I've named my telescopic reach tool...

[MikoDel]

What else, right? Ha! She's very good to me. This puppy is as indispensible as my positioning lanyard and handsaw. I bent it slightly, by accident, and that actually helps to keep the wand telescoped. Cause the locking 'threads', or however it works, seem to wear out on the thinner parts of the wand very quickly. I'm seen a few iterations of these types of tool, but so far, this one has been the best.

If you know of a better one, pls share, cause this is DEF one item for which I wouldn't mind getting a backup

 

[Jehinten]

What else, right? Ha! She's very good to me. This puppy is as indispensible as my positioning lanyard and handsaw. I bent it slightly, by accident, and that actually helps to keep the wand telescoped. Cause the locking 'threads', or however it works, seem to wear out on the thinner parts of the wand very quickly. I'm seen a few iterations of these types of tool, but so far, this one has been the best.

If you know of a better one, pls share, cause this is DEF one item for which I wouldn't mind getting a backup

I have a homemade one, made from a golf ball retriever (I think) it extends out 10' and collapse to about 15" or so. I haven't measured it collapsed.

Incredibly useful for grabbing ropes and aids in breaking small diameter deadwood that's near failure. Sometimes eliminating a need for a physically taxing manuever to get that last piece of deadwood. Mine is actually in need of repair, as I miss judge just how much holding strength a piece of deadwood had the other day and it pulled the hook out.

 

[misfit]

I used to have two of those Sidekick poles, but I lost one and the other one wore out. It isn't a very robust pole, and it is not available any longer. I have been looking for a replacement and have not found the perfect pole yet, but I did find two other poles that are useful. One is very compact but extends only to 6 feet ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082M2Y3JP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1 ) and the other one extends to 10 feet and is very nice and strong but has the terrible disadvantage of having threaded screw joints for each of the sections ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B099QFNVP7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ). If you can tolerate screwing and unscrewing each section, it's a great pole. Both have an excellent tip for both pulling and pushing/lifting a rope.

 

[Friedrich]

a hooked pole is commonly used to pull branches up (or to the side) for conepicking. but it would be impossible to climb out without breaking them.

i‘ve seen some climbers use these telescopic poles and it looked cumbersome and seemed like training wheels. i dont want to insult anyone for using such a tool. when i started, a couple of very good climbers told me that when you always use a polesaw while climbing, chances are that you won‘t learn to climb without it. seems similar with this.

 

[DSMc]

...when i started, a couple of very good climbers told me that when you always use a polesaw while climbing, chances are that you won‘t learn to climb without it. seems similar with this.

It is not the tools that make a good climber. Trees, and the work needed to accomplish a task within them, are incredibly diverse. Using the best tool or technique to accomplish a task should not be influenced by generalizations that cast doubt on one's abilities.

I have used this type of pole on occasions that made it the best choice.

Telescoping Pole Fiberglass 16' or 26' Standard & Heavy Duty

Get to those hard-to-reach areas with this wide selection of fiberglass telescoping poles, accessories, fish stix and push pull rods!

www.cableorganizer.com

 

[CutHighnLetFly]

Who made the Hooker? @Boomslang ?

 

[MikoDel]

It is not the tools that make a good climber. Trees, and the work needed to accomplish a task within them, are incredibly diverse. Using the best tool or technique to accomplish a task should not be influenced by generalizations that cast doubt on one's abilities.

I have used this type of pole on occasions that made it the best choice.

Telescoping Pole Fiberglass 16' or 26' Standard & Heavy Duty

Get to those hard-to-reach areas with this wide selection of fiberglass telescoping poles, accessories, fish stix and push pull rods!

www.cableorganizer.com

I LOVE YOU! ROTFLMAO!!!!! That looks like a GREAT one. Really cool find, thanks so much!!! Rigid hooks, & choices for hook design - very important. I think I'm gonna go w/the GRAB IT hook. The reach tool i had before this one had a 'bendy' wire hook that would straighten and let go when I was pulling the lanyard or rope towards me - SO frustrating. And the telescopic links eventually just failed and it came apart. And CUT me too. What a POS that thing was. As if there isn't enuf blood in tree work without your reachy tool weighing in.

And for those of you who don't one of these things... God bless ya. Don't know how U do it. There's NO WAY in the world I'd be able to climb to the places where I need to cut, without it. Just yesterday I had to take a dead ash limb away that was over a house, and power & comm lines. But not very high above those lines. It measured maybe 30' from the trunk. Without Christina Reachy, there's no way IN HELL I woulda been able to retrieve my lanyard toss to pull myself out there and set the tag and lowering lines, and make the cuts. Just no way. I mean, I guess there's always multiple ways of doing things.

I remember back in 2009 I entered a ISA climbing competition here in PA. I was the only 'part time' climber, who didn't work for a tree service. I did OK in some areas, not so hot in others. But the speed at which you young, tall guys can footlock up a rope ASTONISHED me. One guy made it up to that... that thing Ur supposed to make it up to LOL... in like, 20 seconds or something ridiculous. Like 50' up a rope in a few seconds. I was slack jawed. So no, I don't ever wanna work anywhere near some dude like Chisolm, cause it'll be like... I never wanna go up a tree again. Ha. I'm by no means a fast tree worker, which is why I charge a very reasonable hourly rate, so I'm under no pressure to take crazy risks or go too far outside my comfort zone. Which, by the very nature of the work, I do sometimes have to push. A little. It's just the way it is.

