Spear & Jackson 4930FZ Razorsharp Telescopic Tree Pruner

Excellent lopper, good value for money, length is good, good quality, very sturdy/strong, blade for cutting is sharpe, cuts branches an inch thick, lopper quite heavy when extended fully and your up a ladder with not brilliant strength in my arms and not good with heights but actually cut loads down, I’ve not used the saw part of it yet.

My house was under attack from an indiscriminate tree and its army of branches that was getting ‘too close’ to the house according to my wife. Lacking the required tree felling knowledge and not wanting to actually kill a tree, I opted to get something that would allow me to trim the branches in some way. Now, my arms are pretty long, but not 3m long and even on a ladder I needed something that extended my chopping ability to longer than arms length. A trip to B&Q proved useless so I decided to go to the only manufacturer of things that sounds both tribal and warlike. Anything made by a company called ‘Spear and Jackson’ sounded like it could deal with things. It also sounds like the kind of 70s cop show that you know didn’t mess around. I ordered the item which looked, to me, like some kind of medieval weapon used in the Battle of Hastings. A sharp saw jutted out one edge, then a branch dismembering claw poked out the other with a long pulley cord to activate the mechanism. A short set up, and the Battle of the Bush could begin. That is also probably a title of a 70s film though more adult on nature. I digress, the blade is the sharpest thing I have ever pulled with a 2m cord. That thing was slicing through thick tree branches like they were nothing. It was also light weight which meant hoying it up a ladder was easy peasy. Before long I’d savaged that pesky tree within an inch of its life, it had gone from a 70s Barclays Bank - loads of branches - to the 00s version. Barely any branches. I was very pleased with how this operated and amazed at how sharp it was. The saw blade I never needed to use though I can see how effective it would be. After I was satisfied with enough dismembering I then realised I had about a lorry full of tree branches and leaves to somehow transport from the drive to the tip. That was the moment I regretted going at it like a mad chopping maniac. But this was well worth the money, all hail the Spear and Jackson Tree Branch Destroyer. Get one but… think about what you’re doing too!

I read all the reviews of the other cheaper makes before buying this one.ProsStrongly made.Blades are very very sharpWorks well.Saw is well made too.It is not difficult to use even when fully extended.ConsIt's not what I would call light weight, as it is well made, but not using aircraft aluminium, which of course would make it much more expensive.You have to pull on a rope handle pulley system to get the blade to cut, you need gloves or rope can abraid your fingers. This could be better designed.Rope gets a bit tangled up.Nothing elseI previously had a cheaper make but this one much much sharper and works well on big branches, and the saw is not flimsy either. Though my cheaper version had a better nylon webbing pully cutting system

One of my resident trees decided an insane growth spurt was appropriate meaning I couldn't reach some of the branches to trim back.Along comes this saw; and wow did it impress. I found the set up easy peasy but I did manage to pull the rope out of the lopper part. After a quick re-thread; we were ready to go.The saw part is detachable so you don't have to have a razor sharp saw swinging around if you are just using the lopper blade (and trust me it's SHARP!) The lopper blade is very sharp and pulley operated, so can slice through some decent branches. Very versatile tool.Once the right angle was achieved; it slid through a hefty branch with ease. It was just a bit harder than butter on warm toast, but not as hard as putting on brand new shoes.The whole tree was trimmed with ease within a 30 minute window and it was actually exciting to use the saw. I felt like a character from Monster Hunter! Or Xena Warrior Princess (however, I saved my neighbours the displeasure of an impression as they're good people).I would recommend, though it seems obvious to me, to wear gardening gloves or something kind of good protective gloves when using this as you might end up hurting your hands a bit. I didn't, but I can see how it could happen without hand protection.I really recommend this saw for any tree trimming needs, and it doesn't really lose stability when extended either as long as you don't do silly wiggles when using it! Very adjustable, not too heavy and handles well.

This arrived earlier today. I have a tree growing in my back garden and I have always pruned the lower branches. However the higher and really thick branches had extended almost over to our kitchen window. I had been quoted £550 by a firm to cut the branches and take them away. Because of the thickness of the branches I needed something with a saw attachment. What a godsend this product from Spear and Jackson was. It took me a few minutes to attach the saw blade and I was ready to go. Within 15 minutes all the branches were cut. The saw attachment went through them easily. It took me another hour to cut everything into small bits and package them into 3 bins but that's it all done and tidied up. This is a great product at a brilliant price and I'm really glad I bought it. Buy with confidence.

Superb piece of equipment extremely well made at a very good price.

I had some trees which had grown too big for the garden. This did a great job of taking off the higher branches, but it is quite a weighty but of kit and not for the feint hearted. The cutter and the saw are both very sharp and cut through the branches easily, but the saw can be a bit wobbly and can take a bit of getting started.One word of warning - my cord kept getting caught in the saw blade when manoeuvring it into position and it would be quite easy to cut through it by mistake