Got the job done!

Reviews: Fiskars 9461 16-Foot Power Lever Tree Pruner

With the house next door being vacant for 4+ years and no one to take care of the yard, the giant oak in the front yard has continued to grow to the point where its limbs were touching the eaves of my house (second story) as well as the roof. Since the limbs needing trimming were at least 12' up, I knew I couldn't rely on my existing tools to trim them back. After a short search, I came across this 14' pole saw. Priced well below many other offerings, I decided to give this item a try. I'm really glad I did.

I received the pole saw very quickly, and it was in a very large package. Not really intending to start a major job, I decided to test it on one of the lower limbs. I was surprised at how easily the power level pruner cut through one of the tough oak branches. Excited by the ease of use of my new tool, I decided to take a moment and study the best approach for trimming the multitude of branches jutting toward my house.

After coming up with a plan to minimize the cuts, I started with a bigger 4" branch. The pole saw quickly and cleanly cut through this branch. Used the correct way, gravity causes the branch to fall in a way that does not bind the saw. When the branch was dangling, I made a few quick passes at the bark holding it on and it fell free to the ground. I was amazed at how easy it was to remove this large branch.

After quickly cutting through some smaller branches and trimming some odds and ends with the pruner, I had all the trimming done. Unfortunately, I was also left with a very large pile of debris to clean up. In all, it took 15 minutes of cutting and 2 hours of cleanup to finish this daunting task.

After trimming this tree, I moved to the other side of the house where a wild cherry tree had started to reach toward the roof line. The pruner made quick work of removing the 1" branches.

I was greatly impressed by the efficiency of this tool. In less than one afternoon I was able to complete all of my trimming tasks. This saved me a bundle versus getting a tree-trimming service to do the work.

As for the tool, it does feel somewhat heavy, but it is sturdy. At its fullest extension, it is somewhat wobbly on smaller branches but feels solid on larger jobs. The pastic piece on the rope fell off shortly after I used it, and I never bothered to thread it back on. Other than that, the tool has held up remarkably well and looks as if it has been barely used. Since there isn't that much to trim in my yard, I will probably just keep this on standby until next Spring. Great tool.