Stihl HTA 50 Pole Saw

[D.F.B]

I finally bought a pole saw this morning, something I’ve been meaning to do for years.

When I bought a KM 56 RC-E Combi powerhead many years back, it was originally bought to run the hedger attachment. I then added the trimmer and edger attachments, with intentions of adding the chainsaw to the mix as well.

KM 56 RC-E KombiSystem Engine | STIHL Australia

The lightest STIHL KombiEngine for use around the house and garden. With STIHL Easy2Start and simplified starting system for easy starting.

www.stihl.com.au

The issue I found with running the Combi system was excessive weight, be the powerhead or the attachments. For example, the line trimmer felt very unbalanced, that combo being 5.8kg. My Husqvarna 522L trimmer is only 4.2 kg. With a combined 6.5 kg, the pivoting hedger attachment was uncomfortable to use and caused a lot of shoulder and neck pain. And I never even used the edger attachment as I ended up buying a Honda powered Atom. Because of the above, I wasn’t in a hurry to get the chainsaw attachment, and having used petrol powered pole saws in the past, I really didn’t like how heavy and cumbersome they were. So, early last year I sold the Kombi with the three attachments to one of my bosses. (Those numbers might not sound much, but trust me, with regular extended use, they really do put unnatural stress on your body.)

Another reason why I had held out on a pole saw, I was kinda hoping Stihl would create an attachment for the HLA 56 pole hedger that I bought a few years ago. The split-boom design would have made adding a saw an easy and logical solution, but Stihl obviously want you to another unit entirely.

HLA 56 Battery Long-Reach Hedge Trimmer | STIHL Australia

Cut tall hedges and shrubs ✓ Low-noise, single-sided cutting blade and a total length of 2.1 m! ➤ Discover now!

www.stihl.com.au

And so, the HTA 50 pole saw enters the equation. This uses the same mid-tier AK battery system that I use in the HSA 56 and HLA 56 hedge trimmers, a MS 140C chainsaw and the (crappy) BGA 56 leaf blower. The AK10 and AK20 batteries are now over 6-years old and are (touch wood) still doing the job.

HTA 50 Battery Pole Pruner | STIHL Australia

The STIHL HTA 50 cordless pole pruner is 2.8 m long, powerful & quiet, for pruning high branches ✓ ➤ Buy now!

www.stihl.com.au

The key to these battery powered units is the reduction in weight and vastly superior weight distribution. A petrol-powered unit has the majority of the weight at the engine. On an electric, the battery is at one end and the motor at the other. So while the battery is heavy, it’s balanced by having the motor at the end of the shaft. They can also run a smaller, more efficient motor as there is no power loss from a long driveshaft and clutch. The actual weight figures paint the rest of the picture..........................

The HTA 50 comes in at a claimed 3.6 kg. This figure is vague as it doesn’t indicate if it includes the battery, I would assume not because its being sold as a skin. What’s stupid is that the number doesn’t include a bar and chain, despite the unit being sold with both. If I add the weight of the AK10 (0.8kg) or AK20 battery (1.2kg), the numbers become 4.4 kg or 4.8 kg.

The combined weight of the KM 56 Combi head (4.2 kg) with the HT chainsaw attachment (1.9 kg) comes in at 6.1 kg. As mentioned earlier, it's not just the added weight, but rather how it forces your body to compensate for the weight being concentrated at one end.

The HTA and HLA both share a very similar battery/throttle/handle end, so I’m not entirely sure why they didn’t create an attachment for the HLA, other than wanting to extract more money from the sale of another tool.



This unit uses a 10-inch bar with a ¼-inch PM3 chain. Note the “branch hook” extending down from the “clutch cover”, which is to aid removal of stuck branches. The transparent oil tank is nice to have as well.







Unlike some pole saws, the HTA 50 is not telescoping. That means a total length fixed at 280cm, but there is also an optional 50cm extension shaft to push that out to 330cm, I probably won’t bother.

In no way will this HTA 50 out cut a petrol powered equivalent, or even the AP professional battery series from Stihl or the excellent Husqvarna battery gear. Having said that, other than the blower, I’ve been pleased with the rest AK-powered tools in my arsenal.

 

[D.F.B]

I teamed up with another gardener this morning to down three overgrown Callistemon's that had been hanging over a neighbour's fence for quite a while now. Hence me buying the pole saw yesterday to make the job go smoother. Considering the hardness of Callistemon timber and how hard I was pushing the capabilities of the saw, I'm quite surprised at how well it did. Same for the little MSA 140.

If there is one change I'd make to the HTA 50, it would be a slightly longer bar and chain. I'd say the short bar would be an attempt by Stihl to curtail users from biting off more they can chew. I ended up using it to chuck down a rather awkward, contorted branch of reasonable girth. Not ideal, but the safest solution considering the branch and access restrictions. In any case, the HTA did well and only used two bars of a battery making several large/continuous cuts.

With battery saws, I've found you need to resist putting too much pressure on the bar or force the machine through a cut. Where a petrol saw will dig in under load, the battery stuff will just stall. No doubt this would be to prevent overloading the motor and battery (heat kills batteries).

For the larger cuts, I left that to my workmate and his 64cc Stihl MS 390 FarmBoss. I mention this because I watched him fill up the oil tank with canola oil, apparently, he had just made the switch and was seemingly happy about the cheaper cost. The funny thing is, when he shut the saw off, it smelled like a frying pan heating up in the kitchen.

Personally, I wouldn't use this in a modern chainsaw, especially one with a $1600 (AUD) replacement cost. I feel like a lot of people who go down this path have read about it online from an old logging contractor who would have been doing this with older, lower revving saws. Modern saws rev harder and need more oil to sustain high chain speeds. Bar oil has an additive to make it sticky, which is to keep it on the bar and chain loner. Canola or vegetable oil is simply too thin, so it flings off the bar.



The cost argument doesn't really stack up either. When bought in bulk, the per litre rate of bar oil is down to about $4 to $6 (AUD) depending on brand and retailer. That's not a lot more than canola oil per litre, and you don't use as much either, or risk burning up your bar, chain, sprocket and engine.

The counter argument would be, what does the bar oil have to do with the running of the engine? The lack of lubrication generates heat in the chain and bar, which therefore transfers into the clutch drum and clutch bearing, then into the crankshaft, conrod, piston, cylinder.....................you get the point. Heat kills chainsaws.

It's funny, I was reading a post the other day about someone asking if he could use hydraulic oil in his saw. Well, yes you can, but why? Bar oil is cheaper and lubricates better. Then all the "experts" chimed in to say that they use canola oil/waste engine oil/insert any random oil here. These are guys running expensive, professional grade saws, many of them ported. They also carp on about using specific 2-stroke oils and fuels. And yet they try to reinvent the wheel when it comes to bar oil? I don't get it.