Overrated

[TreeHugger]

What is the most overrated/underused piece of equipment or gear that you own or have ever owned? Mine is a chipper. There were a couple of jobs that it came in handy, but for the most part I can load the brush in my trailer with my Bobcat in a fraction of the time that it can be chipped. Not to mention how loud it was. It was very nice on the couple of jobs where the homeowner let me leave the chips on his property, but that was few and far between. Anyway, just curious if anyone else had a "why did I buy that moment" with something?

 

[Mick!]

Chipper, overrated? Clearly we live in different worlds.
It's the single biggest money maker I have.

 

[MasterBlaster]

If you don't have a great place to dump, a chipper is necessary.

Otherwise, it's quicker to stuff brush in a trailer IMO.

 

[lumberjack]

What size chipper do you have? I have jobs on occasion where a chipper would be handy, assuming it was big enough to keep up.


Regarding my biggest waste of money.... I'd rather not think about it!

 

[Fiddler]

I can't even imagine all the extra trips I would make to dump w/out a chipper.

Not overrated but I would say my GRCS is underused only because it isn't needed on the majority of jobs...that being said it pretty much pays for itself whenever it does get used.

 

[TreeHugger]

It was a 12" chipper. Another tree service was wanting to get rid of it so he let me make payments on it. I made payments for 3 months and quickly found out that it was slowing me down. So I let him have it back. I basically rented if for 3 months. Like I said there are definitely some jobs where it would come in handy, but just not enough to justify it right now. I did a job for a tree service a couple of weeks ago where the owner rented a chipper for a week. 10 very large pine trees. Lot of limbs. Not very close to a dump site. In that situation it was very useful, but I still hated working around it.

 

[FJR]

An inexpensive piece of gear that was overrated was the line tamer. I think I used two or three times and then it got stored away somewhere. Another overrated piece of gear was the brush grapple for the mini. That thing was a better paper weight than it was a grapple. I realized that even more when I bought my first bmg thanks to Carl.

I am sure there have been a whole bunch of other smaller things that I just can't think of at the moment.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Truely, the line tamer was a waste of money.

 

[cory]

Ha it got me too. Only lasted a week or so.

 

[Pelorus]

Flimsy aluminum telescoping rope grabber thing gets my nod.
Not sure what it is called.
Afraid if I look at it sideways it will break.

edit: "Sidekick climbing rope retriever"

 

[lumberjack]

Haha the line tamer did suck!

After using the Terex 750HD (Scott/Arborwork's), I'm fighting the urge to buy the last Tier 3 available. I really don't need it, although I do have a bit of work I could use it on. Still, I would be better off spending the money on other things.

 

[TreeHugger]

Flimsy aluminum telescoping rope grabber thing gets my nod.
Not sure what it is called.
Afraid if I look at it sideways it will break.

edit: "Sidekick climbing rope retriever"

I use the one made by Stein. It is smaller than the sidekick. I have broken about 2 of them, but it is so darned handy and not very expensive so I keep buying new ones. It's not something that I can't live without, but find it to be a good purchase. Just wish they made them a little tougher.

 

[Pelorus]

I gave up and just use a 6' Jameson pole with a pole saw attachment (without blade) for a bit more reach.
I refer to it as "the pole of death"

 

[HolmenTree]

I liked [notice "liked"] that little line tamer.....only trouble is the darn batteries let you down when least expected

 

[cory]

Amazing how many of us tried it.

 

[MasterBlaster]

It seemed like a good idea at the time and the price was OK.

Live and learn!

 

[Altissimus]

The "Two in One Safety" ... A clumsy joke really. If you need two use two.

 

[cory]

Or one and a split tail climb line.

 

[Chris E]

Flimsy aluminum telescoping rope grabber thing gets my nod.
Not sure what it is called.
Afraid if I look at it sideways it will break.

edit: "Sidekick climbing rope retriever"

I use the one made by Stein. It is smaller than the sidekick. I have broken about 2 of them, but it is so darned handy and not very expensive so I keep buying new ones. It's not something that I can't live without, but find it to be a good purchase. Just wish they made them a little tougher.

I find the sidewinder flimsy and useful in equal measures. I've bought the Stein also but haven't used it yet-seems very close quarters

 

[treesmith]

My bucket truck(s) were my biggest mistake. I bought the first one back in 1999 as I was getting a lot of dead tree calls. Had issues with it, so traded it in a year later on a slightly newer, 4x4 model. Even bigger waste of money...no pun intended.

 

[TreeHugger]

My bucket truck(s) were my biggest mistake. I bought the first one back in 1999 as I was getting a lot of dead tree calls. Had issues with it, so traded it in a year later on a slightly newer, 4x4 model. Even bigger waste of money...no pun intended.

Was it a waste of money because they weren't mechanically sound, or did you just not use them much. Reason I ask is my next big purchase will be a bucket of some type. I'm leaning toward one of those trailer mounted lifts. The ones that you can pull behind your pickup. You can get them into places where a bucket truck might not be able to get. I did a job the other day that was just one really long sweet gum limb. The tree was located about 20 feet in front of the house and the limb extended to about 10 ft. past the back of the house. From the time I pulled in the driveway to the time I left the job site was about 2 hrs. If I had a bucket I could have been out of there in about 30 minutes. I say that to say that there are very few jobs I come across where a bucket is absolutely necessary, but there are many jobs where a bucket would make life a lot easier.

 

[SouthSoundTree-]

I have sooo many jobs that a spider lift could go that no bucket is going without major damage or getting stuck. Its significantly wet here 8-9 months of the year. Everything, except the Linetamer, is so market dependent.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Quite true. No matter where you live, the Line Tamer still SUCKS!

 

[lumberjack]

Was it a waste of money because they weren't mechanically sound, or did you just not use them much. Reason I ask is my next big purchase will be a bucket of some type. I'm leaning toward one of those trailer mounted lifts. The ones that you can pull behind your pickup. You can get them into places where a bucket truck might not be able to get. I did a job the other day that was just one really long sweet gum limb. The tree was located about 20 feet in front of the house and the limb extended to about 10 ft. past the back of the house. From the time I pulled in the driveway to the time I left the job site was about 2 hrs. If I had a bucket I could have been out of there in about 30 minutes. I say that to say that there are very few jobs I come across where a bucket is absolutely necessary, but there are many jobs where a bucket would make life a lot easier.

I had a Genie TZ50/30 towable lift, Scott flew in it with me before. I'm trying to get them added to the Terex Environmental lineup (I'm a dealer for TEE), as I think they're a great machine for tree work. 50' platform height, 30' of side reach, roughly 22' up and over height. Top boom extends and has a jib on the end of it. 500lb capacity means you can cut a good sized piece, set it on the basket, and swing to the opening. I even had short lengths of rope made up to cut the ends off limbs, tying the butt to the stub. I'd use another short rope to tie to the piece, take wraps around the basket, and hold the tail; then lift the cut pieces and swing them to the dz. Let go of the tail and it bombs into the drop zone. It sounds wild, but it's not that much different than cutting and holding with your hand vs the rope with regards to the weight the lift is holding up. Also, holding a 200-250lb limb with your hand sucks, especially when your only choice is to hold onto it or drop it on what you're trying to protect.


I'd like to get some variety of lift, although in a perfect world it would be the Omme 2750, 90' basket height, 52' of side reach, $165k.

 

[Tucker943]

I have sooo many jobs that a spider lift could go that no bucket is going without major damage or getting stuck. Its significantly wet here 8-9 months of the year. Everything, except the Linetamer, is so market dependent.

Alturna mats.