Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[Gale Hawkins]

We had a big storm come through last night. Some parts of the state had winds over 90 mph. Lots of downed branches and a few broken tree trunks at our place. Bought the Lynxx 40 v bar pole saw, based on the reviews I read right here. I also bought a spare battery. I have to say I'm impressed. I put the new battery on the charger as soon as I got home, and by the time I had the saw assembled, bar oil in it, put 2 stroke gas in my "big" gas saw, (and visited with the neighbor a bit on his damage), the battery was charged. I then put the spare battery on, thinking I would need it today.

I cut a LOT of branches down with this saw today. Some were big enough I had no business using that little cordless saw on, but it cut them anyway. Some I was at full pole extension, and tip toe (I'm 6'1") and one handing the reach to hit the branch even. I did use my big gas chain saw on all the really big stuff, and most of what I could reach with it while standing on the ground. I probably put 5 or 6 hrs of run time on the little Lynxx pole saw today, and I'm still cutting with the first charged battery, haven't needed to swap batteries yet.

Only "weird" thing on the charger is, the green light starts blinking as soon as you plug it into AC power, and it doesn't stop blinking until you put in a battery pack. When you're done charging and take the battery off, the green light blinks constantly from then on, until you unplug it from AC power. There's also a cooling fan in the charger that is loud enough (I'm hard of hearing) that I could hear it from 10 feet away standing outside the shop door. Not "knocking" it, it was just different is all.

I did like that the battery pack has a charge indicator that you can press a button and see how much charge is left in the battery pack. That was a nice touch I thought. So, initial review is I like the tool, and I've already run the BeeGeezuss out of it in one day.

Thanks for the update on Lynxx 40 volt pole saw. We have not broke out our Lynxx chain saw or pole saw yet but am impressed with their leaf blower that I am finding more and more uses for since there is no rope pull or power cord to manage. The wife has several successful hours on their line trimmer (used 2 spools of line so far). The daughter requested the their hedge trimmer so the son picked it up yesterday so now we have 5 batteries and chargers.

We have only used one charger. With no battery in the charger it does flash green but then goes red when the battery is inserted until it is charged then it changes over to a solid green light until the battery is removed.

 

[California]

I wonder if that flashing green when idle is a response to recent concerns that many chargers, especially for phones, remain plugged in for years with each drawing power unnecessarily most of their lives, for a cumulatively significant effect.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I wonder if that flashing green when idle is a response to recent concerns that many chargers, especially for phones, remain plugged in for years with each drawing power unnecessarily most of their lives, for a cumulatively significant effect.

I expect that is the case. My cell phone charger is plugged up 26/7 and a lot of other stuff I expect is around the world.

 

[PJSprog]

We had a big storm come through last night. Some parts of the state had winds over 90 mph. Lots of downed branches and a few broken tree trunks at our place. Bought the Lynxx 40 v bar pole saw, based on the reviews I read right here. I also bought a spare battery. I have to say I'm impressed. I put the new battery on the charger as soon as I got home, and by the time I had the saw assembled, bar oil in it, put 2 stroke gas in my "big" gas saw, (and visited with the neighbor a bit on his damage), the battery was charged. I then put the spare battery on, thinking I would need it today.

I cut a LOT of branches down with this saw today. Some were big enough I had no business using that little cordless saw on, but it cut them anyway. Some I was at full pole extension, and tip toe (I'm 6'1") and one handing the reach to hit the branch even. I did use my big gas chain saw on all the really big stuff, and most of what I could reach with it while standing on the ground. I probably put 5 or 6 hrs of run time on the little Lynxx pole saw today, and I'm still cutting with the first charged battery, haven't needed to swap batteries yet.

Only "weird" thing on the charger is, the green light starts blinking as soon as you plug it into AC power, and it doesn't stop blinking until you put in a battery pack. When you're done charging and take the battery off, the green light blinks constantly from then on, until you unplug it from AC power. There's also a cooling fan in the charger that is loud enough (I'm hard of hearing) that I could hear it from 10 feet away standing outside the shop door. Not "knocking" it, it was just different is all.

