Manual pole pruners

[Bob Carlson]

What are the best, affordable, telescoping manual pole pruning saws?

[beenthere]

Bob
Welcome to the Forestry Forum. 

What are you pruning or planning to prune? 
Where are you located? 
What is "affordable" for you? 
How high do you need to reach?

[lxskllr]

I have a Fiskars I got at the consignment shop. I think it telescopes to 12'. It's a good saw/pruner at an affordable price. Silky is about the best you can get, but you'll pay dearly. Jameson seems like a good brand. Cheaper than Silky, but still spendy.

[Bob Carlson]

Thanks for your replies. I'm mostly pruning trees along trails whose branches hang down to obstruct the trail so don't need to go beyond 12' or so on the tree. I was using a Bartlett saw, but the soft aluminum alloy heads wear out at attachment points and I'm looking for something more sturdy. Seems like many of the newer models have lots of plastic which I don't trust to last. 

[Bob Carlson]

Silky is probably more than I want to spend.

[SwampDonkey]

I have had luck with Fiskars for pruning up fir. My trouble is the bears will find them and chew them like candy canes. :D

[RPF2509]

plus one on the Fiskars.  Got mine at Costco, very reasonably priced, good locking mechanism and has two extending segments for about 18' reach

[PoginyHill]

I had a telescoping one once - can't recall the brand. But it would not hold. As I cut, the telescoping section would slowly make its way out. I ended up buying a sectional one with 1-1/4" aluminum pipe - enough extensions to reach 40ft. I like it much better. But if there is a telescoping one that works well, it would be more convenient.

[mike dee]

Like all tools you get what you pay for. You don't save money buying cheap cr@p after replacing it three or four times.

The Fiskars stuff is homeowner quality at best. I bought the Fiskars extendable fiberglass pole saw and pruning shear combo. The saw/shear cobo sucked and bent and went into the scrap bin.

I replaced the head with a Bahco commercial head. Day and night difference in what it can cut and the blades don't bend and get chewed up like the Fiskars.

https://www.bahco.com/us_en/pruning

Now I need to replace the Fiskars pole as it is cracking and a PITA to use. I wish I bought the Bahco system at the start instead of the Fiskars and the other no-name store brand pole saw I scrapped before that. Penny wise and pound foolish.