I need up to three TIP's to work. One high above, one is my 18' positioning lanyard, and the other, a 7' mini lanyard. I toss my lanyard, flip slack into the line so my steel lobster falls thru, then retrieve w/Christina. Pull myself into a balanced position. (Ha, if I'm lucky LOL) Then I may have to connect the mini lanyard to hold my position if I'm so far out that I can't hold it on my own. Then toss the positioner again, slack the claw down, hook it, and pull myself farther out. I simply could not get to some of those crazy places clients want me to prune without both lanyards, and Christina Reachy. Gaffs help of course but I can't always use them.

And I take some ribbing on the forum for my lobster claws. I use 'em on my climbing line and my positioner. I count on the weight of steel to come down to me thru a crotch when I'm leapfrogging around. And you all do this, so you know, trees can be GRABBY sombitches. Even w/a brand new Yale 16 strand line, sometimes I gotta FLIP FLIP FLIP slack waves like a fool B 4 I get that end to come back to me, if the bark is grabby or the crotch is narrow. If it wasn't steel, I wouldn't be able to throw it as far, or coerce it back. And it wouldn't take the abuse of being repeatedly SLAMMED into hardwood.

And I'm so in love w/the DMM carabiners on my positioning lanyards. I only have two. They're old, and they are SINGLE locking, which, when Ur twisted up like a pretzel and have no room to move, hanging on with all U got to not swing like a wrecking ball, and can't see a damn thing cause there's leaves and branches everywhere, are worth their weight in gold for ease of operation.

Fudda mini lanyard, I got a DMM Perfect O on one side, and a steel non-locking w/captive bar on the other. (The captive bars pic shows two DMM's but i switched to a Kong steel captive non-locking on one end). On the DMM I tool-tightened the screwlock OPEN. Once again, when I'm holding on with all my might, trying to set (or release) a carabiner while in a tight, uncomfortable mess of a situation... it would be damn near impossible for me to operate an autoblock carabiner in those situations.

 

[MikoDel]

Here's a retrofit I did to that reach tool, made for wires, that I got as a backup to Christina Reachy. Even the largest hook available to order as an accessory for that telescopic from CABLEORGANIZER.COM was not appropriate. The inside of the hook has serrations, which might possibly keep a line from gliding thru as you pull it toward you. And it's not really big enuff to accommodate a 1/2" line. But the real killer is, it's spring HINGED, and it actually cocks backward, as if to let the line slip out, when you put tension on it. So that's just silly. I'm grateful I live a few blocks away from a REAL hardware store. They were able to hook me up in a minute.

All I need to do now is tie another whipping around it so I can carry it aloft. I'm thinking of using Gorilla tape on the housing, then pullling it off so the sticky residue makes the whipping even more fast. Pine tar that would be good too.

This add'l pic is a beech with a very broad crown, that the customer asked me to reduce what was over his roof. If I did not have a reach tool, there'd B NO WAY I could ever have gotten far enough out on that limb to retrieve my lanyard, or lowering line. It's not a hi-res pic, but I'm using two dynema 'stirrups' as I struggle to get out far enough to do the work. That reach tool lets me tip-tie, to miss his roof when lowered, and still be 25' away from where I set my slip knot. Of course, if I chose another TIP, went WAY higher up in the tree, well then maybe, yeah. But I wanted to see if I could do all the limbs, in the 2 days I worked on it, from the same TIP, w/out having to climb 45-50' higher. And I was able to do that. But without a reach tool? NO WAY. So I take no offense @ anyone saying, 'it's a cheat', or whatev. I simply could not achieve certain tie offs, or reach parts of a crown, w/out that telescopic.

 

[MikoDel]

Following up on this post, I've used some small dia. paracord and a little metal jewelry claw to keep all the inner telescope tubes from extending. The paracord and clip keep the tool retracted when not in use.

Unlike my trusty old Sidekick, this 'cable reach' solution does NOT lock closed. The sidekick tool twists and locks CLOSED, as well as open. This orange reacher does not. When the tool is retracted, all the tubes are 'loosey goosey'.

It's a little bit of a learning curve with this one. The reach for this orange pole is very far, and often I don't need to extend it all the way to hook what I'm tryna hook. That means there are a whole bunch of loose concentric tubes in the 'handle' part, just dying to fly out. This one doesn't lock w/a twist. It locks by friction when the tubes are at their limit. The tubes in the handle (base) that are not in use, extended, and locked, will immediately just 'fall open' backwards if they are not minded. If I pull in the hook hand over hand, and let the back of this device out of my grasp, the entire length of the thing deploys behind me. Major PITA, and very different from the Sidekick tool. So when pulling in something that I've hooked, I have to collapse the tool section by section, holding the base the whole time, while keeping steady tension on the hook so as not to lose my target. I can't simply pull the hook towards me and pass the length of the telescope through my arms and behind me, like with the Sidekick.

My Sidekick is still going strong, but I'm incorporating this new tool during rec climbs, so as not to have to 'discover' everything about it during a paying job.

There may be a 1st time for everything... but I like that first time to be on MY TIME, not under pressure. God knows, enough unexpected stuff happens with gear up in the trees anyway, sometimes Let me not compound it.