Doing some tree trimming

[bunyip]

Bought a cheap pole saw on ebay, has 3 alloy tubes to make up to about 12' long.
It is the most useless thing I have ever bought as the tube is too springy, it touches the branch then bounces up and down and cuts nothing. Resorted to a ladder and small chainsaw.
Like others I would like one but can't justify it for the little work I have to do.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Bought a cheap pole saw on ebay, has 3 alloy tubes to make up to about 12' long.
It is the most useless thing I have ever bought as the tube is too springy, it touches the branch then bounces up and down and cuts nothing. Resorted to a ladder and small chainsaw.
Like others I would like one but can't justify it for the little work I have to do.

Yep, we get what we pay for. Go look at the Echo pole saws. You won’t be disappointed.

 

[bunyip]

Yep, we get what we pay for. Go look at the Echo pole saws. You won’t be disappointed.

I paid about $200 for the chinese rubbish, the Stihl is about $1500, I thought I saved $1300 but I wasted $200 and it is now a paperweight and as an added bonus you can't get spare parts for them as I found out when I managed to break the chainguard.
Want to buy a cheap polesaw?
Guaranteed to be useless, there, an honest salesman!

 

[Wagtail]

I paid about $200 for the chinese rubbish, the Stihl is about $1500, I thought I saved $1300 but I wasted $200 and it is now a paperweight and as an added bonus you can't get spare parts for them as I found out when I managed to break the chainguard.
Want to buy a cheap polesaw?
Guaranteed to be useless, there, an honest salesman!

I went old school handraulic from Gardening tools, secateurs, garden cleaning tools | CutAbove Tools. They were at the local Tassie field day (Agfest).

They had a high quality (made in Taiwan) set of 5M expandable pole, ratchet pruner and HD saw for around A$170. The pole doesn't wobble and the saw, especially, cuts through my blackwood limbs like the proverbial hot knife through butter (on the down stroke).

Money well invested, in my humble opinion.

 

[lostcreekranch]

I paid about $200 for the chinese rubbish, the Stihl is about $1500, I thought I saved $1300 but I wasted $200 and it is now a paperweight and as an added bonus you can't get spare parts for them as I found out when I managed to break the chainguard.
Want to buy a cheap polesaw?
Guaranteed to be useless, there, an honest salesman!

Like I said........ go buy an Echo PPT.

Tree Pruners, Long Reach Pole Pruners, Extended Reach Pruners | ECHO USA

If somebody is trying to charge $1500 for a pole saw ......... run!

Edit: I just realized that your in Victoria, Australia.

Echo PPT265ES Pole Saw - Melbourne's Mower Centre

As I recall an Australian $ = about .75 US$

 

[orangeandgreen]

I've had a Stihl pols saw for several years and it has served me well. First "large" branch I cut with it (20") pinched the bar and I ended up mangling the head and pole, expensive lesson on how NOT to cut a limb. Replaced the business end of the saw and have been more careful since then.
It got quite a work out cleaning up after the ice storm we had in 09.

 

[lostcreekranch]

I've had a Stihl pols saw for several years and it has served me well. First "large" branch I cut with it (20") pinched the bar and I ended up mangling the head and pole, expensive lesson on how NOT to cut a limb. Replaced the business end of the saw and have been more careful since then.
It got quite a work out cleaning up after the ice storm we had in 09.

On big branches, try cutting maybe 1/3 from bottom side then, do top side.

 

[orangeandgreen]

"On big branches, try cutting maybe 1/3 from bottom side then, do top side."

Thats what I was doing, problem was the branch diameter was almost double the length of my bar, and it was 15 feet up. I did a generous bottom cut, then was moving from side to side working my way down from the top. The limb swung toward me and pinched the saw. I went out to the end of the limb and pulled it gently in the other direction so the saw might slip out but the limb broke and it all came crashing to the ground. It bent the pole like a pretzel and broke the saw head in half. Limb was 20" plus diameter at the tree and 20 to 25 feet long.
Lesson learned: don't try to cut anything larger than the length of the bar.

 

[lostcreekranch]

"On big branches, try cutting maybe 1/3 from bottom side then, do top side."

Lesson learned: don't try to cut anything larger than the length of the bar.

Bingo!

 

[Creamer]

I paid about $200 for the chinese rubbish, the Stihl is about $1500, I thought I saved $1300 but I wasted $200 and it is now a paperweight and as an added bonus you can't get spare parts for them as I found out when I managed to break the chainguard.
Want to buy a cheap polesaw?
Guaranteed to be useless, there, an honest salesman!

I purchased a Greenworks 40V from Menard's for less than $100 and have been more than happy with it. I elected to go electric versus gas because of the handiness of not having to pull start up on a ladder or climb a ladder with a running saw. Also the electric is lighter weight. I am not a fan of the power of this unit but it is adequate and the convenience for a low use tool of electric power is worth the tradeoff.

The other thing I am thinking about is safety - cutting off limbs with a chainsaw require you to be too close to a falling limb so unless you have a manlift of some type you put yourself in a very risky situation.