Stihl GTA 26 Garden Pruner Review

Here's my honest review of the Stihl battery hand pruner while cutting trees and shrubs in an overgrown garden. I talk about its limits, safety tips and maintenance, but this is not a replacement for Stihl's instruction manual which you must read before using.

AD | This blogpost review is sponsored by the Stihl GTA 26 Garden Pruner. However, all opinions are honest and I have been a customer of the Stihl product range for a while.

If you're looking at Stihl GTA 26 garden pruners for sale, then here you can read on to find my honest review while testing this completely new tool on the job!

Firstly, this Stihl battery garden pruner comes in a light, compact design and size which I found perfectly portable to take to my brother's for some cherry tree maintenance.

The tree had overhanging branches leaning into his neighbour's property and a public footpath adjacent to a road. So I stepped in on this imperative job to keep peace and prevent future obstructions from any unfortunate gusts of wind.

Jump to:

• What I'll be Covering
• ❓What is the Stihl GTA 26?
• 🔎Pruner Holster Up Close
• ➕What Does the Stihl GTA 26 Come With?
• 💡Stihl Battery Pruner Saw Features
• 🌳Cutting Shrubs
• 🧼Cleaning the GTA Guide Bar
• 🪛How to Adjust the Tension on the Saw Chain
• ⌛What's the Battery Life Like?
• 🦺Safety Tips
• 🎯My Chainsaw Battery Powered Review Verdict?
• 💬 Comments

What I'll be Covering

I'll be talking about how this Stihl GTA 26 cordless pruner performed with the following:

• Tree trimming an overgrown cherry tree
• Shrub trimming clean-up
• Battery performance
• Low vibration
• How to adjust the tension
• Cleaning, replacing, and maintaining the saw chain
• Tree pruning safety tips

❓What is the Stihl GTA 26?

Some would say the Stihl GTA 26 pruning saw is a miniature chainsaw with a 4" blade. Officially, it's classed as a handheld garden pruner being lightweight, at around 1.46kg with the battery attached.

I found the portable size of this garden machinery really easy to work with and carry around in the GTA 26 holster. From my experience, I feel it's ideal for someone looking to buy a Stihl chainsaw but are:

• a home DIYer
• prefer a tool-free chain replacement method
• short of storage space
• someone intimidated by their full size models due to safety reasons (this is me)
• you're looking for an introduction to a garden chainsaw
• you need to perform light to medium gardening maintenance
• or you can't or don't want to lug around heavy machinery

Already I can tell you this small Stihl chainsaw is going to be ideal for stowing away on our holiday narrowboat to chop up logs for our multi-fuel stove.

🔎Pruner Holster Up Close

The Stihl Battery-powered garden pruner holster has a nifty design if you want to keep your hands free when moving between a variety of tasks.

It has a plastic belt loop slot, is part lined with steel for the unguarded chain side to meet, and has two straps.

One strap has a press stud along the top to prevent the small electric wood cutter from falling out. The other wraps around the leg with a quick side release buckle.

The only downside to this is that it would have been nice to have a quick release buckle of some sort on the belt loop to remove instantly if driving from job to job. But this may not be as safe or reliable while you're up in the air.

➕What Does the Stihl GTA 26 Come With?

The key thing you'll immediately notice is that this mini electric hand saw comes in a collapsible black and orange carry bag with a handle that closes with velcro.

As there are 4 sides to it as opposed to 6, it also gives you the ability to open and lay it out flat, rather than rummaging around. But you will need to ensure things are securely in place to prevent things from falling out the sides.

Inside the transport bag you'll find elastic straps to secure the:

• A removable chain scabbard
• Oil
• Battery charger
• Stihl AS 2 rechargeable battery (10.8V)
• Eyelets to make it a wall-mountable carry bag

There are also two additional flattish pouches inside which you could store mini secateurs and snips, etc for precise deadheading.

💡Stihl Battery Pruner Saw Features

Note that I've already covered some of the Stihl GTA 26 battery pruner's features above, such as a carrying case and blade sheath *(scabbard). However, here are some extra ones on the unit itself:

• Safety trigger switch lockout (orange switch that needs to be pressed along with the main trigger to get started)
• A retractable chain guard above the blade
• An LED light display battery life indicator
• Rubber grips on the handle with ergonomic design (and above) for maximum comfort and safely operate with both hands to keep them away from the blade
• Limit stop, just underneath the blade which helped me with precision cutting
• Wingnut (part black round handle above the battery indicator) to remove the cover for ease of use while cleaning and replacing the blade - we'll talk about this later!
• Stihl anti-vibration system, being the first of its kind for users of any level

Battery Powered Wood Cutter Uses

Despite the compact size of this battery-powered woodcutter, I found it perfect for trimming a 15-year-old unruly cherry tree. The Stihl GTA 26 states it cuts branches of up to 4cm diameter and it does so perfectly.

