My first thoughts and reaction to the “Chainsaw Buddy” weren’t necessarily the most positive. I thought the unit was:

1. Too heavy.
2. Too cumbersome.
3. May be just a gimmick?
4. Looked like it would slow operation.

What I experienced when I tested on site, in wood, ended up quite different. I will address each of the above 4 concerns.

1. Too heavy? While the Chainsaw Buddy does add a little weight, this is only felt a little, between cuts or transporting to cutting location. Once you start using the chainsaw and attachment, because the attachment is usually on the ground, you don’t really notice the weight.

2. Too cumbersome? Looks can be deceiving. At first, when I would twist or rotate the saw left to right or visa versa it caused a little more centrifugal pull then I was used to, but that was o.k. as it didn’t really change the operation of the saw.

3. May be just a gimmick? Actually this is a very cool tool. (Technical term). I found it did what the info says it will and it was pretty easy to use. It is however, quite important that the serrated stops be in the suggested positions for the size of wood or limb being cut, or the attachment doesn’t work as effectively.

4. Looked like it would slow operation? The only time it slowed operation was when I was trying to cut smaller limbs off the big limbs I wanted to cut. This isn’t the kind of attachment that can be installed and just left on for all applications.

When I first started using the Chainsaw Buddy, I had the serrated stops all the way back, thinking this would make the operation easier. This however was not the case... When I moved the stops to the correct position for the size limbs I was cutting, (small) the attachment worked great. Once I got the feel of Chainsaw Buddy I was able to make fairly short work of all the limbs I wanted to cut.

This attachment gave me much greater comfort while I was cutting the limbs. One of the most difficult things to do with a chainsaw is to safely cut limbs, once they have been cut off the tree. You have to have someone standing there holding the little limbs with either their hands or feet, which is very dangerous, or you try to hold the limb on the ground with your foot, again very dangerous. The Chainsaw Buddy made it seem like I had an extra set of hands or feet, without all the risk.