"Kevin Walton" wrote in message
om...
Hi all

I know from a quick read that a lot of you are not keen on cordless
chainsaws for a number of different reasons, but I have to say that in
my experience I personally feel that they do fill a valuable gap
between loppers and a Petrol / Electric chainsaw. It may be my fault,
but I don't get on with a bow saw for anything bigger than say 2.5"
diameter, the cordless chain saw would do 2.5" with ease and cope with
3.5".

I had a cheap brand cordless chainsaw from Argos this summer and it
was great - it had limitations in branch size and battery life, but it
became invaluable. Unfortunately last month it died on me and the two
retailers that I know stocked them (Argos & B&Q) in the UK both say
they are discontinued.

Does anyone know if they are still sold in the UK anywhere, or does
anyone in the UK have one that is sitting around that they want to
sell, or is anyone going on hols to the US and want to bring me one
back for a profit?

I've looked into this a bit, and you're right about Argos & B&Q
discontinuing them. The Argos one was the Challenge Cordless Lopper
(http://www.bat400.com/pics/challenge...ess-lopper.jpg)
and the B&Q one was the Perfomance Power Cordless Lopper
(http://www.bat400.com/pics/performan...ess-lopper.jpg)

They both look similar to a Makita cordless pruner (also available
from Dolmar) which has also been discontinued.
(http://www.bat400.com/pics/makita-cordless-pruner.jpg)

The two cheapies are clearly identical, and there are a few similarities
with the Makita - check out the switch positions and the screw holes.
I assume the build quality will be better on the Makita.

I am beginning to wonder why they have all been discontinued. The
Makita ones sometimes come up on ebay. Take a look at
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3847884448
for an auction for one of these finishing on Friday lunchtime.

HTH,
Al