Pole saw for professional use in large removals

[GoodFellers]

Looking for feature suggestions as well as general insights into increasing efficiency specifically in the task of lifts and removals.

Like every other tree company, I encounter a lot of EAB removals where climbing is either out of the questions or limited. This often mean working from a lift. Unfortunately, in my area what is available and significantly less cost is a tow behind lift. Sometime availability is limited to shorter lifts as well. These tow behind lifts need to be hitched and unhitched to move, I often feel they adjust/move around slowly, reach diminishes when having to articulate around obstacles...etc. I have used a manual pole saw when in a pinch and that has worked great but I am thinking that I can greatly increase productivity with adding a power pole saw. I am likely to increase the amount of cuts I can make for each adjustment, more cuts and in some cases completely eliminate the need to lower, hitch/unhitch, move the lift, add a few feet to the capabilities of whatever lift is available... and that is in addition to its benefits of what I can reach from the ground, increasing distances from more hazardous cuts (storm damage, hang ups and the like).

I feel like a gas saw might be better to start with since it would be lower initial investment. I am not on a battery platform for any arborist equipment which means I'm open to any platform but also want to be in a lift all day cutting which means if I go battery, I'll probably need at least 1 extra battery and buy a charger too. (However, I do have a lot of 18v makita batteries from my construction business). I also am in a cold climate and in rare occasions where I have banged up a tooth or two with my electric makita chainsaw I use around the house, I end up just flying through 5ah batteries.

That being said if people have experience with the battery pole saws where they use them all day on big removals, Id love to hear how many batteries they go through, how they are when starting to need to sharpen but you just have a few more cuts...etc.

I also have no problem fixing and/or maintaining my gas equipment and will always have gas/oil on site for other saws or my skid...etc.

Either battery or gas, I am kind of leaning toward the Echo options but I'm sure they're all great saws. Echo's battery saw has 16' reach or 20' with a 4' extension which is quite a bit more than husqvarna or stihl's. Haven't had much luck finding good used options in my area for any of the brands (which would be my first choice).

Anyway, thanks to everyone. I don't know what I don't know, so I'm really looking forward to insights from those with more experience!

 

[river of smoak]

Last summer I decided I needed a pole saw to take down a mulberry that was hanging over my house . Nothing huge , maybe 6-7 inch diameter at the point where it was safely away from the house . So after some web searching I settled on the 20 volt Dewalt . didn't think I needed a pro saw for maybe a few trees a year so it sounded like a decent choice . Turns out that this saw did more than I expected ! Ran it till my shoulders were getting crabby and was surprised at how long the 20 volt battery ran on a charge . The oiler worked awesome as well . I felt that for the price I had gotten a great deal .

 

[Breckinridge Elkins]

I can't comment on a professional level so take this with a grain of salt.
I have the Echo PPT-2620, the loop handle version. It's an awesome tool. It's also very big and heavy. It's about 9ft when assembled, 12ft when extended, weights about 18lbs. Maybe it would be unwieldy in a bucket and better suited to use from the ground. They also make a non-telescoping version which takes extensions.
The build quality is very good, motor has a lot of power. This is one of their "pro" level tools, but I couldn't tell you if it would hold up to all day, every day commercial use. That's outside my experience.

 

[capetrees]

Stihl HT131 pole pruner. Or an HT135.

Both work great, I have both, just change out the micro mini chain/bar/sprocket to the regular picco micro set up. I have the mini chains but have no idea how to sharpen them so I changed to the micro.

 

[lone wolf]

Stihl HT131 pole pruner. Or an HT135.

Both work great, I have both, just change out the micro mini chain/bar/sprocket to the regular picco micro set up. I have the mini chains but have no idea how to sharpen them so I changed to the micro.

I have been using the HT131's and they are an asset.

 

[Franny K]

I don't know what tow behind manlift you have but the one I rented had a toe board and top rail, maybe a middle rail. My battery pole saw escaped from just above the toe board. I think real man lifts have the entire basket expanded metal. It is a Husqvarna one with a feature that protected the battery end but when the other hit when the thing rotated it broke the main part near the motor, oil tank and bar and cost like $70 and a two month wait. Must have been close to 30 feet fall. It would be a good search to find something else to do that and be as repairable.

There are new 6ah Makita batteries on ebay for around $100 for two. Putting the batteries in a "cooler" in the winter to keep them warm works pretty well. Not sure there is much solution for hot summer that is where overheating of the batteries happens.

 

[rtrsam]

I'm using a Makita battery pole saw because I'm running lots of Makita tools so plenty of batteries. Two 18V 5 amp batteries last all day. But that's less than an hour actual run time. Mostly cutting smaller stuff, 2-3" max diameter. I'm sure if I was cutting full bar length the batteries would give up quicker. Only time I ran out of battery was when my grandson was using it to cut roots...

 

[wilsonhs]

Last summer I decided I needed a pole saw to take down a mulberry that was hanging over my house . Nothing huge , maybe 6-7 inch diameter at the point where it was safely away from the house . So after some web searching I settled on the 20 volt Dewalt . didn't think I needed a pro saw for maybe a few trees a year so it sounded like a decent choice . Turns out that this saw did more than I expected ! Ran it till my shoulders were getting crabby and was surprised at how long the 20 volt battery ran on a charge . The oiler worked awesome as well . I felt that for the price I had gotten a great deal .

I have a 400 acre tree farm and use a Dewalt 20 volt Pole saw, 8 inch bar. It is great and very low cost. I get about an hour of run time on a 6 AMP (generic) hour battery. I often leave the middle section out and can go about 7 feet above my head--with battery it only weighs about 9 pounds. If I put the middle section in, I can go another 3 feet for about 2 pounds more weight. I also have a 25 pound gas Echo pole saw. It is a monster and wears me out (73 YO) in about 10 minutes. I've put about 14 hours on the Dewalt pole saw with no problems.