Fiskars 393981 – 1001 Pole Pruner

BOTTOM LINE: Whether you're just doing occasional trimming ...or tackling a big project, this Fiskars extendable pruning saw will amaze you with its speed and simplicity. It sawed circles around my supposed 'top-of-the-line' Craftsman pole saw. 5 STARS THOUGHTS: With Sears going out of business everywhere you look, I knew I needed to buy something besides another Craftsman unit when my old one started acting up. Surfing around, this Fiskars pole saw racked up solid reviews on every site I checked out. The brand is well-renowned for sharpness and durability, so I decided to pony up and buy one. This spring I finally got a chance to try it out... and I must tell you that I am beyond impressed. My driveway is almost 100 yards long, lined on both side by tall pine trees anywhere from 20 to 40 feet high. They've been slowly growing together for many years but I never had cause to trim much since the interwoven branches helped minimize rain and snowfall in my driveway, which is always a bonus. However I knew I had to do some major trimming recently because delivery trucks (fuel oil, UPS, etc.) coming up to the house were starting to complain about several of the lower hanging branches. So on a cool Spring weekend I headed out and began trimming the trees along my driveway with this new Fiskars pruner. First impressions were positive. The oval shape of the handle keeps the pole from twisting in your hands, which inspires confidence, especially when the pole is extended fully to reach high branches. The snap lock collar and simple push-n-pop spring-loaded retention pin make extending and retracting the pole a breeze; though the snap collar often popped open. Irritating, but it never adversely affected the saw's performance. (The positioning holes in the extension section have started to elongate after a few months' use, but this saw still works great in spite of this apparent design flaw. It's the only real complaint that I have about this otherwise excellent pole saw.) The lopping feature has a thick heavy cord with a large, easy to grasp plastic T-handle. It snips easily through anything that will fit inside the hook. But what impressed me the most was the hellaciously fast cutting power of the curved saw blade. The aggressive design of the blade & saw teeth quickly zipped through branches, seemingly in half the time (and effort!) of my old Craftsman saw. Wow! I am sold on this unit forever! After ripping through over 100 branches, ranging in thickness from an inch to well over 4 inches, I remain in awe of the ease with which this tool does its job. [I had 6 stacks of branches piled waist-high in just a few hours - check the picture! (The Fiskars is leaning against my first stack of branches, in the background.) A picture is worth a 1000 words: this saw WORKS!!!] I recommend the Fiskars 393981 to ANYONE looking for a telescoping saw. It may cost a bit more than others but this is one case where you absolutely get what you paid for! And then some!!

Very easy to use, and virtually very little to assemble. The saw attachment is very sharp and could saw hard to reach branches as thick as 2". The cutter is also very versatile. It is an ideal pruning tool for hard to reach tree branches.

This limb trimmer is pretty easy to use and darn sharp. It extends out really far, so when using it in a collapsed position there is a lot of cord hanging. No way to get around that, just be patient. It works good and cuts good. Will only cut up to 1.25 diameter limbs because that is the size of the cutting opening. I thought that 1.25 was not very big, but it turns out that for trimming the ends of branches, back to about 2 feet, this is all you generally need. I have not used the saw portion of this tool because the limbs I have trimmed are not that big. The saw is really sharp and has a hooked end that keeps it from slipping off branches. I said the saw is sharp, but haven't used it, so how could I know that. I have a short, folding Fiskars limb saw and it does a good job. It has a 7 inch blade for only $21.00, Might as well buy one of those too.

Works awesome

This is a good pruning tool. I like the shape of the pole, it extends a few feet higher than my last pole saw, the pruning blade and apparatus work really well, and the saw blade that's included is excellent. The only drawbacks are that some componentst aren't as solidly built as I would like (my last pole saw held up for 24 years of heavy use) and the locking mechanism to extend the pole--while convenient and easy to use--doesn't completely fasten the pole in place. The top part of the pole moves a few more centimeters back and forth even though it's locked. This doesn't have much effect on the sawing motion, but it would better if it was absolutely fixed in place rather than having that little bit of play. If you're having problem pulling the extension out (like some people say in the product-listing questions and reviews), you need to loosen one or both of the screws on the black collar at the top of the main pole. This will allow the extension to move more freely. Also, if using the pruning blade (the part operated by pulling the cord), it's much easier if you remove the saw blade first. Though it takes a minute to remove the saw blade and another minute to put it back on when you're ready to use the saw, it's worth the time. Just do all your pruning-blade work first and then move on to the sawing. Finally, be aware that while the fully extended pole allows you to reach higher than shorter poles, it can be difficult to control when fully extended. All in all, I'm happy with this pole saw.