Very good 
Silky Hayate is a high quality manual pole saw – its main advantages are extra long reach (about 24 feet!), great saw blade and solid weight. It’s sturdy, comfortable to hold but unfortunately also quite expensive.
Pros:
- Great blade
- Extra long reach
- Lightweight
Cons:
- Expensive
Key specifications:
- Length: 7.9-20 ft
- Saw length: 16-1/2"
We apologize that the video is in Japanese (it’s the only one available at this moment). Nevertheless, it shows nicely all the capabilities of this saw.
Handling and reach
The Hayate 420 is very similar to the Silky Hayauchi model, only a bit more robust – the blade and pole are slightly stronger and offer more durability.
It also offers the same advantages over pole chainsaws – operating without any noise and your stamina being the only limitation 🙂 No electric cord, battery running time or fuel to hold you back.
The aluminium pole is fairly light and easy to work with, only becomes a bit harder to operate when fully extended – but that’s a common problem of every pole saw.
On the other hand, it flexes only a little even at the maximum extension of 20 feet. The telescoping system with double locking mechanism (3 pop-up pins and 3 clamps) works great, the pole is sturdy and well-built – however, one user also reported one of the clamps became disfunctional fairly quickly (which even led to an injury).
Cutting
We have to admit the 16-1/2" saw blade is simply awesome! Very sharp, cuts 4"-5" limbs like butter and can deal even with 8" or similar ones without much problems – plus holds its sharpness for a very long time.
The cutting is also really fast (see the video above), similar to electric pole chain saws – just let the weight of the saw do the work and remember it cuts only during the pull strokes.
Conclusion: If you need a high quality pole saw, the Hayate from Silky would be a great match – a professional-grade tool with a really long reach, we can definitely recommend it.
But if you plan to use it only a few times per year and don’t need that extra reach, it would be probably too expensive for your needs – so take a look at the Fiskars 9301 for example.
>> Read more or buy the Silky HAYATE here
Specifications:
- Weight: 7.9 lbs
- Length: 7.9-20 ft
- Saw length: 16-1/2"
- Warranty: lifetime limited
- Includes: blade cover
Frequently asked questions:
Are there any accessories I should buy?
Some customers also get the Hook Accessory for pulling down branches that get stuck with other limbs (so you don’t have to cut all of them just get that one down) or hanging the saw on a limb.
Is there any maintenance needed?
None.
