What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[gtaus]

Menards Pruning Pole Saw Sale

If you have a local Menards, I recommend signing up for their Flash Sale emails. Every once in a while, I find something at a deep discount that I buy. The item gets ships to my local Menards, and I just pick it up when I go to town.

Today, they sent out another email and I took notice of their Pruning Pole Saw kit that is on sale...

I bought my Ryobi Pruning Pole Saw about 10 years ago and spent considerably more for it just for the saw itself. I don't know the quality of this North Tech saw, but the kit comes with 2 batteries, charger, an extra chain, and even some gloves.

What I really liked about this North Tech kit is that the saw can be detached from the pole and used as a handheld pruning saw. I cannot do that with my Ryobi pole saw. The chainsaw is permanently attached to the pole.

I can tell you that I have a separate Ryobi pruning saw which I use all the time around the house. I use it more than my full-sized chainsaws. Most of the time, I only need to cut up smaller branches that fall on the lawn. I only use my pole saw maybe a couple times a year, but when I do use my pole saw, it's the perfect tool for that job.

With this North Tech kit, you get both advantages of a pole saw and a separate pruning saw. It's a 2 for 1 tool that costs a whole lot less than it would cost you with other tool brands. Again, I don't know the quality of this product, but it you don't like it, Menards has always been great at accepting returns.

FYI, here is the current sale price of my Ryobi 18v 6-inch pruning saw...

And here is my Ryobi 18v pruning saw...

I am very happy with my Ryboi pruning saw and the pole saw, but I paid well over $200 for both, tools only, no batteries or extra chains.

I don't know how Menards is able to offer these types of tools so much cheaper than their competitors, but I have recently purchased a replacement corded miter saw and table saw from Menards. They just had what I needed at considerably lower prices. So far, the tools I have purchased from Menards have been well worth the money for my needs and I have not had to return anything yet.

 

[Finchbreeder]

We don't have Menards or North Tech in Australia, that I have seen.
We have the Aldi and Bunnings comparisons.
I got my Ryobi battery opperated pruning tool from Bunnings. It cuts through branches with a diametre of 5cm with ease - and up to 8cm occasionally. Much better than when I had to brace the old pull cord job against my gut and pull like hell. It gave me a hernia.

 

[Finchbreeder]

That's cause I was pruning them off the tree above my head.

 

[gtaus]

We don't have Menards or North Tech in Australia, that I have seen. We have the Aldi and Bunnings comparisons.

I don't think Menards is everywhere in the USA, either. Even if you don't have a Menards, I hope people will consider getting a pole saw/pruning saw where the head can detach and you can use it as two tools. Like I said, when I bought my Ryobi pole saw ~10 years ago, I never saw a kit where the chainsaw head could be detached and used separately. So, I ended up buying both tools over the years at a considerably higher price than what a new pole/pruning chainsaw kit costs today. You can save a lot of money if you buy a unit where that head comes off and can be used separately.

I don't think Ryobi sells a pole saw where the head detaches. So, you would end up buying both a powered pole saw and a powered pruning chainsaw, like I did, for a lot more money.

Much better than when I had to brace the old pull cord job against my gut and pull like hell. It gave me a hernia.

I had a manual pole saw for many years before I got my powered Ryobi pole saw. Of course, I would never go back, either. The manual saw worked fine, but I aged out! Too much work for me. I had to get a powered saw or hire out those jobs to a younger man. The powered saws let me to continue to do things myself as I get older. That's a good thing.

BTW, I don't know how much other people have to pay for an arborist to trim trees, but where I live it can cost you hundreds of dollars for even small jobs. At $50.00 for that pole saw kit from Menards, if it only was used for one job that you could do yourself and not hire out, it will have more than paid for itself. Even better, now you have a tool that you can use until that saw or batteries die out.

Speaking of batteries, one of the big reasons I got into the Ryobi 18v line was that they promised to keep their 18v battery format forever. So far, my old blue 18v Ryobi Ni-Cad era tools I purchased ~20 years ago are still working great today. They even work better with the new Ryobi 18v Li-Ion batteries. I have saved a lot of money going with the Ryobi 18v tool line when I did. Prior to that, I had a mix of brands of battery powered tools that worked fine, but when the Ni-Cad batteries died after a few years, I could not get replacements. Great tools don't work with dead batteries. I have never regretted going with Ryobi just for the promise of keeping one 18v battery format for all 18v tools. My old Ni-Cad batteries are all long dead, but the tools live on with new Li-Ion batteries.

Don't underestimate how much it costs to buy batteries for your tools. If you are in a different brand of tools, I would suggest just trying to find what you need that shares your existing batteries. I suspect that some of these tool companies would be happy to give away some of their tools if you end up buying into their batteries.

