This thing will take your arm off.I use this exact saw at work. I work on a pecan farm. On the farm we have trees in all stages of growth. Some are 50 years old. Some are saplings. A pecan tree does not really start to produce nuts of any quantity until it's about 15 years old. By that time it's pretty large (20ft or so). The trees are laid out in rows from about 400 feet to a 1/4 mile long. It is necessary to be able to drive a tractor down these rows, close to the trees. To be able to fertilize, spray for insects, kill weeds and harvest nuts. To that end the trees need to be maintained by trimming low branches that like to grow out into the middle of the isle reaching for open sunlight. If you are on a tractor, these branches will knock everything from your hat to your person off the tractor. Poke you in the face or whip back from the front of the tractor and smack you, if you duck, they'll still scrape you. I've even had one jab me in the groin.Needless to say, life is a lot less painful with a well maintained orchid.I have my choice of tools to use. Some expensive Echo gas powered pole-saws, Ryobi electric pole-saw, ladder and arborist hand saws. This saw is by far my go to saw. With out a doubt. I can trim a tree of several branches in less than 2 minutes. I know because I'll go down a row of 40 trees in about an hour. And these aren't all little limbs, some are 3 inches in diameter or more. Most are smaller and only take 3 or 4 pulls of the saw. The smaller ones (bigger than what you might think) I can limb off in one pull of the saw. This thing is crazy sharp. I'm not kidding. It's so sharp that I put the protective cover back on it after every time I use it. I mean even when I'm just taking a break. That's how scary this thing is. Nothing I've come across even compares. So much so, that I even bought one for myself for home use. The only way I could possibly consider or justify spending $100 dollars on a saw, is the fact that there is NOTHING that cuts better, faster and easier. As far as safety, don't be dumb, put the cover back on when not in use and use common sense. But I do believe it would be much safer to use this saw than get up on a ladder with a chainsaw. That would be incredibly stupid. Never do that. Use a pruning saw or stay on the ground and use a pole saw.This pole saw does NOT come with the pole. You must attach it to a pole yourself. The connection from the saw is square-sh and you need to slide it into or over a square pole tip. I suggest use an aluminum pole. A heavy duty swimming pool skimmer or vacuum pole is ideal. Just take the end of that pole, lay it on something flat and hard and hit it with a hammer, rotating it 90 degrees every couple of blows until you have squared off the end about a foot. Slide the saw over or inside the squared end and find where to mark a hole from the 5/16" x 1.5" inch bolt you'll need to secure the saw to the pole. Drill a hole slightly larger than the bolt. Bolt through the pole and the saw, tighten the nut and your done. My pole matched exactly to the saw, so I had to choose, either outside or inside the saw. I chose inside. To accomplish this I had to pinch the pole in a bit, like putting two straws together. It worked. Then I stood the saw up in the air and tapped the bottom of the POLE on the ground, driving the saw onto the pole.