Staring out of my sun-streaked study window as the sweat runs freely and utterly unbated down my face, I see that summer has officially arrived. This means two things: 1) It is now acceptable to drink booze in your back garden all the livelong day, and 2) In order to achieve No.1 free from garden guilt, you’re going to need to keep said garden in good nick.
Of course, this implies the perpetual pain of gardening and all that goes with such a Sisyphean ordeal, like mowing the lawn, pruning back your bushes, whacking weeds, pressure washing the patio and I know, I know, it all sounds far too exhausting to even contemplate, especially in the heat.
However, all that no-love-lost labour doesn’t have to be back-breakingly manual if you employ a bit of common sense… and a lot of portable power. Yes, as ever, whenever a tedious physical task rears its ugly head you can guarantee that there’ll be a power tool available to lighten the load. And not just electric mowers and strimmers for dealing with the low down, thin grassy stuff either.
No, when it comes to those fiddly thick branch bits that are too tough for conventional secateurs and/or way above head height, there are power loppers.
That’s right, the power tool rabbit hole I’ve disappeared down this month is that of the battery powered garden lopper, an essential addition to anyone’s nature-manipulating arsenal and I’ve been lopping like a loon to root out the best of the branch-breaking bunch…
Best garden loppers at a glance:
- Best for heavy duty pruning/lopping/cutting: Black+Decker GKC1000 18V Cordless Alligator Lopper Chainsaw - £142, Amazon
- Best for hard to reach areas: Ryobi OLP1832BX 18V ONE+ Cordless 0.85m Bypass Lopper - £109.95, Amazon
- Best for well-timed trimming: Kärcher TLO 18-32 18V Cordless Tree Lopper - £190, Karcher
- Best for long-distance lopping: MMCUBE 21V Extendable Tree Pruning Pruner - £162, Amazon
- Best for going pro: Ryobi RY18PLA-0 18V ONE+ Cordless 32mm Bypass Pole Lopper - £228.95, Amazon
- Best for lopping branches on a budget: LIGO 7.2V Electric Pruning Shears - £110, Amazon
Black+Decker GKC1000 18V Cordless Alligator Lopper Chainsaw
Best for: Heavy duty pruning/lopping/cutting
A real beast from Black+Decker, the GKC1000 Alligator lopper was designed to give you all the awesome cutting power of a chainsaw but without all the potential loss of limb associated with them.
With a powerful 18V battery that allows the Alligator to chew through 150 3.5cm branches between charges, the savage jaws are so strong they can even bite clean through those up to 10cm in thickness.
Weighing in at 3.5kg, the Alligator is light enough to let you prune away overhead and, at 23.23cm, gives you ample extra reach.
Easy to operate and featuring a fully enclosed bar and chain, it’s also very safe in the hands of experts, novices and bumbling fools alike, while the lopper-style dual handles make it comfortable to use at all different angles.
Sold complete with a battery (many power tools are sold ‘bare’, meaning without a battery), the Black+Decker is ready to charge straight out of the box and, shortly after, the myriad pleasures of the lopping world are all yours.
Buy now £142.00, Amazon
Ryobi OLP1832BX 18V ONE+ Cordless 0.85m Bypass Lopper
Best for: Hard to reach areas
Sold as a ‘bare’ tool, the Ryobi doesn’t come with a battery or charger, but once you’ve invested the extra you’ll be left with a ONE+ battery (good for up to 900 cuts per charge) that works with any other tool within the Ryobi range, so you won’t end up with loads of mismatched tools and batteries as the years go by.
With 250Nm of torque to cut through branches up to 32mm thick, the Ryobi is feather-light at just 2.4kg with battery, and coming in at a metre in length, those previously inaccessible areas of the garden will be firmly within your lopping reach in no time.
Featuring soft grip handles to keep your mitts comfortable and quality bypass blades at the business end, those rogue branches ruining your otherwise perfectly manicured garden won’t stand a chance.
