Who has experiance with pole saws. I'm looking to purchase one and would like comments on the pro's and con's of different brands.
I assume you mean gasoline powered vs. a manual saw. I have tons of experience with both!! Must have cut down 10,000 trees with one. I like the Kombi unit from Stihl. They make several motors. I like the motor that is one size smaller than the largest, forget the number, but maybe a 130??? The saw attachment is universal and fits all motors. This is a great unit! I have two. I like its balance, its light weight, power, and the fact that it can be broken down into two short lengths so transporting it on a tractor or 4 wheeler is easy. It cuts extremely well. I can reach limbs about 10 feet up and it easily can be used with one hand while standing on tip toes. THey also make a 3 foot extension to increase the reach for those occasional taller limbs, but it detracts from the balance, so I try to use it only when absolutely necessary. For limbing roads, pathways, shooting lanes, it is superb. I can carry it all day, operate it with one hand, and it does not beat you up. If you must have a longer one, the Stihl pole saws are nice, but much heavier and will tire you more quickly. Their length makes them hard to transport and store. For cutting from ground level up to 10 feet,the KOMBI is the best!!! And that's where most of my cutting occurs. For the few limbs 10 to 25 feet up, I use a manual saw, but that's work!! Would not want to use it much.
The only down side is that the short chains will dull fairly fast, especially if you touch the ground, so you must be careful when trimming sapplings close to the ground. I can go through a chain in a day of heavy use. But the chains are cheap, and i cycle about a dozen resharpened ones. I can easily cut down trees up to 8 inchs in diameter, limb them and section the trunk. I use my grapple to clean up the mess. My typical use is to walk my roads and shooting lanes, dropping overhanging limbs and trees in the road, perpendicular if possible. I will cut several miles of roads in a morning. Just did this last weekend. I rarely touch the cutoffs, just let them fall. I then come back with my grapple and boxblade and drive forward scooping up the debris. As I drive. huge piles are collected and they tend to catch and grab other debris. The box blade catches whatever the grapple misses. When I have a mass I can't see over, I clamp it and push it to a pile or carry it away. I have it down to a science as I do this along 6 miles of woods roads and trails and to keep my shooting lanes open and wide.
Check out the Kombi! THe hedge trimmer attachment and sidewalk edger that are also interchangeable are also nice if you have need of those.