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Fiskars Loop Handle Bypass Pruner w/ Carabiner Clip

rated 4.0 of 5 stars
photo:   Fiskars Loop Handle Bypass Pruner w/ Carabiner Clip knife/tool

An inordinate item on its own; incorporated with my gear, this pruner has permanently become a significant part of my comprehensive backpacking inventory. Trail maintenance, quick and easy!

Pros

  • Trail maintenance — quick and easy
  • Quickly clips to backpack for easy access
  • Weighs just 139g (4.9oz)

Cons

  • If you leave it at home, you'll wish you hadn't

Fiskars Loop Handle Bypass Pruner with Carabiner Clip, item: 9111


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Purchased April 7, 2012, for $13.99

An inordinate item on its own; incorporated with my gear, this pruner has permanently become a significant part of my comprehensive backpacking inventory.

Clipped to my hip-belt strap, conveniently accessible, I've developed a routine of pruning overgrown flora from the trail as I hike. This may be especially relieving in the desert, my stumbling battle field, as the majority of overgrown flora has one desire, and that is to prick, prod, poke and otherwise substantially annoy me, throughout my day. These particular flora specimens happen to be the most common, amassed mundane of the bunch.

I live in the desert by choice and love every bit of it. The flora here is indeed amazing and, much of it, I wouldn't ever consider pruning. With that said, however, throughout the years, hiking the Sonoran desert, the local less-than-benevolent flora has provoked me more than I can tell you… I'm now fighting back, and have been since April 2012!

Here are the stats, in italics, straight from the manufacturer…

Description

Carabiner clip attaches to belt loop for easy access. Corrosion resistant, non-stick blade coating reduces friction to make cutting easier. Just like scissors, the lower loop handle provides the perfect balance of comfort and control. FiberComp® handle - reinforced fiberglass composite provides strength and durability while reducing weight. Right or left-handed use. 1.59 cm (5/8 in) cutting capacity.

Features

  • Carabiner clip attaches to belt loop for easy access
  • Loop handle design prevents slipping and protects fingers
  • Sharp, precision-ground blade edge
  • Fully hardened blade holds sharp edge longer
  • Corrosion resistant, non-stick blade coating reduces friction to make cutting easier
  • FiberComp® handle - reinforced fiberglass composite materials provide strength and durability
  • Right or left-handed use
  • Bypass blade - for clean cuts of green, living growth
  • Easy-opening thumb lock
  • Cutting capacity - 1.59 cm (5/8 in)
  • Lifetime warranty


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On average, I have returned home from a hike thoroughly pricked, prodded, poked and transpierced, and extensively transposed from the preened manner in which I began. I also have a tendency to trek off-trail, which translates to… I don't stand a chance of returning home without donating some part of my anatomy (special mention: as a rule, I generally do not prune when off-trail. I search for an easier passage if possible).

Additional benefits of wielding a pruner include the excitement of knowing you're performing a task that others behind you will certainly appreciate. Fine human nature is a quality most of us already possess simply for our appreciation of the outdoors. Trail maintenance is generally painless and is synonymous with conduct becoming a fine humanist. Maintaining our trails is indeed a prodigious function and represents a great example for those following in our footsteps.

Unfortunately, this is a single-purpose device, all the same, a safety pruner. The lower functioning flange is edgeless and extrudes beyond the upper cutting blade to prevent injury. And, I find it tremendously easier to grab-n-prune with the pruner than to actuate a chance of injury using a knife. Although, of course, I would agree a knife could be employed, and for additional purposes, there exists a recognizable danger that can be carefully avoided by using this pruner. 

The carabiner feature is fabulous for quick-draw pruning then returning home to my hip belt strap. I have, fortunately, been able to avoid and otherwise defend myself quite a bit from overgrown thorn flora that has, in the past, lacerated my clothing and clawed my gear. I find the pruner expressly necessary as my gear gets lighter for the simple fact that we're appreciably backpacking these days equationally and, as our gear becomes more expensive, lighter, and thus more equitable, we need to consciously, increasingly, care for our investment.

For these reasons, if you're backpacking and hiking in a region of the country that requires some simple trail maintenance, this pruner is an effective way to fundamentally maintain the trail and your equipment.

Bottom line, when the local flora is determined to bite, bite back!

Reach Your Summit!

If you're interested in Fiskars Loop Handle Bypass Pruner, please visit Fiskars at…

http://www.fiskars.ca/Products/Yard-and-Garden/Pruners/Standard-Pivot/Loop-Handle-Bypass-Pruner-w-Carabiner-Clip

Note: I snapped a couple of photos, one with the pruner on my scale and another with the pruner hanging on my hip belt tensioning strap, where I keep it at all times. When I have the opportunity I'll snap a photo of the pruner, in use, while I'm in the wilderness and edit my review with the new photos.

This is an independent review! I am not at all affiliated with Fiskars or any associated entity. 

Source: bought it new
Price Paid: $13.99

I used this for several years, but eventually the gearing got loosened and it now pinches my hand when I use it.

Pros

  • Light
  • Convenient
  • Good for trail maintenance

Cons

  • Poor durability

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Specs

Price Reviewers Paid: $19.57

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