 

[Finchbreeder]

Hubby is a battery tool addict. He has 3 different brands and about a dozen different tools. At least 2 and up to 4 of each battery type. Mind he is also a dual Tradesman and has many subsidiary tickets too, while still working despite approaching 70

 

[Smokerbill]

Since I didn't invest in battery powered stuff early on, I'm sticking with my gas powered tools and corded tools. Flashlights are the only "tools" I have that are battery powered. And since I already have them, it wouldn't be cost effective to switch to battery power this late in the game.

Battery powered saws would definitely be handy at times when I'm away from the house, but I have a couple of small (gas powered) generators I could use to run them if necessary.

 

[Finchbreeder]

That was the main reason he went battery. He was at the time this started out setting up minesite camps ready for occupation on numerous occasions.

 

[gtaus]

Hubby is a battery tool addict. He has 3 different brands and about a dozen different tools. At least 2 and up to 4 of each battery type.

I bought into the Ryobi 18v One+ line of tools and batteries almost 20 years ago. Back in the day, the old Ni-Cad batteries would only last a couple of years before they were basically useless. But Ryobi promised to keep their 18v battery format so that all new batteries would be backward compatible with their 18v tools. They have kept their promise. The new Li-Ion batteries last many, many years. I think my oldest Li-Ion batteries are now about 15 years old and still in my rotation. The new Ryobi Li-Ion batteries all work in my old Ni-Cad era Ryoobi tools. In fact, the old tools work even better with the newer batteries. Having one battery format for all my tools has saved me a lot of money and increased my options and run time for my high usage tools. I can just swap out the batteries and continue to work.

If you know Ryobi tools, many of them come in kits with extra batteries for free. Over the past 20 years, buying tools and kits with Ryobi batteries included, I now have almost 50 Li-Ion batteries, of various Ah rating, but all 18v and work in all my tools.

Here is a picture of a rack I built for my batteries a couple of years ago, which I needed to help me use each battery in rotation, so that no battery gets forgotten to be exercised and recharged...

One of the worst things you can do to a Li-Ion battery is to not use them periodically and recharge them. Also, I recently learned that it is better to recharge a Li-Ion battery before it goes dead in the tool. So now I will use a battery in a tool, recharge the battery when I'm done, and put the battery back on the shelf in order. I rotate my batteries more and that is supposed to be better for them.

I grew up with Ni-Cad batteries, and with those, you wanted to completely drain them down to zero before recharging. That was because a Ni-Cad battery could develop a memory effect. So, if you used a battery a little bit, down to maybe 75%, and then recharged it, the Ni-Cad battery could develop a memory effect that 75% was the bottom, leaving you with a battery had 25% of usable capacity. The new Li-Ion batteries do not have that memory effect and you are actually better off putting the Li-Ion battery back on the charger even if you only used half of the capacity.

Anyways, I hope your hubby uses and rotates his batteries from his different brand tools to keep them alive. Like I said, using my batteries in rotation, I have some Li-Ion batteries that about 15 years old and still working.

 

[gtaus]

Since I didn't invest in battery powered stuff early on, I'm sticking with my gas powered tools and corded tools.

Yeah, if it works for you, why pay more for the same tools just to get battery power? A lot of people only use tools where they have easy access to electrical power. My dad and I got by with corded tools for most of our years working together. Nothing wrong with a good, corded tool.

I am not a big fan of most of my older outdoor gas powered equipment. Some of the first gas powered tools I replaced with battery power were my gas grass trimmers. I was replacing the gas trimmers every 2-3 years, and it was costing me a lot of money. The carbs would gunk up and not run right. I bought my first Ryobi battery grass trimmer about 20 years ago and it still works. That saved me a lot of money.

Today, most of my outdoor equipment is battery operated and, for me, it's just a better deal. I have battery mowers, tiller, trimmers, pruners, pole saw, cultivator, chainsaws and more. Unless you make your living with those tools, gas powered tools and maintenance is too much for me. My local repair shop stated they sell more battery powered tools now than gas powered tools for the average home DIYer. The professionals still need the more expensive gas-powered machines, which keeps the repair shop alive. But many homeowners are now having more success with outdoor battery powered tools.

Well, I live in northern Minnesota and a lot of my gas-powered outdoor equipment only got used maybe 4 months out of the year and was in storage for 8 months. We did our best to prep the gas tools for storage, but still the carbs would just find a way to die on us.

 

[Finchbreeder]

Hubby is a dual ticket holding Electrician and Technician. So yes he knows about the charging and the memory problem with the old ones. He also knows about rotating - but his layout is nothing like as good as yours. He started going from mostly cord to mostly battery 25/30yrs ago when the 1st ones appeared on the market. As working by cord off a generator was a pain, on some of the remote sites he was working at the time. He can definately be classed as professional, as he is still working, though not as a Tradie, and we still have a small business too. These days he is in the local trade training centre, keeping the gear supplied and maintained. It's his idea of working less (40hrs a week instead of 40/60)