BLACK+DECKER Alligator Powered Lopper 550 W with Chainsaw Cutting Performance in Fully Enclosed Bar and Chain GK1000-GB

I don't know how the people who gave this machine a bad review could be so wrong!I don't want a 'proper chain saw' and this alligator is perfect for what we use it for.It cuts through everything we throw it at.You do need to keep the chain oiled and keep the jaws clear but that's just basic maintenance.We have taken down huge leylandies , right down to the trunk that was over a foot wide (obvs can't saw those!) saving £1000's.It's so safe to use too. It feels very well made and sturdy, not too heavy and we have cut branches much bigger than we really should, just be patient!Value for money against paying someone is great!I can't fault the performance of this tool at all.

This is completely fabulous and I'd recommend it to everyone! As a female in my late 60s, a chainsaw novice and not quite confident or strong enough to use my son's large petrol chainsaw, I have been able to completely tame my garden shrubs and trees and cut up logs for the fire. I started with old dry limbs that had been well seasoned and it went through them like butter. Over a month or two, I've become more confident/experienced and find the Alligator is also great for new wood, so long as the small green twigs are stripped away first (these small bits can jam things up). Easy to solve - if that happens, stop cutting straight away and unscrew the only two bolts (not hard to find and tool supplied ) to unjam - and I do this anyway to clean and reoil it after every use, which is a quick simple job. This also auto-retensions the chain so it's a good bit of routine maintenance and takes only 5 minutes.Having managed to get the Alligator stuck in a tree (call to my son for help) he taught me to make a small cut on the 'falling side' first, then cut from the other side, to stop that happening. This has also shown me that it is possible to easily cut through quite large diameter pieces (6 inches/15cm or more - see pic) by cutting from one side and then the other. And I've now developed the 'advanced technique! :-)' of rotating the saw as I cut, which has the same effect.As others have said, no oil reservoir and a little slitted hole to drip oil through means you do have to constantly lubricate every few minutes - and as others have also said, it is easier to oil the chain directly. The not-too-accurate plastic bottle supplied doesn't help. But that's a small inconvenience in the scheme of things. And I now have a small metal oil can with a flexible spout which is much more accurate.The Alligator really does cut through wood like butter - it's so fast, accurate (since you hold the wood in the jaws and can see where the cut is going) and easy that it's much bettter than larger, powerful petrol chainsaws for some jobs - my son even borrowed it to make the lovely wooden coasters/display bases that you see in the second photo.Absolutely love my Alligator!

We bought one of the GK1000 "Alligator" loppers because we needed to deal with a hedge that had become overgrown and a number of self set trees had start to grow in and around it.It's a great tool that sits roughly midway between an all out chainsaw and a large pair of manual loppers/pruners or small tree saw.The design means that it's much safer to use than a normal chainsaw, light enough (and small enough) to slip in between the branches of a hedge, and because it takes little effort you can trim down large branches etc a bit at a time working your way into the hedge.In the space of about 15 minutes it did more than we had managed in a couple of hours by hand.You also suddenly find you can get a lot more in the boot of the car or in the green bin because cutting branches down to smaller sections is no longer hard work that takes a lot of time.My one minor complaint, which I think others have mentioned, is that whilst it comes with an empty applicator bottle for oil, it does not however come with the oil itself so before you use it you need to buy some chainsaw oil, which is an irritant if you don't already have some handy.

I am always cautious on reading reviews, whether it’s about products or places, since you will nearly always get bad reviews as well as good. I always try and guess if it may be the person who is being biased one way or another, to balance the reviews as a whole. On reading various reviews on this B&D tool, they were all positive, not one bad review. So I took a chance and made the purchase. The task was to cut seven tall trees in the garden, which had grown to about thirty feet tall. I was amazed at how easy it was to cut though branches – 4 inch branches were cut through in about 3 seconds! The main motivation on using this tool was not just ease of cutting but also safety. I can definitely say that it was extremely safe, since the blade is covered, and you only start cutting once you have the jaws round the branch. I was able to move the tool around with one hand to get position, then grasp with both hands to cut – taking seconds.I can absolutely recommend this B&D Alligator; it is well worth the money!I would recommend that you also purchase the lubricant and spare chain, since I always top up the lubricant before each use, just to be sure the reservoir is full; and in a few years the spare chain may come in handy, since they don’t last forever, rather than searching the net to buy a suitable chain for what may well be an outdated model by then.