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

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!

Great tool, As most of the other owners of this tool will say the thought of using a chainsaw to me is a little scary. This tool however is very easy to use and takes away some of the risk of using a chain saw. It states on the instructions not to use the item on ladders but if your sensible (as with any tool) I used it to prune an out of control pear tree. I managed to cut through sections of the tree that measured 4inchs (10cm) just let the chain do the work. Once all the tree sections are on the ground this tool is great making light work of cutting sections and even cutting up small twigs and branch's which are hard to do with a chainsaw. With the chain being protected via the jaws your much less likely to damage it and it protects the chain from dulling which happens if your chain hits soil on the ground. Before I purchased I did a bit of research and I was also looking at the worx WG307E Jawsaw but I was struggling to find one in the uk competitively priced. All in all a great tool that is very versatile and much safe to use and maintain over a chainsaw for the DIY gardener.

I was very pleased with this excellent tool, it worked very well and performed as expected. It is for domestic use only not for continuous use. I was disappointed with the operating instructions and think that novice user may not fully understand what can and can't be done and how long it should be used before topping up the oil reservoir. Chainsaw oil; The instructions say that the oil must be used before cutting for the first time so I was also disappointed that no chainsaw oil was supplied. I then had to go out to by some. Do not be tempted to start using without first oiling. Cutting If used correctly, it is perfectly safe. Do not be tempted to over exert pressure when cutting, it will overload the motor and slow down the cutting. The chain should always be above the branch being cut to throw the chippings away from you. Do not use above your head height unless you are wearing full face visor and helmet and that you are properly secured in position and be aware that the branch could potentially fall on to you. I would also recommend that gardening gloves are used and eye protection as quite a lot of shavings are thrown out. If someone else is standing close by ensure they also have eye protection. If you are cutting up branches that have already been lopped from the tree, this should be secured before making the cut as it can be thrown around which could cause injury. As with all chain saw cutting lots of big wood chips are thrown out which makes quite a mess. I found it useful to cut up the branches on the patio or pathway as it is easier to sweep up after.

The Alligator is a fantastic bit of kit. I'm on my second one now, the first lasted three years before the motor burned out, but during that time it did a lot of work. I recently used it for taking down a 20 foot conifer hedge with approx 8" trunks and with some careful rotation it will eat things far larger than the bar length. Apart from the very high stuff which i used a polesaw for, it did everything, right down to slicing all the wood into logs ready for the fire. The best thing about this is that all the usual danger and precaution i take with the full size chainsaw is thrown to the wind and you can just get stuck in. There is never any danger of the chain touching the ground and it can't really kick back on you. Even if it did the jaws would snap shut. Its nice and quiet too, well in comparison anyway. But its not all good, so here's a few things that have let it down. The auto oiler is a bit rubbish. it should really have a little tank, so every 30 mins or so you have to drip some more oil in and i usually rub some on the chain too for good measure. The chain can jump off, but if you ensure the adjuster bolts are really tight it doesn't happen very often. It usually happens with loose bits of wood that jump about and rattle the chain. When it happens it just stops. no danger. It can get a big clogged up, so it needs a good shaking and cleaning after each use. The power cable can get twisted as you work. I'd prefer a cordless , but the battery life is supposedly poor on this model. Overall though i'd highly recommend it.

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.

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.

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.

My new toy, i love it, my Brother has 1 of these & he showed me how it works a year ago, i've wanted 1 since then but wasn't that keen on the price, (even though it's worth every penny). I eventually bought it when it was on sale & i'm a happy bunny now. I had some surplus plum trees to get rid of & lots of other fruit trees that need cutting back on a regular basis, this tool is just perfect for the job, (it's quite heavy so i can build up my muscles in the process of getting the work done ha ha). I didn't want to get a chainsaw but knew that i'd need something in that line, this has a brilliant safety feature in that you have to hold both grips to make it work, so it's impossible to cut your hand off unless you have 3 hands. You need to oil it after every 10 minutes of regular use (not a problem, it's easy to do & takes about 2 seconds) & they recommend that you buy their oil (they do supply about half of a small bottle, which is plenty to get started) i asked my Brother if i could get away with using just any standard 3-1 type oil & he said yes, in fact he said "any engine type oil will do, if it's good enough to run a car, it's good enough for this". I can fully recommend this product.

Das Gerät funktioniert einwandfrei und ist bestens geeignet um Äste bis 10 cm Durchmesser zu schneiden. Man wird hier aber wohl beachten müssen, zuerst die Säge anlaufen zu lassen und dann zuzupacken - nicht umgekehrt, sonst wird's wohl mit Qualm und -Gestank den Geist aufgeben Jedoch war jedenfalls das mir gelieferte Gerät mit einem Commonwealth-Stecker versehen, sodass ich mir einen Reiseadapter kaufen musste um es gleich verwenden zu können. Der einzige Hinweis, dass es für den englischen Markt ist, den ich hätte erkennen können, ist das GB in der Produktbezeichnung ("GK1000-GB"). Es gibt bei diesem Gerät unterschiedliche Typen. Das mir gelieferte Gerät ist "Type 2", also das neue Produkt. Da ich einen Preisnachlass erhalten habe, der mir den Reiseadapter und die Kupplung zum Anschluss für ein Adapterkabel (MasterPlug Heavy Duty UK Stromkabel Buchse Rewireable 13a BS1363 A) ersetzt, verzichte ich auf einen Abzug, weil das Gerät hält, was es verspricht.

A mi parecer una maravilla. Aún teniendo una motosierra grande, el uso que doy a esta pequeñaja es increíble. Muy ligera, muy segura y hace su trabajo de maravilla. Si no quieres complicarte la vida con máquinas de gasolina esta es tu motosierra. Con la única limitación de no cortar ramas ni troncos de más de 10-15.

L'articolo è arrivato nei tempi e nei modi previsti e si comporta coerentemente con le aspettative: comodo, leggero, maneggevole e estremamente efficace! Un solo problema: arriva dal regno unito e la spina necessita di un adattatore per essere utilizzato qui da noi, non è grave, ma è bene saperlo.

Pourquoi livrez vous en France un appareil avec une prise américaine ?Obligation=aller chez Castorama ou autre pour acheter un adaptateur .Sinon l appareil fonctionne très bien

Bonjour, le produit est bien arrivé, mais quelle ne fut pas ma surprise de constater que le branchement électrique est doté d'une fiche mâle anglaise, chose qui n'était pas du tout signalé.