MakitaXAU02PTB 36V (18V X2) LXT® Brushless 10" Telescoping Pole Saw Kit, 13' Length (5.0Ah)

I went with the Makita over Stihl and Husqavana because of the battery system. I can use these Makita batteries for a range of other handy tools in the yard and in the shop. I was worried that I wouldn't use the batteries in the Stihl and Husqavana enough and they would degrade. The batteries recharge is about an hour or an hour and a half. By the time I had cleared the brush, the batteries were ready for more cutting.I bought this to trim an older tree that hangs over the house. Arborists had quoted thousands even though there are not many branches and the access is not that hard. They could do it in less than an hour. I understand that they have to make a living but I figured trees are going to continue being a problem and I could use a pole saw. I haven't had a chance to do that tree yet.What I have done is use this to clear 4 100' trees that fell over together in my father in law's yard. These were huge trees. One knocked down the other three trees. As you can imagine, it was a huge mess. I started by walking the plank of the four trunks cutting off the limbs. I could cut the limbs small enough by standing in one position on the trunk so that the brush clearing was easy. This worked amazingly well. I didn't have to get into the mess until I had to clear the brush. No struggling with a chainsaw in the thick slash. No cutting in thick brush. I am 10' away from the business end of a quiet saw. Then I started working on the 4 tops of the trees that were tangled in a big pile at the top end on the ground. I slowly cut taking off the limbs at that level. Then I started cutting all of the log sized parts of the trees into fireplace sized pieces. Some of these huge limbs were 8 ft off the ground. No problem. Tons of firewood. I was able to stand back safely from these limbs as I cut them up. I would bring out the gas powered chainsaw for the limbs larger than 10". I used this electric pole saw for everything else. The charge lasted long enough that I only recharged 2 or 3 times total for all 4 huge trees. You can cut up more in one charge than you can drag before the batteries are ready again. This pole saw paid for itself before I even got to the tree that I bought it for.If this pole saw holds up, it is so worth the money. It has been a month with a lot of cutting. It didn't cause me fatigue to use it. My father in law and uncle both thought it was heavy but they both thought it worth it. My father in law offered to pay for it for me because it was that handy. He knows we are going to use it a lot more in the future.

When the product arrived, the box was nearly broke in half with another huge hole…needless to say the batteries were both missing!! The manual was missing and the oil container was open and had spilled in the box!! This was so disappointing!! It has been returned and I still haven’t received my money back…

I have my own tree trimming service and this saw is great because you can start it by just pressing a button that means a lot when you are in a bucket 35 feet in the air. I switched out the bar to a 14 inch Oregon bar and chain. It cuts amazing!!

Box was dammed Two boxes were taped together. Shaft was sticking out of box never opened box.