Ok, so I have written and posted a lot about the Arbor Trolley, and I would like to share some specific thoughts after having it a while longer.
First let me offer some disclosure. Some of the products I review and produce video content for are provided to me at no cost. The Arbor Trolley is NOT one of these items. I purchased it at full price from TreeStuff (less 5% ARBORIST discount of course). I am in no way, nor have I been compensated by Stein or Reg.
When I first saw the AT I immediately liked the idea of it and decided I would 'make' my own. Well, the truth is I am not a fabricator nor did I ever have the time. A year + passed and I still hadnt 'made' one, so I bit the bullet and bought it. As anyone that has read this and the other threads knows, I immediately fell head over heels for it.
I am and always have been a gear junky, evidenced by the thousands of dollars I spend on random 'stuff' each year. I have bought tons of ropes, pulleys, rigging doodads, cords, tools etc. While many of them make my day to day a little easier, more convenient, or just a bit more stylish, nothing I ever bough compares to the AT. A new rope can be GREAT, a pulley can make my rigging so much BETTER or a little faster. Different things save bits of effort here and there, and there are lots of products that i just LOVE, but none has had measurable an impact like the AT.
When I started doing treework I was on a crew with a 6" chipper, an 80's chip truck and a either a $50 dolly from Harbor Freight or the cheapest wheelbarrow money could buy. Dont get me wrong, cut a 20" oak down in a back yard and wheelbarrow is revolutionary compared to carrying rounds out by hand. Where I work now we have 2 standard ballcarts which are obviously superior to a wheelbarrow or a Harbor Freight dolly. The AT eclipses all of those tools by a power of ten easily.
Nothing, in a similar realm of cost except maybe a chainsaw, offers the same return or has such an impact on production as the AT. After working with one, I literally CANNOT imagine working without it. At the end of the work day my body feels BETTER, because of the AT. Generating and removing tree debris is fundamental to what we do and just like I wouldn't cut a 18" log without a chainsaw, I wouldn't consider moving it without the Arbor Trolley.
There are plenty of jobs where we wouldntt take a traditional ballcart because it is a pain, its heavy, and its huge. The AT fits almost anywhere and goes EVERYWHERE.
I truly regret every day I have done tree work without the AT since first seeing it. It might not be for everyone, if you use a crane everyday maybe the AT isnt for you. BUT, if you regularly move logs or brush of any size without a machine, you are remiss by not having an AT.
The ArborTrolley does not disappoint!
