ARS HP-VS8Z Signature Heavy Duty Pruner

Very sharp, cuts cleanly, and is easy to use. The lock mechanism took a few times to get used to but works well. I have medium to small hands and the size works for me. I've tried several pruners over the years and this is the best by far.

Beautiful, heavy duty, SHARP, Japanese-made quality pruners.

Three years of regular use here. I've owned/used Corona, Bahco, various Fiskars, and tons of random off-brand pruners/secateurs. These are probably the best value pruners I've come across. Excellent out of the package, sharp AF, easy to clean, well-made, Japanese quality. Compared to the Felco F2, they are slightly more petite and great for medium/smaller hands, though I have large hands and they're fine. The more narrow jaw opening and shorter blade means you won't be cutting really large material as you could with the Felco F2. These are more comparable to the Felco F6, which have a shorter blade and more narrow grip span. I have not, however, really had any issues due to this, and I appreciate the more agile feeling of these for more precision work. If you're doing a lot of big branch pruning and heavy cutting, Felco F2 might be the way to go. There are no corrosion issues as you can get with Felco blades, as the ARS are stainless steel. An occasional cleaning with a light abrasive pad or steel wool with some alcohol gets these shiny again, no problem. That said, stainless steel is generally considered to be a little harder to sharpen than carbon steel, though I've sharpened these maybe three times with a hardened steel edge sharpener (Corona sharpener) and a couple light passes was sufficient to get them plenty sharp. Downsides: Blade adjustment can be a pain. The pivot screw and Nylock nut have to be tightened *just right* to have the blade snug as it bypasses the hook/anvil, but not so tight that it binds. I use a socket wrench on the Nylock nut, and a crescent wrench on the screw head, and monkey with it until it feels right. The design decision for this type of adjustment seems inexplicable to me. Felco wins in this area. The only other nit to pick is the tolerances (tightness) compared to Felco are slightly more loose. The bypass cut has a little more gap and just a bit of wobble between the blade and hook. In practice, it's never been an issue that I can recall. It cuts like a champ and unless you're super dialed in to this detail, you likely won't notice. My advice: If you want ze best, with super tight tolerances and precision engineering, and don't mind more regular maintenance, go Felco. Otherwise, get these for 30-some damn dollars. And if the ARS feel good out of the box, don't mess with it, clean it occasionally, oil it every now and then and these will serve you quite well for a nice price.

I have never owned a good quality pruner. Always had the cheap grocery store cutters. This one is well made and fits in my hand well. It took awhile to get used to the lock/unlock method but I like it very much now. They are plenty sharp.

The description for these pruners state: "The authentic version of this pruner will come in ENGLISH packaging. If you receive one in JAPANESE packaging please be aware that it is not covered under factory and the authenticity of the product cannot be ." That's a confusing sentence but I took it to mean that if the pruners have Japanese packaging they aren't real ARS and they have no warranty. I received pruners with Japanese packaging. I contacted the seller and was told: "Please feel free to contact me whenever there is something wrong with the product so that I can give you full refund. " Will this seller still exist if/when these pruners fail? How will I contact them. Right now I can only contact them through Am*z*n. I looked for these pruners on other websites and found one, at a Japanese site, that shows the Japanese packaging. Are those authentic? I don't read Japanese so I have no idea how to contact anyone about a warranty. I used the pruners and found them to be very nice. They look well made. They are sharp and well balanced. The handles could be a little longer; they seem made for smaller hands (I am a tall female with big hands). They are simple to unlock - just squeeze the handles and the locking mechanism releases. To lock them again, squeeze the handles pretty hard and push the locking lever with your thumb. The lock closes easily. That is a little difficult for me due to arthritis in my hands, so I use two hands. Younger people should have no problem. The blades open wide, and the top blade is more curved than other pruners I have, which makes more of a slicing cut than a chopping cut, so they are less likely to damage my fruit trees. They seem well-made, and are stamped with the model number and "made in Japan", so maybe they are the real thing. Who knows?

These are awesome. They cut everything smoothly and easily. I'm so happy I bought them.

I’ve gone through a lot of pruners over the years, and the ARS HP-VS8Z Signature Heavy Duty Pruner immediately stood out as one of the best I’ve used. I bought it specifically for some spring cleanup in the garden—thinning a corkscrew willow, shaping an olive tree, and cutting back dead wood from an older hebe shrub. These handled all of it effortlessly. The blades are extremely sharp and make very clean cuts, even on thicker stems that usually require a bit of wrestling with lesser pruners. On the olive tree especially, I was impressed by how easily it moved through the woody stems without crushing or tearing the bark. The build quality feels excellent—solid without being overly heavy—and the grip is comfortable enough that my hand didn’t fatigue even after a long pruning session. I also appreciate how precise they feel when making more delicate cuts while thinning branches. After one afternoon using them, it was obvious these are a serious step up from typical hardware-store pruners. If you spend any real time gardening, these feel like a proper tool rather than something disposable. This is definitely going to stay a staple in my gardening kit for years to come. The size is perfect and love the look of these. Highly recommend.

I’ve been a landscaper and nurseryman for over 15 year, I’ve always used felco’s becuase that is what my company provided. I read many reviews on these pruners describing the quality of the blade and cut. I cannot dissagree, these pruners are hands down, better then any pair of felco’s I’ve ever had (and I’ve tried many). Blade is super sharp, does an amazing job and keeping sharp, even after cutting lots of hardwood. It’s equally as modular and replaceable as felco’s. Squeeze to unlock is the best feature I’ve ever experience on pruners. At first they were hard to squeeze tight enough to unlock, but after several unlocks it becomes easier. After months the locking mechanism is still holding strong. The only time squeeze to unlock doesn’t work is if I’ve been cleaning a bunch of pines and my pruners get covered in sap, easy to fix, but the sticky sap will allow you to squeeze to unlock, but the sticky sap will prevent the pruners from opening, so you have to do it manually. I was unsure about these pruners using a big spring in the middle instead of the kind found on felco’s but it has worked flawlessly. I think the spring will age better then felco’s spring mechanism. With the felco’s spring, it can rust easily and it give lots of resistance, making pruning much more difficult, whereas the spring in these ARS pruners will age much better and won’t give me that issue. The price is amazing!! Super high quality materials, Japanese carbon blade, all for almost $20 cheaper then felco #2. I’m never looking back, and i cannot stop telling my landscaper friends about how awesome these pruners are. Felcos have a larger market share in North America, but its purely based on marketing, ARS pruners are hands down better.

vilken sekatör , woow så lätt den klipper, bra pris

Pruning back my fall garden. This tool is a joy to use. So sharp and precise, it makes the job easy.

Enfin un vrai sécateur, pas d’hésitation je recommande.

Strong and sharp

Qualité ARS, coupe parfaitement. Très satisfait de ce sécateur.