I did like that the battery pack has a charge indicator that you can press a button and see how much charge is left in the battery pack. That was a nice touch I thought. So, initial review is I like the tool, and I've already run the BeeGeezuss out of it in one day.

Exact same story here. Monster storm rolled through Thursday evening and wreaked havoc on a good portion of the STL region. No tornadoes at our place, but the straightline winds were incredible. I bought the Lynxx 40V pole saw Saturday morning to get to stuff I couldn't reach with the gasser. Unbelievably impressed. I used it on 9 trees over a couple of hours, and the indicator still showed full charge. I had been thinking about getting one for awhile, also based on reviews here, to use on the trees along the pasture fence for better access when mowing (cab tractor). Really glad I bought this tool.

 

[newbury]

<snip> We have not broke out our Lynxx chain saw or pole saw yet <snip>

Break them out and at least make sure they work before the warranty runs out.

I am also amazed at how long the battery lasts on my Lynxx pole saw.

I'm slightly surprised at the "beefiness" of the charger.

I also have a Black and Decker 40V chainsaw and the charger for that is about 2"x1"x width of battery, easy to miplace. Wish that HF had come out with the Lynxx lin a few years earlier.

 

[Threepoint]

Break them out and at least make sure they work before the warranty runs out.

I am also amazed at how long the battery lasts on my Lynxx pole saw.

I'm slightly surprised at the "beefiness" of the charger.

I also have a Black and Decker 40V chainsaw and the charger for that is about 2"x1"x width of battery, easy to miplace. Wish that HF had come out with the Lynxx lin a few years earlier.

Ditto on how long a battery charge lasts. If someone is just buying the pole saw, or the 14" chainsaw for that matter, I recommend that they hold off buying a spare battery. The $60 battery does not go on sale, so you're better off putting the money toward the Lynxx blower or 24" hedge trimmer, when they go on sale for $20 off (or when you get a special Lynxx $20 off coupon in a flyer). That way you get the blower for just another $70, or the hedge trimmer for another $60. Plus an extra charger.

 

[PJSprog]

...(or when you get a special Lynxx $20 off coupon in a flyer).

Yup. I used the $20 coupon from the most recent flyer.

 

[PhysAssist]

We had a big storm come through last night. Some parts of the state had winds over 90 mph. Lots of downed branches and a few broken tree trunks at our place.

Redacted to say GLAD NOBODY GOT HURT!

Only "weird" thing on the charger is, the green light starts blinking as soon as you plug it into AC power, and it doesn't stop blinking until you put in a battery pack. When you're done charging and take the battery off, the green light blinks constantly from then on, until you unplug it from AC power. There's also a cooling fan in the charger that is loud enough (I'm hard of hearing) that I could hear it from 10 feet away standing outside the shop door. Not "knocking" it, it was just different is all.

I did like that the battery pack has a charge indicator that you can press a button and see how much charge is left in the battery pack. That was a nice touch I thought. So, initial review is I like the tool, and I've already run the BeeGeezuss out of it in one day.

Thanks for the preliminary review- keep us informed down the road- I'd love to trade in our corded pole saw for a better-balanced cordless- IF it stays reliable...

As regards the batteries and chargers- our big cordless string trimmers with 80-amp-hour batteries have the same light things happening, as well as the very loud cooling fan- as a result it resides out in the barn, and the batteries come back in to the house after their seasons of use, just because...

Those big lithium power units do have some crazy juice on-board though- we can really chew up a lot of heavy veggies with it- using one of the plastic-bladed replacement heads.

Prolly why they put the big fans in the chargers- to make it sound like they're protecting our stuff from run-away overheating.

 

[Rock Crawler]

Well, thanks to all of you goons I spent a couple hundred dollars today. I got the aluminum 500 lb trailer hitch carrier, the Lynxx chainsaw, a pack of latex gloves for greasing the tractor, a free magnet bar, and a cool as heck short level that has a degree wheel so that you can show what angle from level you are at.

You guys owe my wife some money. She's mad at you!

 

[whitepine2]

Christmas in July!!! LOL