Electric Pole Saw

[Eagle Point]

I'm considering buying a pole saw to trim some oak tree branches around a house we recently purchased. It won't be used that often. I'd be cutting 2-3" branches and smaller for the most part. I'm looking at corded and cordless to keep it on the quiet side and not draw as much attention from certain neighbors. I see that some can be converted to a chainsaw too which would be handy once the branch is down. Looking for feedback from anyone here that has one.

 

[ducksface]

Harbor freight electric is a very good unit at 60ish bucks.
You don't mention which battery platform you have.
My ryobi 18v battery powered is a nice viable unit that does what you need, except mine is cedar, All. Day. Long
I use both along with a wicked Stahl super long gas powered.
I prefer the ryobi on 90 percent of the jobs I do.
The ryobi uses an extension, that when removed makes it about three feet long, letting you cut things on the ground or close to you without getting near the saw.

 

[kngelv]

There are only a few Harbor Freight items I recommend and their electric pole saw is one of them. It has a U.S. made Portland chain and works very well. It's around $60.00 with a coupon.

James

 

[zendriver]

I have the HF. Does a great job.

I like it his self oiling.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ez-duzit]

The electric chainsaws are heavy and awkward to use. Just get a manual pole saw.

 

[kythri]

The HF pole saw is quite good. Have borrowed my father's a number of times.

I just bought the Ryobi 18V ~3 weeks ago, so I had my own, and didn't have to dink around with an extension cord/borrow Dad's all the time. It works well, but it's rather wobbly/flexy, quite unlike the HF one.

The HF has a telescoping pole, whereas the Ryobi 18V has the battery/trigger section, the cutting end section, and the optional extension section. Time will tell if it will hold up due to the amount of flex from the design.

 

[Eagle Point]

Thanks for the responses. I'll check out your suggestions. Seems like the Ryobi has mostly positive feedback and a decent warranty.

 

[engineer2]

I have the Remington one and it works fine. You can use it without the pole as a light duty 115V chainsaw. Handy for firewood. Has a chain oiler. Probably very similar to the HF unit.
Only negative I've heard about HF is lack of parts availability, but for $60, who cares?

Had a manual pole saw and sold it. Too awkward for larger branches that were 10ft up, but it was a cheap model.

 

[Kaizen]

I got a corded one at hd a few years ago. I needed to take down a 35 foot tree for the garage build. It extends ten feet or so. Did great. Cost 100 bucks. I needed something to reach the higher branches from a ladder. Yea yea but I had a garage to build. I was able to have the ladder tied to the tree on the opposite side from the branch and reach up to cut.
Negatives are the chain tightening mechanism is took less. It uses a knob but it loosens more then it should. Also this spring I was cutting a limb with the saw extended and it got jammed. As I pulled the saw came out of the holder and hit me in the chest. Chain was not moving but cut pretty good.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ez-duzit]

Please explain how eight pounds of well balanced gnashing teeth...

With any experience at all you wouldn't have to ask that question. That 8 lbs is hanging out at the end of the pole. A manual pole saw is vastly easier to use and is what the pros use.

 

[kctyphoon]

Manual pole saws cut unbelievably fast.. they are very aggressive, and the reach will NEVER be matched by an electric pole saw.. people that dont know how to use them struggle with them sometimes because they dont realize that they only really cut on the downstroke, when you pull it towards you. Pushing up is just to reset the blade in the branch. You’d be amazed how fast they can cut, and how much more you can get to. The weight of the electric and gas powered ones is what limits their reach. I can do branches like 20’ off the ground if i really needed to. I wont lie and tell you THATS an easy cut, but its something you’ll never get with a powered saw.

 

[flushcut]

I would recommend calling a tree guy first. Being one I have seen a lot of unskilled homeowner cuts that do more harm than good to the trees. Maybe the OP knows how to make a proper pruning cut or not IDK. But either way I would go with a 17" Fanno Mondo blade on fiberglass Jameson poles. Best bang for your buck or buy the high dollar Silkey aluminum pole saws made in Japan and yes they are the best . 2-3" wood I would not even consider using my Stihl HT 101 or any other powered (battery/electric/gas) pole saw for that matter.

