Wasted $200 on a cheap pole pruner that snapped on the second job

I bought this off brand pole pruner off Amazon for like $200 thinking I was being smart saving money. The thing looked okay in the box but the fiberglass felt kinda flimsy when I extended it. Second time I used it on a big maple in Austin the head just snapped off the pole while I was trying to cut a 3 inch limb. Limb came crashing down luckily nobody got hurt but the pruner was totally done. The aluminum part where it connects just sheared right in half. I emailed the company and they never even answered back. So now I gotta spend real money on a proper one like a Silky or something. Any of yall had bad luck with cheap gear from big online stores?

2 comments

2 Comments

hall.ruby8d agoTop Commenter

@taylor929 I gotta disagree, $200 IS cheap for a pole pruner if you want it to actually last.

taylor9299d ago

Yea that sucks but honestly $200 for a pole pruner is not really "cheap" territory, that's more like mid range pricing. The real cheap stuff is under $100 on Amazon and it's basically just disposable junk. I think you got unlucky with a bad QC unit but also fiberglass poles from no name brands are a gamble. The aluminum joint shearing is a known weak point on those, they use really thin metal to save on cost. For a proper pole pruner you'd spend $300-$500 easy from a real brand like Fiskars or Silky. The Fiskars extendable ones are solid for the price but if you want something that lasts decades you gotta go Japanese made.