BLACK+DECKER20V Max Pole Saw for Tree Trimming, Cordless, with Extension up to 14 ft., Bare Tool Only (LPP120B)

The media could not be loaded. ...thoughts...So after doing the typical Gardener thing of trying to climb on my tippy toes on my tallest ladder to get some of the branches that were just in the wrong place or shading some plants underneath I decided I really should get a pole saw so I saw this and I thought I'd give it a shot ....turns out I would say it works exactly as I expected pretty much as I had hoped I mean you always hope for crazy crazy speed and bite but I have to say I was pretty impressed because the branches we're pretty far up there and they were pretty chunky and having sawed off some of them by hand I knew that even though it's a Willow and it's flexible they took a little bit of time to saw off by hand!..so I initially chose this brand mainly because I have a bunch of battery packs that already go with it and I didn't need to get batteries or Chargers so it made it a pretty inexpensive commitment.I would say I was a little surprised at how heavy the chainsaw part is although it makes sense because it's a chainsaw and you really don't want it to be crazy lightweight or probably wouldn't have the heft to cut through anything but your arms do get tired as far as the natural Bend from the way to the chainsaw especially when you're doing the higher up ones or especially if you're doing awkwardly angled ones..your arms get tired fairly quickly I'm a pretty strong person overall but I definitely found I needed to take some break sometimes when doing awkward cuts to be dure i kept control..... as far as doing a regular branch that was really fast I was able to quickly do the three-point cut which I was worried I wouldn't be able to do with this type of Saw (you do that so that you don't tear the bark along the limb further down than you want )that was like butter!...basically if the weight of the saw is leaning on the branch that goes very fast but even the undercut when fairly quickly ....the one that took me the longest was the Final Cut I did a bunch of sections because I could not stand anywhere except right underneath it so I carefully did sections so I wouldn't bonk myself in the head with a big section and when I got to the last part I wanted to very Carefully cut that horizontal cut and not get into the branch collar if at all possible ( hormones that help it heal well) and I also didn't want to leave a stump ( dies off and looks ugly)..so that one I probably took five different breaks just to give my arm rest so that I could keep control over it as it was horizontal..and in the end it did a really nice cut so I was really impressed with it!!I'd say not a big Commitment if you already have the battery packs great gift idea for any Gardener because even though it's a chainsaw it's a much smaller more user friendly chainsaw and being electric with a battery is great !buy the person some oil because they're probably not going to have that laying around..and if they dont have batts, get the kit plus maybe a spare batt..I would almost give it a five star pretty darn close!..heck, i may upgrade it to that...Basically was a 10 min screw on poles n oil...grabbed my glasses and 15 min later my redbud is no longer bein attacked by the willow!👌👌👌👌1/2Yay garden

I have to admit, my expectations for this tool were not sky-high when I purchased it. I decided to buy it for a number of reasons but mainly because I already owned two 20v B&D Li-Ion batteries which came with other B&D tools I already owned. The other reasons for the purchase were: 1) I could buy the tool bare, without the battery which cut about 40 bucks off the price and 2) B&D was offering a $10 discount at the time so all-in-all it seemed like a good time to make the purchase.From my experience with the B&D tools I already owned (leaf blower & hedge trimmer), I definitely went into this purchase with muted expectations. The 20v blower is good for blowing dry leaves and debris off the deck but that's about it, otherwise it's totally under-powered to perform more heavy duty leaf blowing (like when the leaves become a little wet). The hedge trimmer works well enough. So basically out of the two B&D 20v tools I already owned I was going into this with about 50% confidence that it would have enough power to do the job and then you have to wonder just how effective a cordless 20v electric pole saw could possibly be....Well let me tell you, pretty darn effective! When I received the package it arrived well intact and in good time considering the time of year the purchase was made so no complaints there. In the box were: instructions, the pole saw itself (which breaks down into three segments), a plastic bar/chain cover that has built in space for the bar oil container (small dropper container for the bar oil included) and the Allen wrench (also included). Again I went with the bare tool so no battery.After a brief overview of the instructions I put the saw together. The segments connect via heavy duty plastic twist-type connections which is one very small complaint that I have. If the connection could be a little more heavy duty it would be nice but the plastic seems heavy duty enough to hold up if you're careful when putting the tool together. You definitely have to be careful that you have the weight of whole thing under control somehow as you put it together. When you first insert the smaller plastic end into the larger plastic end (which only goes in one way as the power connection is made inside the joint) there could be a lot of stress on the connection if you're just trying to hold the saw without balancing the weight on something or have the unit laying on the ground while attempting to join the segments and tighten the joint at the same time. Once you get the connection completely tightened the joint becomes pretty strong. I'll definitely keep an eye on this as I use the saw this season and update my rating if the plastic connections fail me but otherwise no complaints after my trial run.We have a decent sized wooded lot with lots of small/medium sized trees so having something that doesn't require a plug-in is a must. We recently had a wet heavy snow bring a willow part way down. The trunk was split and the tree was hung up in a pine requiring a tool such as this to give me the reach to get up into the pine to alleviate the pressure. I found the 14' reach to be more than adequate for the job at hand. Once I got everything lined up, safety gear on, figured out where I was going to stand and bar/chain oiled and all that jive, it was time to cut.At first it felt like the saw was just bouncing on the limb, which I later measured to approximately 5 inches in diameter. Then I realized it was just the way I was holding the saw. Once I pushed it all the way to limb so that the grooved area of the saw body just below the bar was against the limb things totally stabilized and the saw did the rest. It sawed through the limb with ease much to my surprise. I really thought there would be some catching or motor slowing but there was not. I proceeded to cut the branch into more manageable pieces, then I but a couple of birch branches that needed to be cleared away, cut another willow branch about the size of the first one and cut that one up into smaller pieces. All this on one charge and no sign of the battery losing charge. It certainly appears that will two fully charged batteries I should be able to do all my summer cutting with ease.All-in-all I'm very happy with this tool. My only question is about the durability of the unit with the plastic connections but so far so good so not going to knock it until there's a reason to. I'll continue to be careful when I put the unit together and report any issues. I'm looking forward to a summer of pruning some of the higher trees we've been wanting to prune but could get to the limbs but now I have a tool that will help me accomplish this. I definitely recommend this saw to anyone looking for an inexpensive cutting tool that'll give you some reach. Given the price and performance of this tool I couldn't be happier.