Pole saws

[Donystoy]

Looking to purchase a pole saw for cutting low limbs on trees. Am leaning toward the Stihl gas powered residential unit as I have always had great luck with Stihl products. The dealer is pushing the new battery powered saw. It is about the same price as the gas unit if not more. Wondering if anyone has had experience with these battery powered saws. They told me that Stihl is now putting all their R & D into Battery systems now.

 

[The Evil Twin]

My only experience is with Kobalt pole saws. As little as it gets used, gas hassles were not worth it. Probably sees 6 hours of use a year. I just like the fact that there is 0 maintenance except for filling the lube tank. I don't even sharpen the chain. It just gets replaced.

 

[85Hokie]

I too love anything Stihl - have several saws and weed wackers.

However - as I have gotten older - a battery operated pole saw is the cats ass. No mixing anything.
Pull trigger - cut, stop - move to next limb. Easy f'en peazy.

Still have to add bar oil - then again no biggie.

I am fond of the Greenworks implements - I have about 6 different items that all use the same battery - and shoot the batteries typically last longer than I do!

 

[JimDeL]

I have the Stihl battery powered chainsaw, and I love it. Unless you're felling large trees, it's all the saw you'll need. Battery charge lasts an almost unbelievably long time, and cuts up to about 6" diameter in oak or maple are just as fast was with a gas saw. I have two Stihl gas powered saws, and haven't used either one since getting the battery one.

Now you've got me thinking about a pole saw...

 

[Magicman]

I am well pleased with my 40 volt Ryobi platform. I have the pole saw, weed whacker, hedge trimmer, and chainsaw. The tools are powerful and the battery life is unbelievable.

 

[Flintknapper]

Agree with all the above that battery powered makes sense for infrequent use and limbs up to 6" or thereabouts.

I use my polesaw (Echo Gas) a LOT and routinely cut limbs up to 10"-12" so gas powered is the best thing for me.

But battery powered models dispense with any gas mixing, carb problems, provide instant and full power and will run as long as most projects require without recharging.

 

[trainman605]

I purchased a Ryobi 10" chain saw, I'm so impressed with it, I even have cut 10" logs up with no problem. It's a $175.00 saw with battery, it has very good battery life and haven't had the need to purchase a second battery. I'm now considering the Ryobi Pole Saw, if it works as good as the chain saw it will be great for my tree trimming use. I wasn't a fan of Ryobi in the early days, but since there product line went Green (color) it has good quality and I think fairly equal to other top manufactures for homeowner use. I'm also impressed with the new EGO brand stuff, 56V stuff.
trainman

 

[motionclone]

Ive considered ratchet strapping my chainsaw onto my EX bucket to get some high branches.. but one wrong move seems would destroy the saw.

 

[Jchonline]

Looking to purchase a pole saw for cutting low limbs on trees. Am leaning toward the Stihl gas powered residential unit as I have always had great luck with Stihl products. The dealer is pushing the new battery powered saw. It is about the same price as the gas unit if not more. Wondering if anyone has had experience with these battery powered saws. They told me that Stihl is now putting all their R & D into Battery systems now.

Residental use - go for the battery.

 

[jkrubi12]

I've got the same Greenworks polesaw that @85Hokie has listed, along with another GW chainsaw & leaf blower. The polesaw gets lots of use and is highly recommended, it works very well. The 'pole' can be reduced in length (or even extended with an additional section) for increased versatility. I've switched to Oregon chains on mine (8" .043 gauge 3/8" pitch iirc) and it rips.

 

[Elliott in GA]

I have a Ryobi 18V pole saw; I bought it for around $100 (I already had other Ryobi tools - reasonably priced for occasional use). Although it did an adequate job, I have not used the Ryobi pole saw in years.

I bought a Stihl Kombi 131 to upgrade from electric (corded) hedge trimmer and string trimmer. I later bought the Stihl pole saw attachment and the shaft extension. It was a great decision to buy the Kombi. Buying the Kombi and the hedge and string trimmer attachments was cheaper than buying separately powered trimmers, and I only have one often used engine to maintain.

The Stihl Kombi pole saw is extremely powerful for a pole saw; I have a Stihl Farm Boss chain saw as my regular saw. The Kombi hedge and string trimmer attachments are also powerful. The Kombi system is far more power than I need around our house, but it is well suited for our property in north Georgia. With the tri-knife blade on the string trimmer attachment, I can cut down all sorts of briars and small privet in the woods (cannot get to them with the tractor). I have been using the pole saw attachment (no extension) to slice off 2-5 inch trees close to the ground along the edge of a pasture I am reclaiming. I drag the trees out for my chipper, and then I can rotary cut the 5 foot tall wall of briars and multiflora rose.

