Gas powered pole saw question?

I've got a Remington and it's fine, but I don't use it much. If I did I'd get the attachment for my Stihl Kombi powerhead and cut like there's no tomorrow. Got the Remington for free so that's why I have it. It does however leak bar oil like crazy.

How much are you really going to use a pole trimmer?

Maybe rent a good one for a day

We have 1/2 acre of lawn in the middle of 2 acres of very mature oaks, with some pines mixed in. Her flowerbeds form a border between the lawn and woods across the whole front yard & half way down the side yard. The rest of the yard had stuff hanging low that was wacking me when I mowed.

Last summer we spent the best part of a day - clipping, trimming & dragging brush & limbs away. This was done using:
- a 6 ft aluminum step ladder, fighting to get it to stand level & steady in a mulch bed
- a normal loping shears (limited to about 1.5" diameter max)
- a Fiskars loping shear on a 5 ft pole (again, limited to about 1.5" diameter max)

I vowed to NEVER do this again.

"Dad is coming up from VA for Thanksgiving, can he borrow the chainsaw to trim some maple limbs away from Gram's roof?" We got a freak snowstorm so this project was put on hold.

For xmas I bought myself a Harbor Freight / Chicago Electric pole saw (regularly about 110) on sale with coupon for about 75 bucks. 1.5 hp, 7 amp, 9.5" blade. It extends out to 8' 10". I happened to have a 12" bar & chain from an ancient Poulan saw lying around. It fits the pole saw AND it has the guts to spin it.

Back to Gram's, on a cold blustery day in Jan, we trimmed Gram's maple. 6' Step ladder (on the sidewalk) + me + 9 feet of pole saw allowed me to easily reach 15-17' in the air to trim the long skinny limbs that were near the corner of the roof. Then I stood on the corner of the roof and shaved off everything I could reach. It took longer to clean up than to do the work.

This spring Mother-in-law wanted a few low hanging limbs trimmed. When she realized I brought power tools, the job scope expanded from a half dozen limbs & twigs to a half day of cutting & trimming. The big maple at the corner of the garage & driveway got a serious trimming, we took out a bunch of scraggly undergrowth & everything that was growing toward the garage and into the nearby cedars.

Once it was all on the ground I de-twigged (hatchet & machetti) everything useable and cut the stuff into 20" kindling sticks. The brush was hauled away to her compost pile. I went through 3 tanks of bar oil and came home with a half load of kindling in my D-max.

This little electric pole saw kicks butt, and had no problems spinning a 12" chain cutting stuff up to 8" diameter & running off a 150' 16 guage ext cord. If I need to use it and don't have power available close by, I'll throw the little 2kw genny in the tractor cart and go to town.

I was in the market for a pole saw a few years ago and didn't want to spend a lot of money on one. I also needed a hedge trimmer for tall hedges. The solution that actually saved me the most money was a Stihl Kombi system.

Current prices at my dealer:

$199 KM-56RCE
$209 HT-KM Pole Pruner attachment
$408 +tx

My KM-90R (currently $299) is the entry level pro Kombi unit. It's multiple tools with only one engine to maintain, transport, and store. I'm up to six attachments now and have ZERO REGRETS.

* Pole pruner
* 135* adjustable hedge trimmer
* Blower (just as effective as my brother's Echo backpack blower)
* 135* power scythe
* String trimmer (I's actually the brush cutter attachment with a trimmer head + others)
* 37" exension

I'm not saying the Kombi is for everybody, but I wanted to share an interesting option for that $500 budget. The Kombi made the most sense for me--someone who maintains more than one property site, including a 70+ acre farm. I cut lots of places where fussing with electric extension cords would be very frustrating, and some would even require a portable generator.

Treepointer,

How does the saw run with the 90? I've got the 130 and as a line trimmer it's total overkill. I figure the extra power will be nice for some of the other attachments

Babaganoosh said:

Treepointer,

How does the saw run with the 90? I've got the 130 and as a line trimmer it's total overkill. I figure the extra power will be nice for some of the other attachments

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When I did my online research before going to the dealer I was convinced that the 110 was the model I wanted. They didn't have one in stock, and I had an urgent tall hedge trimming job, so I went with the 90. As you probably have noticed, these engines don't sound like they'd be stronger than a conventional 2-cycle, but they certainly are full of torque. The 90 performs surprising well (better than I expected for under 30cc's) in wood. I've had it buried in apple, cherry, hard maple, and hickory and it pulls just fine. If I do my part and keep it out of a pinch, it will keep its rpm's. I think a saw attachment on a 130 would really put a grin on my face.