Buy now £140.00, Amazon
Kärcher TLO 18-32 18V Cordless Tree Lopper
Best for: Well-timed trimming
Resplendent in its famous bright yellow and black livery, the TLO 18-32 from Karcher also comes free from a battery and charger (a choice of 2.5Ah or 5.0Ah batteries are available), but what you do get is 91-centimetres of branch decimating body, Teflon-coated steel bypass blades and an 18V motor applying 250Nm of force to tree limbs up to 3cm thick.
Weighing 2.4kg without a battery and featuring soft grip handles, the Karcher is light and easy to handle without worrying about muscle fatigue setting in before the essential lopping work is done. And, on that score, depending on what size battery you go with, the 2.5Ah sees you good to go for about 20-minutes and the 5.0Ah for 40-minutes between charges.
Finally, just so you know how much of that precious lopping time you have left, the Karcher comes complete with a handy LCD display to keep you informed of the minutes ticking down.
Buy now £190.00, Karcher
MMCUBE 21V Extendable Tree Pruning Pruner
Best for: Long-distance lopping
A true access-all-areas style cordless lopper now, the MMCUBE is a very handy, lightweight option that puts raw pruning power in the palm of your hand or, by attaching it extendable extension pole from 1.3-metres up to 2.1-metres away, making it perfect for pruning and lopping away at branches high above or otherwise inaccessible.
Coming with no fewer than three 4500mAH batteries, with all fully charged and to hand, you’ll manage to eke out a massive 12- to 18-hours of lopping time in total – not that any relatively sane human would ever indulge in such a monumental marathon.
Powered by a 980W brushless motor, the MMCUBE is subsequently more power-efficient and guaranteed to last an epic amount longer than brushed motor equivalents, meaning that this is a lopper for life… and not just Chrysanthemums.
With a fast charge time of just 1- to 2-hours, there’s no excuse for not getting on with it any longer. It’s also light at 1.25kg and comes with an ergonomic handle that keeps things comfortable, even those with arthritis will find the MMCUBE easy to manoeuvre.
Also featuring a digital display to keep users abreast of how much time remains before the battery needs changing, the MMCUBE is a great choice for those whose pruning needs border on the much bigger.
Buy now £162.00, Amazon
Ryobi RY18PLA-0 18V ONE+ Cordless 32mm Bypass Pole Lopper
Best for: Going Pro
Taking things to the next level, for professional gardeners or those who have parks or orchards to look after, the Ryobi RY18PLA-0 offers all you need. An 18V motor drives high-quality bypass blades to slice through branches up to 32mm thick like a knife through woody butter, while the flexible five-position head allows for 150° of adjustment to get to any and all awkwardly angled branches.
What’s more, fully telescopic, this Ryobi lopper extends from 1.9-metres up to 2.7-metres, thereby giving you the reach of a veritable human-giraffe hybrid.
Sold ‘bare’, your battery comes at extra cost, but a Ryobi ONE+ 5.0Ah battery will be good for up to 500 cuts between charges, which is a fair amount, so lucky that the RY18PLA-0 also comes with a comfortable nylon shoulder harness to aid prolonged use.
Buy now £264.00, Ryobi
LIGO 7.2V Electric Pruning Shears
Best for: Lopping branches on a budget
Because not everyone with a pokey branch problem is made of money, the 7.2V motor-toting lopper from Ligo might suffice if you’re looking to slice through branches up to 25mm, for around 70-minutes with the built-in 1500mAh batteries.
At 1.9kg, it’s not going to break your back when utilising the 190cm pole extension to go high with your loppery, and the ergonomic handle and cushion grip make it comfortable to operate even if you’re going hell-bent on branches for the full 70-minute battery life.
By far the best battery powered lopper at under £100, the LIGO may not be designed to deal with the thicker foliage found around the garden, but for lighter lopping it’s ideal.
Buy now £110.00, Amazon
Verdict
Everyone’s lopping needs are going to be different to some degree depending on the plants and trees that grow in your garden. For the sheer jaws power to deal with thicker branches, you can’t go wrong with the Black+Decker. Okay, it may not possess the reach of other options, but for comfort, ease of use, safety and cutting size, it’s a great all-rounder for the general British garden.
