Electric Pruners

Just looking ahead a bit to winter pruning. This year looks like the year we add electric pruners to our tool set. Pellenc and Campagnola are fading from view as choices with Electrocoupe and Felco holding ground … at least based on what I see readily available. The lithium ion batteries are pretty well advanced with low weight and good use duration. The Electrocoupe seems to recharge faster. Anyone purchase electric pruners over the last couple of years? Any thoughts on the new pruners and any recommendations?

Just to cycle back on this thread in case it might be useful to someone else. Based on further research and testing it became very clear that the battery technologies for Infaco and Pellenc were better than the other offerings. As you can imagine battery technology is moving in leaps and bounds so I would not be surprised if Felco catches up next year. At this year’s Unified meeting in Sacramento I was able to try both Pellenc’s Vinion and Infaco’s F3015 models on cutting wood chunks. Both are good units but Infaco’s build quality is slightly better than Pellenc’s and the trigger control is also better with the F3015. The price differential is significant at $1K more for the Infaco. The Infaco has the optional sensor safety glove system that you put on the non-pruner hand so that when the pruner is very close to the glove the pruner will not close the blade. Based on build quality and safety reasons I took the dollar hit and went with the Infaco. After a few days use I really like this pruner. It charges quickly and it can go longer than you can…well me at least. I’m using the regular blade size which is great for older plants(>3 years) that are cane pruned. For my younger plants added to the vineyard in the last couple of years I find manual hand pruners are faster. One other point is that the battery with the F3015 also can be used to power the Infaco A3MV2 tying device. If there are any questions please let me know…Cheers, Gary

Do you like the protective glove? I have an older model Infaco that scares the crap out of me when anyone else uses it. I habitually catch at least one finger on my left hand each season with manual shears, and the electric pruner is so powerful that it wouldn’t bat an eye as it lopped off a digit. I’d like to upgrade to the safer model unless the glove is a hindrance for some reason.

Stewart - Yes I do. The glove is a bit rough and stiff but comfortable enough to wear an entire day. I’ll see if it softens with use by the end of this week. This is a system I wouldn’t hesitate to give to someone else to use. I like the fact that the cable connections(glove & pruners) do not get in the way or snag anything. Good friends nearby that own a commercial orchard will not hand over their battery Felcos to their workers.

After using the Infaco F3015 last season and we are half way through pruning this season I really like this pruning system. One battery charge lasts longer than I do so there are no issues losing juice. Since it’s been on the chilly side I’m able to wear a Majestic Superdex glove underneath the conductive protective glove on my left hand and a light winter weight Oregon Research glove on my right trigger hand. By next week we should be done pruning and can start using our new Pellenc Fixion-2 to tie down the canes. Hopefully that performs as well as the Infaco.

I’m finding it’s way to easy to accidentally cut through 14ga wire…oops ! The 12.5ga wire just gets nicked…still oops !