I have no issues with the other attachments, and I especially like the blower. I use it a couple times every week to clean up after mowing. It's great for blowing stuff off a larger tractor after cutting fields.

I don't use the 90 much for string trimming and brush cutting because that job goes to the FS-130 with bike handles. It's about the right size for the large area trimming and hillside I need to address. And I can't say enough about the chisel tooth saw blade for cutting woody brush and even young trees.

Awesome. I can't wait to get some other attachments.

A few years ago, after Superstorm Sandy, I started seriously looking into a polesaw.
My conclusions: stihl's steel tubes are just too heavy and their saws I looked at are underpowered/flimsy/overpriced; some mfgs make too much poo for my taste (remington, poulan, hf); some are well-designed & built and durable (e.g. Tanaka, Husqy).
When Bailey's had a 1/2-price clearance on 25cc Tanaka, I jumped on it.
Year and a half later, with hundreds of hours of runtime, it's still like-new and I'm still loving it, and what it can do for me. For cutting bigger wood, I just pull the NK OEM 10" b&c and hook up a 14" A041-mount (garden-variety 3/8"LP) b&c. IMO, way beyond what stihl & ryobi have to offer. Starting with full tanks and a liter each of mix & bar oil, I can head out into the woods for 5-6 hours or more of runtime, with leftover oil.
Should it blow up tomorrow, I'd find another.

CTYank said:

A few years ago, after Superstorm Sandy, I started seriously looking into a polesaw.
My conclusions: stihl's steel tubes are just too heavy....

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I agree. There are lighter tubes out there. For me, getting a Stihl Kombi was a tradeoff by accepting a little more weight to get the versatility of the different attachments. If I recall correctly, Redmax and Shindaiwa dealers in the area also had lighter standard models that didn't break the bank. If I only needed the saw, I would have been happy with either of those.

pen said:

Pole saws get abused, especially from folks who don't appreciate that a chain MUST be sharp,,, and don't know how to cut keeping it from getting pinched, and needing to rip the poo out of the poor thing once it's wedged in 12 feet up,,,, etc. In all, I'd bet that a big chunk of failures are from abuse/misuse.

For 200 bucks, give it a go and treat it right, and see what it gives you.

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I have a 12 foot Poulan, and everything you say is true until you read the manual. But it work well - and lets face it , how much use does it really get. After every fill I add Stabil to help starting after sitting for so long.

bob

What's a manual?

I bought into the Ryobi expand it system years ago. I went thru 2 Ryobi power heads (garbage)
I then bought a toro power head and have been killing it for 2+ years. If you start with a Toro straight shaft trimmer HD $179 and add the expand it pruner you will be in good shape. It cuts great weight is manageable
Toro power head is fantastic.

There are a lot of lawn guys around here with Echo's. They are priced reasonable and have a good reputation for reliability. I think you will be happy with it. Hope it works great for you.

I have a Ryobi powerhead with a Ryobi pole saw. The powerhead ran like crap since I bought it for three years. When I bought the pole saw attachment it would not even turn it - no power. I cleaned and adjusted the carb and it was like a new machine. Still doing fine. The driveshaft starts to spin at one of the attachments when hooked up to the pole saw. I have to put it on past the autolock snap as the square driveshaft is getting rounded near the tip. Works fine with the string trimmer, but with the pole saw it starts to spin out once warmed up.

I have used it a lot the first year and now only occasionally and still works for that. I don't know how much longer the shaft will hold out before too stripped to use.

I have 9 years out of the powerhead doing a fair amount of string, brush (tri blade) and pole trimming, so not too bad for the investment into it.

Worx does not come with the push cap to keep the bar oiled. That is done automatically. It cuts logs as long as it is and bigger ones you can cut from different sides of the log and get bigger ones done also. It is so simple to clean. No tools needed. Adding the pole or using it without one it is a winner. This no messy gas or gas cans to deal with an electric chainsaw.