How to cut a tree branch without a ladder for $37: Bunnings Hortex Pole Saw Pruner Tree Lopper Thing Review

For what is a pretty simple device, pole saws are pretty expensive. I suppose they're not as simple as they look. After all, those teeth are sharp, and you don't want the blade coming off the head and cracking your skull open. The pole also has to be strong enough when extended to withstand vigorous too and fro.  The thought of screwing/nailing/duct taping a hand saw to a long piece of wood did occur to me ... but ...

Well, I'm not pathologically cheap; just your regular, run of the mill tightarse.  Sanity prevailed, and I went manual pole saw hunting.

I'd seen these manual pole saw things over the years at the local Westfield - you know, when they had great stores like K-mart in them, and before they went all trendy with dark marble and fancy restaurants (anyone been to Westfield Centrepoint in Sydney? Good gawd, son, it's completely (hand)tool free!). They are normally flogged by strong looking men who probably also run a Jim's Mowing, and start at $200+ - clearly a strategy designed to make an hour at Jim's usual rates look cost-effective. 

My usual first stop for these things was ebay.com.au, and oddly, there is precious little available if you're after a manual pole saw. Lots of chainsaws on sticks though,  priced to ram home that if you pay more than $75 IMHO for a manual pole saw, you're getting at least a little ripped off, because for a few bucks more you can go electric or petrol.

My next stop of course would be Bunnings (anyone ever been to a Masters? Heck, anyone actually seen a Masters?), where this appears to comprise their full range:

http://www.bunnings.com.au/search/products?q=pole%20pruner

(You'll notice a few line trimmers there too, which are completely unsuited to tree pruning.)

As you can see, we're in >$100 country for any Fiskars, but there on the bottom left is our boy, the laughably cheap (Feb 2014) $36.93 "Hortex Aluminium Handle Tree Lopper" .

Using "Tree Lopper" instead of "Pole Pruner" in the Bunnings search box also turns up the Hortex Turbo Deluxe with Mag Wheels model which costs about $18 more, which seems to be the same saw with a sturdier pole - but which is consequently also heavier. Not being particularly strong sealed the deal for me, so I stumped up for the $36.93 Hortex.

So my Hortex pole saw costs less than a can of paint - but will it do the job? Or will the blade fall off on first saw? Observe my skillful ministrations, as I take on nature!



Notes:

• I'd always assumed using one of these beasties required great strength. You do need strength, but not great strength. The curved shape of the blade actually helps a lot and meant I had to use a lot less force than I thought.  Top down cuts work best.
• The length of 2.4M is probably as long as you want anything like this to be.  As you can see from the pruner section in the video, its pretty hard to pull the cord and hold the pole at the same time when the pole is fully extended.
• The damn wingnut that attaches the blade to the head is a pain in the tightarse, because it keeps coming loose. Loctite may be the answer if you're OK with never removing the blade.  Alternatively, I'm sure I could've screwed the nut tighter but I suspect that would probably have led to stripped nut territory.
• As a bonus, you get this nifty yellow plastic handle that you can attach the sawblade to, turning it into a hand pruning saw.  Wow!!! C'mon, you're never going to use it, but who cares? It's like 3 tools in one for $36.93!!! 
• The pole locking mechanism was durable enough to enable sawing at maximum length, without the telescopic pole retracting.  This was my greatest worry when thinking about whether or not the better made Hortex was worth it.  As it turns out, it was fine.  There really is not a lot of force on the pole when it is fully extended and sawing, so the pole never retracted.  I think the angle you normally end up in when confronting a tall tree has something to do with this.  A better retraction lock is always desirable, but the pone you get is good enough.
• The rubber base guard at the end of the pole fell off and I lost it. Expect this to happen; it's not tightly secured. I didn't find this to be a big deal.

Conclusion:

I really can't fault this. It's a steal. It cut all the branches I needed it too, and the blade looks like it'll be ready for action for a while yet.  And when the blade dulls, it appears you can buy replacements from Bunnies here. I have to give this one 5 out of 5 Turds!

Have you used these contraptions before? Do you know of a cheaper pole saw in anywhere? Let me know and please share!