Fiskars 8-16 Foot Power Lever Extendable Tree Pruner

So the day I received my new Fiskars pole saw I decided to do a bit of trimming. 5 minutes is all I got. Winston, our 3 year old lab got his foot caught in the rope. And of course in his mind a Chupacabra just grabbed him and we must go into total panic mode. It slammed the pole the ground and the results are in the pictures. We made him apologize to the Fiskar's people of course. So I contacted Fiskars warrantee dept. and I told the truth expecting to have to pay something, not at all there fault. A couple of days ago I receive a total replacement! "WOW" I'm so impressed, the saw and the lopping shear work great, it is very easy to work with due to it being very light. With all things considered is there any other trimming pole you want---no.

I recently used this tree trimmer to clean up dead branches and limbs in my mature cherry tree. It made pruning fun and easy. The cutting blade was very sharp and cut through smaller branches easily. Branches close to 1" gave a lot more resistance using the cutters, but the cutting blade went right through the larger branches without any need for much pressure. Several pulls back and forth and the branch was off for most 1" branches.The whole thing is fairly heavy and can be a bit awkward at first, but not too bad. I found it easiest to tuck the pole under my right arm a bit and use my elbow for leverage and it took a good amount of weight off. When the pole is fully extended, it does get a little wobble, but nothing that makes you feel out of control. I found it best to try to cut high limbs, when the pole was fully extended and harder to control, by trying to have another branch below where I was doing the cut. By having another branch below the cut, the pole only had to drop a short distance and was caught by the lower branch, instead of crashing to the ground and/or hurting my wrist or arm in the process.I really do like this pruner and it can be addictive using it:-) Now I want to prune EVERYTHING I can reach with it. It is much cheaper than paying a tree trimmer and my tree now looks so much happier and clean.

I had a Sears Craftsman extendable tree pruner that I used for decades. The blade easily cut through limbs that were sometimes six inches thick. And the blade held up after frequent use for many years. I would still be using it today if a piece of plastic hadn't broken, and I can't get another Craftsman. To my great disappointment, this junky tree pruner's blade cuts very poorly. If you cut a few centimeters into a branch, the blade constantly gets stuck, and then you have to saw with only an inch or so of the blade, requiring an hour to cut a limb that the Craftsman would cut in ten minutes. And you always have to cut with the pole fully extended because the blade catches so much that every movement of the blade pulls the pole out further and further. And good luck if you try to get help from Fiskars. I sent an email and didn't get reply for two weeks.

I would have given it 5 stars except that the bottom part of the pole (orange handle) broke off the first day. That piece is attached to the extension by a pin that simply sheared off rendering about 3 feet of the pole unusable.The blade can easily bind and then bend the pole out of shape when extended, especially at full length. When the pole bends out of shape you cannot reduce it's length by inserting it back in. The key is to use it with that in mind so as to avoid this issue which will likely happen anyway. The saw cuts really really well though.Fiskars however has sent me a replacement pole under warranty so I am happy about that. They have proven to be a great company as far as products and especially customer support.

This is very handy and extremely durable. Our home is surrounded by trees and yes, they are beautiful; however, you absolutely must keep their branches under control for the sake of air circulation and allowing the sun to reach the turf grass. I had been using a Remington pole saw for the past several years. It is a magnificent item but it lacks the extension ability and the weight on the end of that stick is noticeable. This Fiskars product extends to 16 feet and maintains a sturdy form to handle some pretty good size branches. The saw is as sharp as a razor and cuts through both hard and soft woods like butter. I should have purchased it well before I did! I have many other Fiskars yard tools and I have never been disappointed with their craftsmanship.

The product arrived damaged where the tool meets the pole. I submitted a warranty claim almost a month ago with Fiskars. Other than receiving a notice the warranty claim was being worked...nothing. Since this is the last day to return the product, I guess I’ll be stuck with a damaged tool unless Fiskars honors my warranty claim. Definitely disappointed with this purchase, I should have sent it back rather than worked the warranty; I might have had a replacement by now if I’d returned it to Amazon.

This is lightweight and easy to use and has worked so far. The pruning hook works amazingly well cutting branches of even bigger size than I would have expected. As you might imagine, when the saw is fully extended, it is hard to get enough leverage on the saw. The blades are sharp and it cuts well, but you just don't get the kind of leverage you would get on one of those mechanical chainsaws on a pole. That said, it seems a lot less dangerous! I'm glad I bought it, as I was able to cut some branches that were growing into the house.