GARTOL Anvil Lopper with Compound Action 30 Inch Heavy Duty Tree Branch Cutter, 2 inch Cutting Capacity Tree Trimmer for Thick Branches Clean Cut Easy, Ergonomically Non-Slip Comfortable Handle

The media could not be loaded.  I cut a lot of sticks in my yard either to right-size them for my fireplace or just to get them small enough for a trash bag. Sometimes I need to prune a small low hanging branch. Whatever the reason, the right tool makes those jobs easy. When I saw the GARTOL heavy-duty extendable anvil lopper 28-41 inch I decided to give them a try.It is late winter here now and we finally got a nice day so I took the loppers outside to take some pictures and try them out. PIC1 (I have labeled each picture in the upper right corner because they never appear in the order I add them to the review) shows the cutters with a nice plastic cover that can be unsnapped to take it off or put it back on.PIC2 shows a locking tab (in the unlocked position). All you do to lock the loppers shut is to swing the locking tab over.PIC3 and PIC4 show both sides of the cutting part of the loppers. PIC5 shows the heavy duty gears that give the lopper action.PIC6 shows one side of the arms extended all the way while the other side is as short as it can be. Extending or shortening the handles is very easy. You simply press down on the black rectangle (pointed to by the arrows) and the handle easily slides in or out. The 28 inches in the Amazon product description is measured from the tip of the cutting edge to the end of the handle. The 41 inch is measured when you have extended the handle all the way out.While PIC3 and PIC4 showed the cutting blade in the closed position, PIC7 shows the cutting blade in the fully opened position. The Amazon product description says you can cut up to a 2 inch branch. To open the cutter you open the arm all the way which releases the cutting blade. To cut you simply move the handle from the fully open position to the fully closed position. When you do this the mechanism in the loper does the hard work for you. To continue the cut you open the handles until you hear a nice click and then close them again. You repeat this until the stick is completely cut. I have attached a video which shows me cutting a 1 3/4 inch stick. If you turn up the volume you can hear the click when I open up the handle.This tool appears to be heavy duty as advertised. It was very easy to cut the stick in the video. If you are looking for a cutting tool like this you should consider the GARTOL heavy-duty extendable anvil lopper. It wil get the job done (a lot easier)!

This is a serious set of loppers and they feel very heavy duty.  They have a fair amount of weight to them, although they have been lightened by certain design choices like their telescoping handles, which I appreciate.  These loppers use a ratchet approach to let you cut larger branches than you'd be able to with a standard pair.  They do take some getting used to and while I would prefer the one-cut lopper in most cases, these also have their purpose.  My one-cuts wouldn't make it through some of the branches these did (I sort of end up doing a ratchet motion anyway with my one-cuts as I try to make them work on bigger branches than I probably should attempt).  I think for people who have a couple of trees or shrubs with some larger branches that they clip yearly, these would be really good and allow you to get through some thicker branches with less effort.  If you have bigger projects, or most of your work is out of reach without a ladder, you might consider a different tool, maybe even something automatic.  (I try to stay away from those because they feel like more maintenance than I care to take on and I like to be able to pick up the tool and use it.  These require much less general maintenance in comparison, just keep the blade clean and the tool oiled as needed.)  That being said, while these did make cutting larger branches possible, I have only used them on lower branches.  I don't know how comfortable I'd be using them on a tall ladder for higher branches as that usually requires leaning and changing my center of gravity.  I'd also need to get underneath or "in" the tree in some cases and opening these up and cranking them while I'm in the tree seems like it would be murder on my forearms.  Yes sleeves but I have a lot of American Hollies, maybe other people's tree neighbors aren't as pointy.   For reference I am a slightly taller, slightly more built than average woman.  TL;DR: These are a heavy-duty pair of loppers that work with a ratcheting motion so they will be able to get through some bigger branches, manually.  They are more of a specialized tool and aren't really a universal lopper, meant for every situation.  The listing pictures are accurate and a fair representation of the product but I have included some additional photos to give more of a sense of this tool's features (eg the telescoping handle extended all the way vs not, loppers extended all the way, close up of the blade, anvil, lock, etc. I have included a permanent marker in the first photos for scale).

This is a specialized tool that will be very useful for us. We have both pasture and wooded land with brush and some not-so-nice trees on it. I tried it out for a while this afternoon and here are my thoughts. The ratcheting is powerful and will chop through most of the branches that I can't get through with my normal loppers. The ratcheting mechanism is slower going than loppers and chainsaws but is very useful in areas where a chainsaw can not reach without damaging the other branches or around fencing.I'm finding these are a good tool around our barbed wire and field fencing. Pretty much anywhere that we can't stick a chainsaw for fear of it getting caught up in the fencing. I try to go around our pastures at least once a year and cut the brush down that's growing around the fence line before it turns into trees. This tool is perfect for that because we can get in these areas and work without fear of messing up the chainsaw with the fencing. Another application that I've tried today is lopping the trunks to the ground after first downing the brush with a chainsaw.I don't have any thick hedges or shrubs that we prune. I can see this being the tool of choice to surgically remove old thick branches from inside thick hedges and shrubs where other tools would harm the hedge. We have a bunch of crepe myrtles and chaste trees. I tried it on them today and these loppers can remove old or dead branches from the interior of the trees without causing damage to other branches.The ratcheting effect works like a come-along and might take a bit to become comfortable with the process. They are heavy, especially when working above shoulder level.