Pole Saws Gas? Cordless?

[KDpoolguy]

Gotta expand my yard tool collection. I have dead palm tree frawns needing to be cut down and a couple trees needing trimming. It’s too much for my manual pole saw. I have many Ryobi 18v ONE+ tools, and was surprised to see HD sells a pole saw ONE+ 18v version. Seems to have received good reviews. I’ve got maybe 5 of the compatible Ryobi 18v batteries, and that’s convenient. I also am not shy about gas tools, and have a few ‘cheaper’ 2-cycle tools (blower, hedge trimmer) and love their portability, power, and durability. I’ve always got 3-6 month old ’fresh’ gasoline on hand for my generator, so that’s not an issue for me.

Craftsman offers their proprietary plug and-play TrimmerPlus tools, including a pole saw attachment. It then requires the purchase of the Craftsman WC210 with the included grass trimmer “weed whacker”. It’s $130 for the Ryobi and then $200+tax for both the Craftsman engine (w/WeedWhacker) ($100) and pole saw attachment ($100). I’m liking the gas idea. I was already at HD and bought the Ryobim but just didn’t think it out fully. I’ll return the Ryobi if so, and Lowe’s carries the Craftsman stuff at a very fair price now.
Thoughts?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

The main advantage to a gas pole saw in my opinion is that they are balanced better than electric. I have a cheap Black & Decker electric pole saw (plug in) and it can be a bear to handle when fully extended.

 

[anotherpyr]

I have the Ryobi. It works for small jobs. It‘s not going to compare to a gas pruner. The runtime on a fully charged battery isn’t very long. But it beats the heck out of a manual pruner. And I’ve actually cut down a 6” diameter tree with it.

 

[Pool_Medic]

If it’s in your budget go gas.

 

[Msch99]

If you only need to use it once every couple years...cheap route or rent a gas saw to do what you need.
If you need it more often, have a tool fetish, or can afford it, gas for sure.

 

[Arizonarob]

Just a tip.
Be very careful when trimming palms with power equipment, you need to clean the blades with alcohol after every tree. There is a fungus that can be transferred from tree to tree by improper practices, that’s why real arborists hand trim palm fronds.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Just a tip.
Be very careful when trimming palms with power equipment, you need to clean the blades with alcohol after every tree. There is a fungus that can be transferred from tree to tree by improper practices, that’s why real arborists hand trim palm fronds.

Funny thing is, most people over-prune palms and cut off fronds that are critical. You shouldn’t remove a palm frond until it is fully and completely brown/dry. People always do these silly “hurricane cuts” where they remove a lot of live fronds and just have a tied-up bunch on top. That’s very bad for the tree. Palms can only photosynthesize from the fronds that are attached and they store water and nutrients in their fronds. So as the frond is starting to yellow and brown, the tree is drawing back water and nutrients from it. If it gets cut off, the palm can die. Best to only prune what is in the skirt and only if it’s truly brown and dried. I realize that looks ugly, but it’s what best for a healthy tree. And many species of birds will use the “grass skirt” as a resting perch.

 

[KDpoolguy]

have a tool fetish, or can afford it, gas for sure.

What homeowner doesn’t have tool...fetish?

Just a tip.
Be very careful when trimming palms with power equipment, you need to clean the blades with alcohol after every tree. There is a fungus that can be transferred from tree to tree by improper practices, that’s why real arborists hand trim palm fronds.

Good mention there Rob. I’ll keep in mind. We’ve been losing many date palms (mex fan palms I think are OK, it’s the ‘fatter’ Date Palms) that are really taking a hit. For this project I’ve only got one smaller 20 foot royal fan palm, and a handful much-smaller 3-4’ queen palms. My neighbor just lost a gorgeous 30 year old date palm and it’s just sitting there and I worry about it as a fire hazard.

I returned the 18v Cordless and got a gas powered 25cc 2-cycle Ryobi Trimmer with the ‘Expand-it‘ accessory pole saw sold at HD. Honestly all of these units are likely made my the same engine manufacturer. Glad I went with the gas...it satisfies my fetish needs a bit better than electrical tools.

 

[Ralph III]

Hello All,
I have a different take than what has been posted and happen to work a very prominent Gardens on the Gulf Coast (maint).

We have both battery operated and gas operated equipment of which I prefer none of them. Batteries run down and go bad after a period of time. The gas unit we have is a quality unit but we have to periodically repair it which can be quite expensive. We've had to replace the shaft numerous times due to breaking, apparently from the torque those are capable of generating.

