Good, but not perfect

Reviews: Fiskars 9234 62-Inch Pruning Stik

I purchased the Pruning Stik specifically to cut seed pods off a large and long wisteria vine. The various pruning tools I have are all too short to reach the higher pods and those that are located on the other side of the fence the vine has grown over. I have used a tree pruner before with success, but it is heavy, sometimes too long, and it requires pulling the cutting blades over the stems, instead of pushing. The pushing solution is why I bought this new tool, and it worked. It was easier getting to the pods that could not be reached with the other pruning tools, and it is much lighter than the tree pruner. Tilting the blades made it easier for me to locate them over the stems. Because the head is so large, it usually blocks the view of what it is cutting. I found that I used the ball on the end of the Stik about 90% of the time, because the slide pull has to move a long distance to close the cutting blades, it is too close to the blades (shortens the effective length) and it tends to stick. The ball tends to stick in the end of the pruner, too. I think a little spray lubricant would help. The only other criticism I have of the tool is that the head is a bit heavy, so when using the full length of the tool, I had to rest it on a branch. I would probably have given the Pruning Stik only a 3 rating, but I did complete the pod removal in two hours, so it did the job.