Look at the Kombi; it might be the best deal depending on your future plans to buy/replace other tools. If my Stihl blower ever wears out, I will just buy the Kombi blower attachment.

 

[Donystoy]

Thanks for all the input. I already have two Stihl straight shaft trimmers as well as a blower and saws. The one trimmer is used mostly for cutting into hawthorn or other thick areas that are difficult to get close to the main stems. On it I use a carbide saw blade that works great. I am leaning toward the Stihl gas unit considering the amount of use it will get.

 

[MOOTS]

Thanks for all the input. I already have two Stihl straight shaft trimmers as well as a blower and saws. The one trimmer is used mostly for cutting into hawthorn or other thick areas that are difficult to get close to the main stems. On it I use a carbide saw blade that works great. I am leaning toward the Stihl gas unit considering the amount of use it will get.

If you want to save some $, just buy the saw attachment and put it on one of your trimmers. A few T27’s is all you need to loosen to change the trimmer head to the saw head.

 

[mcfarmall]

I have a Stihl Kombi-motor with the extension shaft and the pole saw attachment. I love it in every way EXCEPT I got the biggest engine which happens to be the "4 mix" 4 cycle engine and if I could do it again, I'd get the biggest 2-cycle power unit. I can't get past the rev limiter and holding the throttle trigger just below the rev limiter rpm is literally a pain.

 

[Fordtech86]

I'd get the biggest 2-cycle power unit. I can't get past the rev limiter and holding the throttle trigger just below the rev limiter rpm is literally a pain.

the 2 stroke does the same thing, if I were to do it over I would probably drop at least one size down, maybe 2. I got the 131 and it’s overpowered for just about everything except really thick weeds

 

[GrizBota]

I have a Stihl Kombi-motor with the extension shaft and the pole saw attachment. I love it in every way EXCEPT I got the biggest engine which happens to be the "4 mix" 4 cycle engine and if I could do it again, I'd get the biggest 2-cycle power unit. I can't get past the rev limiter and holding the throttle trigger just below the rev limiter rpm is literally a pain.

Same issue here. I probably have a half dozen 2 cycle Stihl power heads and two or three Stihl units with the 4 mix engines. I do not like the low rev on the 4 mix engines. It is not good on the weed eaters in heavy grass. My HT131 pole saw does pretty good with the 4 mix engine.

My 85 yo FIL likes his green (color, I don’t know the brand) battery powered chain saw for cutting sticks. I had to bring over a real saw to cut the tree out of his driveway. He’d spent a couple hours and had a stack of branches cut up. My daughters used it to trim his fruit trees when they were teens, so I guess battery powered works. All my battery powered tools are yellow and black and most of them spin things, so no Stihl experience, kinda doubt I get any soon.

For occasional, light use battery powered is probably pretty convenient, as long as you remember to have a couple charged batteries. A half gallon of 50:1 gas will work a guy under the table, no waiting.

 

[ZTMAN]

If you are just using the pole saw occasionally, I would buy a battery operated one that matches the battery tools you currently own.
Stihl makes great saws but their pole saws are expensive because they are made for commercial use and like to be run.

I had a Craftsman pole saw attachment that I put on my Husqvarna string trimmer. Worked great for 15 plus years. Just got a Milwaukee pole say because that is the battery operated equipment I own.

A lot of great recommendations above.

 

[cthomas]

I have the Milwaukee(M18 Battery) pole saw and love it. Already have a few(okay a LOT) of Milwaukee tools and it is the Quik-Loc system so the height is adjustable. And it came with the combo kit so also has the hedge trimmer and the string trimmer that all use the same motor head assembly.

 

[chim]

Love Stihl equipment, but for a pole saw my go-to is a 20V DeWalt. There was a more in-depth discussion here a few days ago.

I had a Harbor Freight corded pole saw and it was great except for needing a long cord or a generator. Gave it to one of my sons who can reach anywhere on his property with a couple cords.

 

[AndyM]

I got into the Ryobi 40v with a small chain saw and it kind of grew from there. It seemed to work well enough I decided to try a few items in the 18v Ryobi system that appealed and it has grown - bought the 8" pole chain saw (works fine), then we found a pole lopper that does up to 1" branches that I find really handy with one caveat - it can be a little flakey at time times (not sure if a connection is a little off or what) but I really like the concept. I gets into places a chain saw has trouble getting to.

With some other tools I have added, the batteries have accumulated so I always have spares - like that about this system.