I personally own an electric Remington Pole Saw with about a 12in blade on it. Nothing fancy or expensive, btw. I purchased it about 12 years ago from Lowes for the home we had just purchased which had a lot of oak trees on 2 acres. Anyhow, I had to perform a massive pruning twice a year on those tree's. We also used the saw at my Dad's home who had 5 acres and lots of oaks. So it has been used a lot.....

That saw is still running great I have cut limbs as big as the blade can cut. I consider it one of the best tools I've ever purchased.


Advantages and Disadvantages:

Gas and Battery operated units are portable. That is there only real advantage. In addition, due to the weight of our gas unit you will wear yourself out with any extended usage. I could have never used it at my home for the pruning I used to do.

Electric unit. You do not need gas and you do not have to worry about the battery going dead/bad. My unit cuts through wood nearly as fast as a gas powered unit as well. It is also much lighter. Due to it being lighter I find it no harder to operate while extended versus the gas powered unit. Having the weight at the head is actually an advantage because it allows the saw to cut quickly. It's only disadvantage, which I consider minimal, is you must have extension cords. Once you run the cords though you are set to go....

I see the OP already made a purchase though so post is simply for others to consider.

God Bless,
Ralph

 

[wireform]

I have the Homelite model# UT43160-A. A great saw to say the least. Works well, not to heavy when extended and never complains. Keeps on cutting. Electric, well not a big deal. I have a small inverter generator so that comes along with me when extension cords are cumbersome.

 

[Bama Rambler]

I returned the 18v Cordless and got a gas powered 25cc 2-cycle Ryobi Trimmer with the ‘Expand-it‘ accessory pole saw sold at HD.

I highly recommend the Expand-It tools. I have the 40 volt pole saw (as well as the chainsaw, tiller, blower, weedeater, etc.), but the power end isn't the jewel, the Expand-It sections are. With the Expand-It pole saw you can make it as long or as short as you need it to be. We have a quite tall fifth wheel RV, so I need to keep a few trees trimmed to ~15' above the ground and the Expand-It sections allow me to do that.

 

[PoolGate]

I have the 4 stroke gas Ryobi weed wacker with the pole/chain saw attachment and 1 extension. I use it frequently and have no real complaints about it. Since it is 4 stroke it starts up with 1 or 2 pulls every time and uses regular pump gas.

 

[KDpoolguy]

Electric unit. You do not need gas and you do not have to worry about the battery going dead/bad. My unit cuts through wood nearly as fast as a gas powered unit as well. It is also much lighter. Due to it being lighter I find it no harder to operate while extended versus the gas powered unit. Having the weight at the head is actually an advantage because it allows the saw to cut quickly. It's only disadvantage, which I consider minimal, is you must have extension cords. Once you run the cords though you are set to go....

My Black and Decker trimmer is (Plug) electric and still kickin’ with zero maintenance after almost 8 years now. I too have used a portable genny for these units if I don’t wanna run my extension cord say, into the pool. They work well, sure. My plugged units were originally Purchased purely on cost, now I appreciate the portability and torque of gas. The times I’ve almost cut the cord with the cutting end have been too many and when I’m tired and dealing in high desert heat, I’ve dropped it and almost had serious electrical ‘mistake‘...many close calls.

 

[cfherrman]

Late to the party here, I'm converting everything to Ryobi 40v except the riding mower.

Gas is too noisy and troublesome. Electric works every time. Keep the batteries dead and out of the heat/cold and always buy the big packs such as "5ah" and they will last long enough.

 

[KDpoolguy]

I’m impressed with the 40v battery lines, it’s just hard to see if the lower torque 18v line works for the chain saw work I néed. I sliced thru my ‘test’ plants last weekend and it was the right choice on gas for me.

 

[AUSpool]

What homeowner doesn’t have tool...fetish?

I tell myself that I’m in remission.

I’ve been filling my garage with with an assortment of tools for years... I clearly wasn’t paying attention in primary school english class, it’s spelt ‘toys’ not ‘tools’.

 

[ZcottD]

Ryobi has a 40V trimmer that uses teh gas line of the ExpandIt series. Its pretty nice, has a pole saw, and edger attachments that also work pretty well. I've been very happy with the pole saw. The best part of the line for me is that if any 1 thing breaks, its about 70 bucks to replace, rather than other systems that swap the batteries between full tools. I think Milwaukee has a similar setup in their outdoor line.

I've tried to avoid being invested in too many battery systems. Keep things to Ryobi's 40v and DeWalt's Flexvolt lines.