Mark,
Thank you for the Great and very detailed review.
The stubby pole pruner would be the one I’d be interested in. If they’d improve it and get rid of all of
the flaws you mentioned, I’d probably buy it. Like most of us, I do annual pruning and the device would sit in my garage for the rest of the year, just like my sprayers. But sprayers are easily rechargeable, unlike this pruner.
Who wants to buy a $1500 headache? My peach trees are easily pruneable by hand. It’s the pear trees that are a PIA. For those, you need the pole pruner. Of course, I don’t have the numbers you have to deal with.
If you ever find a stubby pole pruner without all of those falls, please let me know.
Thanks again
Ray
Some battery powered pruners have gloves with sensors which the operator uses on his free hand. When the glove touches the sensor, the blades won’t close. These pruners didn’t offer that feature. I would buy that feature, if offered. But these were the only pruners I could find which had a sort of stubby pole pruner. All the other battery operated pole pruners I found had 4’ poles or longer. That would be too long for us.
If I understand what you are describing, these pruners have that feature. In other words, they act just like manual pruners, in that regard. With manual pruners, you can close them 1/4 of the way, or 1/2 the way, or 3/4 of the way, etc.
That’s the way these pruners operate. The farther you pull the trigger, the more the blade closes. The trigger is not just a “snap close” mechanism. The speed and amount of blade closure is dependent on how much and fast you depress the trigger.
It is quite a bit harder to get one’s fingers near the blade with the stubby pruner because of the length of the pruner. And it doesn’t open up as far. Of course it would still be possible to amputate fingers with it, but it would require extremely sloppy operation with total disregard for one’s own safety.
Not so much with the short electric pruner which fits in your hand. I would say it’s much more dangerous. I try not to grab any branches while I’m cutting with it. Sometimes I get going pretty fast with it and catch myself grabbing branches while I’m cutting them. I have to back up and remind myself not to do that.
We also don’t work really close to one another while pruning, so we don’t cut each other’s fingers off.
These electric pruners are dangerous, but imo, I would classify them as less dangerous than a chain saw.
2 Likes
Thanks. That’s good to know.
I went looking for the information i remembered. could not find it.
But saw this video.
In the video you can see the shears don’t cut when touched by a finger. I’m still not a 100% sure i would trust my fingers in the “hands” of such a safety system though.
I’m really curious how this develops. I myself will stick to manual pruners. Don’t have enough pruning to justify such a tool. And i tend to hold the shoot I’m pruning. And want to keep my fingers… so I’d have to teach myself to not hold stuff.
1 Like
I’ve not seen those type of electric pruners before. Thanks for posting that. They seem to have some type of “Saw Stop” mechanism.
I like the video. It shows not only how the pruners have a stop mechanism, but how powerful they are. Notice how the operator can manipulate the speed of the pruner, and how effortless it is to clip through wood. Imo, that shows a little bit how easy it is to use these pruners.
I can’t think of a better analogy than Fruitnut mentioned earlier. It’s the difference between hammering nails in per hammer, vs. shooting them in with a nail gun.
If one has always used a hammer, they can’t know what it’s like to experience the speed and effortless of a nail gun.
It’s sort of the same thing with a cordless drill.
I’m old enough to remember the first cordless drills used in construction. I used a ratcheted screw driver my Grandpa bought me. Because that’s what he used.
The first time I saw a construction worker using a cordless drill, I thought, big whup.
Now I can’t imagine screwing multiple screws in without a cordless drill.
Imo, that’s how it will eventually be with pruning. Manual pruning tools will be looked at as dinosaurs from a lost era. But I agree they need to come down a bit in price before that happens.
2 Likes
Hell of a nice tool @alan. I’ve already used it. It’s excellent. Appreciate it. thank you.
Barnel 6-8’ reach Telescoping Lopper - 5 pounds
lopper blade in plastic bag and telescope at shortest position
A mandarine is the fit
Here it is at its’ longest position with handles open to squeeze together to operate lopper blade.
A little velcro strap holds the handles together when not in use
2 feet worth of holes to extend the pole-length
Drawn all the way back it’s 6 feet
Your shoulder strap that clips on
4 Likes
Off-topic, but I love all that car siding wood in your house Dax. Beautiful.
1 Like
thank you very much… Marc
Dax
Well, I may be a glutton for punishment, but I had a price alert set for ARS pruners and they are now at a ridiculous price of $18.58 delivered. For both the 8XZ, supposedly newer, and 8Z. The difference in the pictures is that the clamping nut that holds the two halves together is surrounded by another part, presumably to lock it in place.
I’ve ordered one of each, even though I don’t need any. They are identical price from the same vendor, slow shipping. Will be interesting to see if either match my several pair of $30+ ones, and whether they are actually any different from one another.
1 Like
They show a “newer version” too on sale:
Those are probably the same counterfeits this topic was started for. The real deal is made in Japan, and they cannot possibly produce it for that price- way too good to be true, most likely. Ray got a full refund and was allowed to keep them- maybe you’ll get the same deal and you can give them away as a Christmas gift to an occasional gardener.
See how it cuts through scallions when you get it, as in the test made by the NYTs reviewer of hand pruners. Let us know if it cuts through them cleanly without any shredded pieces. I wrote a complaint to Amazon today because I couldn’t find a single “reasonably” priced one on their site from a source I know. How is it that every legitimate seller I know is charging more that $50 for that pruner. It doesn’t add up.
2 Likes
I’m very happy with my 4 pair $30+ ARS pruners, counterfeit or otherwise. They are better than my legit Felco’s to the point that I’ve retired the Felco. And at least 1 pair of them were shipped from Japan.
The 8Z are the same listing as my last purchase for like $37, but a different vendor. I hate the way the Amazon marketplace groups all vendors for a given item as though they are the same.
I cancelled my orders. I bought (2) from your link and then (2) from the other link “new version”. I’m done with Felco or anything but Okatsune and want ARS.
I’ve had so many Felco’s and Okatsune put Felco’s away forever…
B-slip
1 Like
Not sure I’d seen Amazon do this before. After a search I see these listed at $18.26 Once I click on the item though, the price shows as $28.58 It shows the same whether I’m logged in (Prime) or as an anonymous visitor to the site. Just odd…
Oh and if ARS is a Japanese company, note what Amazon says about the seller (Minkui USA):
That’s not to say they aren’t purchasing them from ARS and reselling them legitimately, I’ve no idea.
I’ll be surprised if they are genuine, but will be curious to see what they look like. lf I had to bet, it would have been that they are coming from China, and extremely unlikely that they originated someplace else.
My best guess is that they will both be the same as one another, in spite of different model numbers and pictures. I’ll be interested in comparing them to my other ARS pruners.
2 Likes
When I’ve heard of less expensive ARS pruners in the past, it was in that price range and the wait was very long as they came directly from Japan. But when did you order yours?- the price has gone up quite a bit in the last couple of months, it seems- I mean for the genuine item.
1 Like
Seller has a China address… and says USA as its’ “port” I suppose is the correct term.
The ones I bought from Amazon were $37 in 2016, from COL store, and probably shipped from US.
The ones from Japan were from Ebay. Looks like I bought some in 2017 and 2019, payed $27 for the least expensive I think, and $39 probably after tax.
Have had very good luck on amazon buying ARS pruners. I’m sure some are fake though the ones I’ve got from them never have been.
I go through one or more pair a year…so under 15 dollars suits me. Fiskars this time I think.
1 Like