Quite pleased with this purchase

Reviews: Oster 5712 Fiskars 9301 Power-Lever 14-Foot Tree Pruner

I went looking for a pole saw because branches were rubbing on my roof and hitting my gutters. I found a few at a local hardware store, which the salesperson described as hard to use, then he tried to steer me toward buying either an electric or gas-powered pole-mounted chainsaw. I don't trim trees often, so I wanted to avoid the expense of and maintenance on a chainsaw. However, the manual pole saws they carried were all a brand I had never heard of, heavier than I wanted, and priced comparably with this Fiskars, so I decided to buy it from Amazon.

Disappointed with the saw part

Reviews: Oster 5712 Fiskars 9301 Power-Lever 14-Foot Tree Pruner

I bought this primarily for the saw part, though I wanted the pruner too. I didn't want to buy two tools. Well, the pruner works for the 1" or smaller branches and it is good for that. However, I was disappointed in the saw. For one, it binds on the pull (down) stroke, which is the cutting stroke. I am cutting at the top of a branch as a previous reviewer mentioned. While that certainly helps, the point is that this blade cuts poorly and binds. The blade attachment provides little in the way of attachment, and that gives too much play to the blade, which doesn't help cutting. I checked the Fiskars web site, and this Woodzig blade is the only option. That's too bad.

If you have problems, you are not using the tool correctly

Reviews: Oster 5712 Fiskars 9301 Power-Lever 14-Foot Tree Pruner

After reading the reviews I thought I would buy this tool because it was longer than the one in my local hardware store and since there were only 3 reviews out of 21 that did not give it a good rating I assumed those individuals were not using the tool correctly.

Saws easily

Reviews: Oster 5712 Fiskars 9301 Power-Lever 14-Foot Tree Pruner

Until got it right, I thought this Fiskars Power-Lever Tree Pruner was impossible for my weakling arms to handle. Now that I've figured it out, it's not bad at all. I've felled some pretty big branches.

The saw blade is best either on or off. Switching back and forth is not quick and easy. It's screwed on with a wing nut, which gets stuck on me and requires the use of pliers.

Your trees won't stand a chance

Reviews: Oster 5712 Fiskars 9301 Power-Lever 14-Foot Tree Pruner

We've got 10 mature trees in our lot and this pole saw/lopper/pruner cuts through all of them like butter. We have Silver Maple, Sugar Maple, Bradford Pear, Weeping Willow, Southern Oak, American Chestnut, and Southern Crabapple and none of them stood a chance against this powerful force of tree destruction. I started with the toughest chestnut branch I could find that needed trimming and could fit in the pruner hook and pulled on the rope. It sliced through it like butter. The compound lever design worked flawlessly from down low on the trunk to way up high and at awkward angles. Anyone who complains about this pruner simply is not using it right.

Works well for light pruning

Reviews: Oster 5712 Fiskars 9301 Power-Lever 14-Foot Tree Pruner

I purchased this pole saw to trim two trees around our house. A very tall cypress had branches that were overhanging our roof and preventing a smaller Japanese maple from growing and a pine tree that had branches growin too close to our roof. While shopping, I was torn between this saw and a pole mounted electric chainsaw. However, I decided that the amount that I would use the tool is not enough to justify the extra money for the electric saw.

Good Lightweight And Long Tree Pruner

Reviews: Oster 5712 Fiskars 9301 Power-Lever 14-Foot Tree Pruner

I am happy with my Fiskars 14 foot tree pruner. Although I have used a Sears tree pruner that also has a fiberglas pole, the Fiskars tree pruner is lighter and easier to use. In addition, the Fiskars tree pruner uses a spring system that does not rely on a spring that can easily come loose from the pruner that the Sears tree pruner uses.