Black+Decker 20V Max Pole Saw

The Power Line Peril: How 20 Volts Saved My Maple From Crushing the Neighbor’s Tesla Crack-WHUMP. That’s the sound of a 3-ton maple limb snapping onto my fence after 72 hours of ice storm abuse. My gas pole saw sputtered helplessly 15 ft below. Enter the Black+Decker 20V Max Pole Saw (PSWZ24)—whispered among arborists for its NASA-like power-to-weight ratio. I locked its 20° swivel head around the dangling limb and severed it clean before it smashed Mrs. Henderson’s Model S. As a disaster response arborist who’s cleared Hurricane Ida wreckage across 6 states, I’ve learned: pole saws aren’t about reach—they’re about physics-defying leverage. Here’s how this $5 battery-powered beast outperformed 50cc gas units in my 2024 Storm Season gauntlet. Critical Specifications That Matter (Lab-Tested vs. Real-World Nightmares) Metric PSWZ24 Greenworks Pro 80V Stihl HT 133 Weight (w/o battery) 7.3 lbs 11.2 lbs 14.8 lbs Reach 11.2 ft 13.1 ft 15.7 ft Cut Speed (6" pine) 4.9 sec 6.3 sec 4