"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
In article , Jake
writes
For about
£170 you get a pole pruner (chainsaw sort of thing), hedge trimmer,
brush cutter and strimmer.


But from what I've seen and tried not much quality at that price. I liked
the stihl version of that but they were several times more expensive and
justifiably so.


Just spent yesterday helping a friend lay waste to some overgrown trees.
Going back for more today.

He has a new electric "chaninsaw on a stick" from Lidl/Aldi (Lidl I think)
which cost about £70.
I was well impressed - went through branches like a knife through butter and
had a long reach.
Wonderful for pruning back tall trees.

He also has a large electric chainsaw (Ryobi IIRC) for the bigger stuff and
I did have one problem with this.
Although it generally cuts well, the trigger safety lock by the trigger is
very small and not well positioned so my thumb kept slipping off it and I
kept having to reposition my grip.
So regardless of brand, make sure that you test the hand grips and ensure
that you can easily and comfortably reach the trigger and safety button.
Remember to always engage the main safety lock after a cut - this is usually
the hand guard in front of the grip which you push forwards to lock the
blade.

For what you require the ideal would be an electric chainsaw about the size
of the pruner - probably about an 8 inch blade - but I haven't seen one like
this.
They seem to be either light weight and on a stick or much more substantial
and have a 12-14 inch blade.

As stated repeatedly elsewhere chainsaws are dangerous if mishandled.
Also it is very important to support the branch you are cutting so that
there is space below the cut so you don't damage the chain at the end of the
cut.
However if you work with care you should be fine.
Many, many chainsaws are sold every year and so there will be a number of
(fairly horrible) accidents but others have been using chainsaws for a long
time (since the late '70s in my case) with some success.
As it says on financial sites, past performance is no guarantee of future
performance :-(

Cheers

Dave R
--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

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