 

[Vvmvbb]

...got this Sun Joe this year. I like it. My wife thought it was a little heavy.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009FT54CQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[HMCFab9]

The Remington from northern tool is pretty decent for the price

 

[peteco]

The Remington from northern tool is pretty decent for the price

Have had this for 20 years. I have an older model with telescoping pole which works great.

 

[jgromada]

I have one of the HF corded Portland pole saws and it is good value especially for the money. It features automatic chain oiling so you MUST keep the oil weep hole clear for it to work properly.

My other observation is that cuts need to be mostly vertical. I tried to cut a branch that was almost vertical so i had the saw horizontal and i guess i was exerting too much force in this direction and managed to force the chain off the sprocket in the saw. No harm as it immediately jammed and no damage either to the saw chain or the saw. I am just that much more aware of that which is why I am mentioning it now.

But it does work pretty well but I can tell you it is VERY tiring holding all that weight up over your head. and almost worse than that is having the saw fully extended out in front of you. I have a fairly flat roof on the back of my house with a big tree behind there as well. Extending out is a lot of work so i figured out a way to have my son have a support in front to help extend it out and support it. Need to be inventive.

I do have a regular pole saw and yes for some branches it is better, but when some of these branches are thinner they just move when you try to cut them. With a chain saw just the friction of the running chain starts to cut them.


The other thing I may suggest is something similar to this. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0789G52KB/?tag=atomicindus08-20
This is not the one i have but it is like this. I tied a long rope to each end and have weighted wooden handles on each end. Some of the branches i attacked were almost 30 feet up. So it took a couple of tries to get the saw chain up where it needed to be. But after a few minutes I was able to take down a few of the large branches way up there. Hope this helps.

 

[ducksface]

I always try to post pics so that I'm not confused with those who might not be familiar with the topic or have never done an actual side by side comparison due to equipment limitations.

The saws
A long days pile from just the 18v ryobi pole, chain and recip saws.
The territory

Almost never gas, not two hours in five years.
I could do better with the 80v saws... But I'm doing fine.
The hand powered are relegated to clipping mistletoe, no other need for them.


You can see which end is heavy and which isn't on the saws and you can see the harness that removes all but ounces of weight, or, puts a negative weight/lift on the business end.
What you can't see is me on tip toes reaching, or on my belly reaching, while one handing that ryobi pole saw.

(I didn't hang that pegboard)

 

[JPinSTL]

I have 10 acres. I can't justify the $500 for a gas pole saw. I'm tied to the Dewalt 20V Battery tools and they do not offer a polesaw. I've considered a cheapo corded electric unit.

Has anyone run a corded electric polesaw, HF, Northern, etc from a modified sine wave inverter? I'm usually hauling all the debris off with the truck or tractor anyway. Seems like it would work? I have a 1000W/2000W unit and a dual battery Ford truck that would be sitting their idling anyway while I'm loading limbs?

 

[knobby]

If you only need the saw for one job it may be a better idea to rent one for a couple of hours. JS.
pro tip- if the health of the tree isn't a big concern wait till the leaves are off the **** falling will be much lighter.

 

[AndypCT]

I have the Ryobi. Home Depot was running a sale. I bought a charger and two batteries and got the saw free! It works great but runs out of chain lube fast. The saw retails for around $90.

 

[zendriver]

Manual pole saw = sux

Power pole saw = Quick and easy

As far as a rocket science involved trimming a limb awls you need to do is make a cut on the bottom first to keep the bark from peeling. If you want to make it pretty, make the first cut away from the trunkand when the limbs dropped then cut off the stub

I use mine with an HF 4000 W generator no problems


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ScottsGT]

I've got a Holly bush/tree that has grown up and into the eaves of my house and blocking the flood lights. It's about 30 ft. tall.
So I thought I would just get the pole saw attachment (also used the hedge trimmers) for my string trimmer and a few extra poles. It's almost uncontrollable at an extended length! I got about half way up and realized I need to go at it from the bedroom window on the 3rd floor now.
There is no way I'm going to crank up a gas weed eater in my house to hang out of the window with it. So I also picked up the Sun Joe 110V trimmer.
Of course it showed up when the weather was 105° outside, so I thought I would give the holly a little more grow time.
Cooling off next week, so it might be time to take the Sun Joe out of the box.