Pole pruners

Mike mandry · Mar 28, 2004

I am considering the purchase of a pole pruner for my own personal home use.

I also do the ocasional tree removal, or trimming job on the side & I have been doing a lot more than usual lately.

In the past, I have always rented one when the need arises.

I have seen these cheap poulan pros on ebay & was wondering if anyone has ever used one & if they are worth a *&%$#

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2388917203&category=20539

I dont care if its only going to last 50 hours, but on the other hand, I dont want total junk.

Anyone have any recomendations/advice.

I am not against spending a few extra $$ to get a higher quality unit, but don't really see the need, as I wont be using this all that much.

I havent really looked around & priced anything yet. What can I expect to pay for middle of the road one ??

Thanks

Mike

sedanman · Mar 29, 2004

Mike, Stihl makes a pruning head to use on their straight shaft (solid driveshaft) trimmers. What you do is loosen 1 screw, remove your trimmer gear box and install the pruner head. Takes a few more minutes than a split shaft system but is cheaper. The only drawback is the fixed length but that little Poulan was also fixed length.

Kneejerk Bombas · Mar 29, 2004

There is a new generation of manual polesaws now. They telescope and cut like mad. I'm not talking about the POS you see at the hardware store that you couldn't cut a toothpick with.
Look at ARS, Silky, and Stihl.
I am a proffesional arborist for a lliving and I use the manual pole saw 99% of the time.
I can't comment on the Poulan, because I wouldn't own a crappy tool like that. If I were going to buy a power pole saw, Echo make the best one, hands down.

Doug01 · Mar 29, 2004

Mike,

I have one of the poulan pro's you mentioned. I've never used any others so I can't compare but I have heard too that the echo's are the best. I bought mine because I already had the head unit (weed eater). I've used it a couple times and it worked pretty well, better than I thought actually. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't get any kind of profesional use. It's nice to have when needed. Like all the other stuff.....not as good as the top end. I knew that when I bought it, but it does have a two year warranty. The ones for $120 on ebay have 30 day I believe (that's over $100 cheaper than new).

I got mine because I wanted to be able to run the other attachments. If I had to do it over today, I would prob. go w/ echo or redmax...maybe. Thats's a lot of $$ for home owner use though, unles you use it a lot. I mainly use the weedeater though. Hope it helped.

Doug