Looking at Pole Saws

I know, this is pointless without pictures, but here we go.

My in-laws have a Boxelder that is getting into their soffit, hangs over the roof and is rubbing on the power feed to the house. It is also growing in/out of a retaining wall and the bottom is starting to grow fungi.

My wife called Consumers Energy, they came out and said it was not bad enough for them to deal with right now, and, being that it is only a single feed line to my in-laws house, I am not confident they will do anything about it, or if responsibility falls on the homeowner to maintain.

I was blown away at the price of a gas pole saw, and as this would be such an occasional use, I would hate to maintain another engine. But I am not totally off them yet.

I was looking at Milwaukee 18v and Dewalt 20v, I have a fair amount of batteries for both, but Milwaukee is almost double the Dewalt, obviously I am leaning Dewalt, any reason not to?

My End Goal would be to trim as much as possible and then pull down the majority of the tree without getting into power lines or the house.

DeWalt
Milwaukee
Echo

 

I use the heck out of my battery powered pole saw on a big row of leyland cypress. Reaching way out with it I would hate to have to worry about the noise, exhaust, and being burned by the powerhead of a gas version. I use it mostly from the top of a 14' ladder and the light weight of the battery versions is great. I have a cheapy ryobi version and the little batteries charge fast enough that with two batteries I can swap a dead one onto the charger and go all day.

I resist most battery things but the drill and pole saws have been better for me.

 

I have one. No regrets. Has plenty of power and is fairly lightweight. You can cut a surprising amount of stuff on a single 5AH battery.

 

Ive owned a Dewalt 20volt for a few years. Not as powerful as a gas powered unit but it gets the job done. My only complaint is it leaks bar oil when not in use. Suppose I could just drain it after every use, but that would be too easy. Thinking I paid around $150 shipped from eBay IIRC.

 

I have a plug-in polesaw, that gets used a couple times a year.

It's an inexpensive Portland from Harbor Freight.

It does what I expect of it.

 

I have a Stihl HT 101 (gas) polesaw that I bought new about 14 or so years ago. There wasn't much (if any) on the market for battery-powered at the time and back then I would have turned my nose up at anything chainsaw/battery-powered anyway. Fast forward to now and with the limited amount of time that the polesaw gets used, along with maintenance, weight, etc., I wish I had a battery-powered one instead. That model is still in demand with landscaping companies so I may sell it and pick up a battery-powered model. Now that some of my apple trees are getting up there in height, it would make pruning a bit easier.

 

I’ve used my Dewalt 20v a good bit. They work excellent. I still have yet to sharpen the chain. Still goin’ through wood like it should. I have a 4ah battery that lasts a decent amount of time, a 3 and a bunch of 2’s. I’d say don’t plan to use 2’s as they don’t hang in there long enough to muck with.

 

This ^^^ My poke saw is an attachment to a weedwacker split shaft.. an $119 dollar addition so no brainer really
Power brooms are heavy but useful
Mini cultivator (think mini roto tiller)

none of these would be as useful with gas motor used yearly but because power head is separate so easily justifiable

 

I have a Milwaukee battery powered blower and weed eater/trimmer and love them. I would not hesitate to add a pole saw and know I’d be very satisfied with it for my uses.

 

I bought a HeinPro which takes Milwaukee 18 V, cuts 14' and cost a little over $100. Works great

 

Anyone else end up with 2 hours of brush cleanup after using one for a half hour? That's what always happens when I use mine.

 

Yes

 

$30 gets you a 4-hour pole saw rental, at least around here...

 

I didn't even think of renting one, but I just checked and it is $75 a day, Yikes! I will likely end up with the Dewalt or Heinpro

 

Thanks, I had not heard of them, looks like a good option for the occasional use only this will see

 

Good luck. Batteries have come a long way. We have plenty of 20v DeWalt's, I'd get one if we didn't already have the Kombi unit like Lyle was talking about

 

I found a pre-owned extendable gas pole pruner locally that despite being a bit heavy, works fine. It was manufactured by the Technic Tool Company that was purchased by Echo. For $150 it has served me well. I have found with pole pruners and blowers, many homeowners use them once or twice then they sit on a shelf so some great deals can be found.
While it doesn’t get run a lot, it sure is handy when the time comes to use it.

 

Well there is an ornamental tree overhanging my driveway that the UPS guy has been complaining about, seems like while I was gone for work the last 10 days it got worse and is now dragging on the wife's Yukon, also had a new roof put on the house last week and that got me looking at the Blue Spruce that is always getting into the eves. So yesterday Amazon had the HeinPro on stale ($89 instead of $129) so that should be here tomorrow. Reviews are mixed, some say the quality is not good, if that is the case I will return it and get the Dewalt locally.

 

I gave it a try, for my needs it worked, certainly not a pro model by any means, feels like it could have more power. I need to get better at the 3 cut method, since some of the branches tore away more than fell, but it was extremely windy too.

Cleanup was minimal as my daughters decided they needed the branches for their "fort" in the woods, that is a win!

 

Same here.