The UK's bestTree Loppers2022 Review

These Spear & Jackson Razorsharp Advance Telescopic Anvil Lopper offer a great ‘middle ground’ between pruners and saws when cutting back hedges and trees.

If you’re approaching a large hedge, these anvil loppers can cut through branches of at least 4.5 cm thick, snapping through them quite easily when traditional loppers would require a lot more effort.

One of the features that makes these loppers so effective on bigger branches is the ratchet mechanism. Unlike standard loppers, you winch the blades down so that the loppers take the brunt of the work (it’s not a case of it relying on hand/arm strength alone).

Whilst they can cut through smaller branches too, you’ll probably still want pruning shears on hand to make the job quicker – you have to winch the blades down every time, which can take a while if the branch is small.

You can, however, use these loppers on branches that are larger than 4.5 cm in diameter if you cut into them with a saw first, which is why they make a good middle ground between a pruning shear and a saw.

These loppers are also telescopic, so they extend from 40 – 80 cm with a twist-and-lock mechanism, making it possible to cut higher branches without a ladder. This works well, but has its flaws – primarily because as the handles extend, the ratchet width gets wider. As a result, they can be quite difficult to use in confined spaces as you need to be able to open them sufficiently wide to engage the ratchet first.

Made with aluminium handles and carbon steel blades, Spear & Jackson customers have rated them as long lasting; however, it’s worth pointing out that this construction isn’t the most light weight. At 1.89 kg, they may get tiring if used for long periods, especially when extended.

All in all, these are some of the best tree loppers for medium jobs, making it a lot easier to cut through relatively thick branches with limited effort. As mentioned, they’re ideal when used in conjunction with pruning shears and a saw, to allow each tool to be used as effectively as possible.

If you’re keen to avoid hiring professional help to deal with overgrown trees and hedges, these Davaon Pro Ratchet Anvil Lopper work through some pretty tough areas without too much difficulty. In fact, Davaon claim that they have 5 times the cutting power of regular loppers.

Whilst that’s pretty hard to measure, they’re more than capable of cutting through branches of at least 4.5 cm thick, and this is made easier on the hands with the built-in ratchet system. Thick branches are managed bit by bit, and the carbon-steel blades also help in getting through tough branches.

Even after extended use, the blade remains sharp, and are strong enough to cut through bamboo as well as different tree branches like laurel and leylandii hedges.

Considering how well they cut, and the fact that they’re telescopic as well, they offer good value for money. They’re inexpensive, whilst providing more versatility than non-telescopic loppers.

The handles extend from 68 – 100 cm which makes them useful for pruning both low and high branches. The only thing to look out for is not to force the loppers to cut very hard large branches when fully extended, as the aluminium handles can bend.

Even so, on most reasonably-sized branches, the ratchet system works well to create a neat cut, much quicker than would be achievable with traditional loppers.

Despite the aluminium handles, these loppers still weigh 1.6 kg which may get a little heavy. As with most telescopic loppers, they can feel unbalanced when used fully extended for prolonged periods, so it may be necessary to take a few extra tea breaks (which, arguably, is hardlly the worst news…!).

If you’re fed up of pruning taking ages, these Fiskars FSK1000584 Bypass Loppers will shave some time off compared to traditional loppers.

The reason for this is two-fold: they’re relatively light, at 1.06 kg, meaning they won’t slow jobs down by being tiring to hold, plus they use a ‘rack and pinion’ system to cut through thicker branches.

They’re sufficiently capable of cutting through branches up to 5 cm thick, and can also cut smaller branches because the ratchet doesn’t need to be fully extended to work. It only needs to be opened as much as the branch size demands.

However, it does therefore still have some of the same problems as other ratchet loppers when trying to cut thick branches in confined spaces, because there’s not always enough room to open the handles wide enough.

The handles are made from fibre-glass reinforced plastic which is both strong and light, and the precision-steel blades have a non-stick coating which should reduce the number of times you have to stop working to clean the blade.

Unlike some other models featured on this list, these Fiskars loppers aren’t telescopic, so they have a set length of 69.2 cm. The general consensus is that this offers a good length-to-weight ratio, and they’re useful for both closer jobs as well as those which require reaching a little further. Of course, it is worth bearing in mind, particularly if you have tall hedges and trees, that they won’t have quite the same range as telescopic loppers.

Spear & Jackson have a good reputation amongst gardeners for creating quality equipment, and their Razorsharp 18-30 Inch Telescopic Loppers are a good all-round tool for the garden.

They’re telescopic bypass loppers, and aren’t as heavy as Spear & Jackson’s 8290RS anvil loppers. These weigh 1.68 kg, so they should be slightly easier to manage, and are roughly the same size with an un-extended length of 45 cm and an extended length of 76 cm.

When it comes to cutting, they use a ratchet mechanism and can get through branches of up to 4 cm in diameter. They use carbon-steel blades that have been coated to protect them from rust, and seem to maintain their sharpness well even with regular use.

Considering Spear & Jackson’s reputation, these are also some of the best tree loppers in terms of value for money – they’re relatively inexpensive, yet bring a lot to the table in terms of quality and design. The main thing to bear in mind is that their maximum cutting diameter is a little lower than more expensive models, so their functionality will depend on what size branches you’re hoping to prune.

This Fiskars PowerGear X Tree Pruner is one of the best tree loppers for accessing branches that are tricky to reach.

Not only is it 1.6 m long, but it also has an adjustable head that can be positioned at any angle through 230°. The benefit of this is you don’t need to hold the pole at an awkward angle; it can be kept relatively straight whilst the angled blades do the cutting.

This tool can manage twigs and branches up to 3.2 cm in diameter, but it doesn’t have a ratchet system like many of the tree loppers featured here, so its cutting ability relies slightly more on hand strength.

The cutting mechanism works by using a ‘pulley’ system. As you pull down on the shaft of the lopper, a cable is pulled down inside, forcing the cutting blades to close. As a result, it can’t get through really thick branches, but does handle smaller ones at the tops of trees well.

One benefit of this cutting system is that it is easier to use in dense shrubbery than a ratchet lopper. Whereas ratchet loppers require space to open out the handles, this Fiskars Pruner is pretty streamlined.

Additionally, thanks to its length, this lopper is particularly useful for pruning without the use of a ladder, although you do need to have reasonably good aim to position the blades accurately from such a distance. Fortunately, it is not particularly heavy, at just over 1 kg, so shouldn’t be unwieldy.

The biggest downside is that the aluminium shaft isn’t extendable; therefore, it’s not very practical for pruning hedges and trees lower down, or at close range – it’s only really intended for pruning at lofty heights.

As the furthest-reaching tree lopper featured here, it certainly has its uses. But you’ll likely want a shorter tool as well, to use in combination with this lopper, for cutting lower branches.