoping model that may reach 10-15' I bought one 4 years ago and gave it to the buyer of the house when we sold it. If I remember right, it was about $189 for the fixed length one. You are essentially buying a 12" chainsaw with a 10' long handle. The telescoping ones were about $50 more. Don't bother with electric unless you have lots of heavy duty extension cords and are within 150' of an outlet and the limbs are smaller than 4". A gas model will chew through wood like a regular chain saw. By the way, don't forget about gravity. Don't saw directly over your head. Try to saw at a 70-75 degree angle so the limb does not come straight down to your head. When in doubt or danger, drop the running saw and run like %&#$.

 

[kossetx]

I don't have a gas one but I can tell you this from experiance, the electric ones get mighty heavy if your using it for more than 30 minutes. Poulan has a gas one that I've concidered for about 200.00, and I've had great luck with their chainsaws. The Stihl, at 500.00 is a little out of my league.

 

[Jagmandave]

If I could have bought a gas powered one for $200 when I bought my electric, I would have jumped on it. Last I checked they were in that $500 range, for the diff the electric works well. And he's right, since the entire chainsaw is mounted up top on an electric, they get a bit unweildy after a while. buy the gas one, but get the telesoping one or you'll be wishing you did first time you try to trim one that's just a couple inches higher than your reach.

Oh, and they're also great for reaching under bushes and chopping of low hanging stuff too!

 

[gordon21]

Kossetx is right about the sore arms. Holding anything that weights 5-10# at the end of a 10-15' pole for 30 minutes gets real heavy real quick. That is another reason for the gas power. It will cut 2-3 times faster than electric. Gas ones will have the motor behind your hand to help couterbalance the load on the pole. Look for a basic model around $200 if you only plan to use it 5-10 running rhours per year.

Don't forget to undercut branches bigger than 3" first. This will leave a much cleaner finished cut and not damage the tree like a straight down cut can when the limb peels back at the last minute.

 

[rswyan]

I have a Stihl HT101 that I picked up last year - it was about $550.

It works great - I've used it to prune trees - as well as trimming the tops out and bucking some fairly good-sized logs when we were clearing the pad for the polebarn. I was pretty impressed at how easily and quickly it will cut thru an 8" log. It does get heavy after awhile - the optional harness/sling looks better than the one that's included.

I have two other Stihl products - an 031AV chainsaw that's probably at least 25 years old and an FS66 brushcutter that's at least 15 years old. Neither have had any real trouble to speak other than just normal maintainence - occassional sparkplug, new chains, etc. I did eventually the rubber isolation mounts on the saw after about 20 years.

 

[BB_TX]

I have an Echo gas powered that I bought at HD a number of years ago for something like $350. Starts easy. Works great. Never had a problem with it.

 

[wushaw]

I have a Sthil HT 75 that I've had for four years, it has been a great saw, it gets heavy real quick, it has never given me any problems and I have never needed to sharpen the chain despite all the Bodark limbs it has cut.