For Ken Palmer, trees are a way of life, from his origins as a competitive tree climber to his current position as President and CEO or ArborMaster, a company dedicated to providing education and training for anyone who works with, in, or around trees. For over thirty years, Ken has made trees his passion.
“I won several world championships,” Ken says, “which opened some doors for me to work with manufacturing, and then I set to work on trying to bring this profession that we know and love out of the stone age and into the 21st century.”
The chainsaw is a central part of the equipment for any arborist. Since Ken has been working with trees for decades, he’s seen the advancements in chainsaw technology first-hand. Chainsaws aren’t just getting more powerful—they’re also getting safer, more ergonomic, and better for the environment.
Ken’s focus on safety and education motivates him to seek better tools, and that led him to battery power. As battery technology continues to improve, Ken has found that modern tools like the Greenworks Commercial Optimus chainsaws, High-Output Gasless (H.O.G.) chainsaw, and ten-foot polesaw outperform gas tools.
“Battery technology going forward,” Ken says, “how it changes the work environment, the safety aspects of it—is just… to me, it’s awesome.”
Battery technology has surpassed gas-powered chainsaws in many areas, but some professionals are still skeptical. Remington Lee, a chainsaw safety and proper felling instructor with ArborMaster, was resistant to swapping to electric tools until he got a chance to try them.
“My initial thought,” Remington says, “Was like—no way, how is this going to work?” Now, Remington is fully converted, after experiencing how much easier battery-powered tools are to use, in addition to being safer, more ergonomic, and better for the environment.
“When the electric saws were introduced,” he continues, “my shoulder started to get better. There's less pulling on the saw. There's less fumes in your face. There is better communication… because there's not a two-stroke engine running in the microphone.”
For all arborists, especially educators and mentors like the team at ArborMaster, safety is a top priority. Felling trees can be dangerous work, so Ken and his team are always looking for ways to better protect the thousands of people they’ve taught.
“On a regular traditional gas engine saw,” Remington said, “there's a safety mechanism on the top part of the handle and then your throttle is just underneath. Ergonomically, that works great for your day-to-day work. But if your left hand were to slip off or something were to happen, you cannot let go of that handle with your right hand. Just out of instinct, you will close that gap, and you're liable to hit the throttle and keep that chain spinning, if you haven't activated the chain brake.”
He contrasts this with the safety features of the Greenworks Commercial Optimus chainsaw: “With the Greenworks saw, the safety is not on top of the rear handle. It sits as a button on the side of the handle. So, if your hand were to slip off and you just had one hand on the saw by accident, your thumb will come off way easier than your hand will.”
Beyond safety, another main consideration is power. Battery-powered commercial-grade tools output an enormous amount of power, such as the H.O.G. Saw, built with equivalent power to an 80cc gas engine. That’s enough power for felling just about any sized tree, and the simple push-button start is easier to control and less fatiguing than pulling to start a gas engine.
“Greenworks Commercial has the power.” Ken says. “We can do all the work we need to do—with battery. It's a cleaner energy, meaning that we don't have to inhale the exhaust from a two-stroke… or be introducing that to the environment that we're working in.”
With all these advantages, why would anyone still choose a gas engine? Many experienced professionals have decades of experience working with gas-powered chainsaws, and making the change can be intimidating. It can also be a total gamechanger; being an arborist is physically demanding work, and swapping to battery-powered tools helps protect your health and comfort through the rest of your career and life.
For Rocco Massaro, another educator with ArborMaster and owner of Arborist Tree Care Services, the ease-of-use of Greenworks Commercial Optimus chainsaws was the major selling point. “I think it's just going to be one of those tools that, until somebody gets them in their hands, they're not going to really see the true benefits and the lack of fatigue,” Rocco says.
“I mean, just the fatigue itself; if you're out on a limb, and you're 110ft in the air, and you finally got to the position you want to be in, and you go to start a gas powered piece of equipment—and it doesn't start. It is absolutely fatiguing… Being able just to turn it on and get the work done… the efficiency of that is absolutely incredible.”
So, no matter if you’re looking for more power, less fatigue, or cleaner energy, the experts at ArborMaster all agree; Greenworks Commercial battery-powered Optimus chainsaws are the best tools available for arborists.
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