You can see below that after getting up to a full high chain speed, I lowered the battery pruner downwards while pushing the limit stop against the branch.

Without doing this, the blade can pull the unit where you don't have proper control. Also, just a note, it's dangerous while cutting from the underside in case a log pushes you down, and the blade hasn't stopped in time.

Pushing the Stihl GTA Garden Pruner to Its Limits

While tackling larger branches, such as 12cm (see below), I actually started cutting from above again, but then stop partway and start cutting while standing on the opposite side. You could call it me chipping away to weaken it, *but never from underneath* and had no problems.

With the much larger 20cm+ branch overhanging the fence onto the footpath, I initially started cutting with a hand saw. And WOW, the comparison between the two was so drastic that I missed the garden electric saw. It makes smooth cuts too.

So the moment I made the branch weak with a hand-cut gap, I slotted the Stihl guide bar in while at full speed and finished it off. By using the GTA 26 as much as possible, it allowed me to save most of my energy for the tiring part -bagging it all up to take to the skip! I slept well that night!

🌳Cutting Shrubs

Asides from getting powerful cuts as a tree pruner, I also tested it on a variety of landscaping tasks such as trimming an overgrown shrub. It made easy work of trimming bushes in a straight line to tidy it up.

However, a difference I found compared to tree trimming was that the bush's smaller twigs can get jammed around the sprocket.

If you have a jam, I don't recommend trying to keep pulling on the trigger with the hope of it freeing. There's a much simpler way which I'll show you next.

🧼Cleaning the GTA Guide Bar

(Or Removing a Jam)

If you get a twig jam or want to replace the saw chain, I found it was an easy bar to handle. Note, if replacing the chain, the following are the same steps, apart from you'll need to ensure the arrows on the saw chain are facing the right way.

1. First, REMOVE the battery. In fact, I do this every time I'm going to touch the blade and not get complacent.
2. Unscrew the wingnut (image 1)
3. Remove the cover (image 2)
4. Brush the debris away
5. Read the following Tensioning the saw chain for putting it back together

I found it a very simple operation, user friendly tool, making it a more comfortable working experience.

🪛How to Adjust the Tension on the Saw Chain

As mentioned earlier, make sure the battery is removed. And unlike in my photo, it is recommended to wear gloves as the blade is sharp.

However, if the chain is sagging, then loosen the wingnut partially and pull the 4-inch guide bar outwards with two fingers.

Then tighten the wingnut back and check what give you now have between the chain and light guide bar. The Stihl video here, it recommends a 1-2mm of movement.

How Often Should I Oil the Chain?

After each session of use, I applied Stihl's multifunctional oil between the guide bar and chain saw to lubricate it.

Then it is recommended to put the battery in and switch on the pruner so that the oil is evenly distributed.

For full instructions, please read the manual before using it.

⌛What's the Battery Life Like?

Looking at the timestamp of my footage, I started my first cut at 10:36am and intermittently used it until it went flat at 11:43am.

This gave me intermittent use during a task time of 1 hour and 7 minutes, which I think was really good, but others may think it doesn't have a long run time. It depends on your continuous use.

However, I am planning on buying a Stihl GTA 26 Replacement Battery as a spare so I can continue working while the other is charging. I found charging the battery while I bagged up garden waste took about an hour.

Can I Sharpen the Blade on the Stihl GTA 26 Hand Pruner?

You can sharpen the blade on the GTA 26, but it's something I haven't tried as of yet. However, Stihl blade sharpeners can be bought and look fairly simple and there are many videos on YouTube available on how to do it.

My Dad's top tip to preventing a blunt blade is to never cut your logs while on the ground/dirt and allow it to cut INTO the soil, which can dull or stretch your blade.

And although it may be obvious, don't cut into metal, such as nailed wood.

Can You Buy GTA 26 Replacement Parts?

Yes! After some more searches, I found you can buy the replacements:

• Multioil Bio
• Replacement chain loop
• Spare battery
• Charger
• Chain sprocket
• 4" Light guide rail
• Scabbard

You may be able to buy more that I haven't looked for!

🦺Safety Tips

• Make sure you get the Stihl Mini Chainsaw Pruner up to full speed before cutting to prevent kickback
• Wear PPE - with the GTA 26, STIHL recommends that you wear goggles and gloves. You should also wear a helmet if there is a risk of falling objects.
• Get into the habit of ALWAYS removing the battery when not using, or doing any kind of maintenance, or transporting it from job to job
• Ease off if you feel resistance. I tend to then start on the other side of a branch, so I'm chipping away
• Don't overreach when cutting branches
• Do a practice rehearsal to imagine where a branch will fall or whether obstacles will put you in danger
• Cut from above a branch, not from underneath in case it forcefully pushes your arms down
• Wear steel toe cap shoes if there's a risk of branches or similar falling on your feet
• Wait until the handheld mini saw completely stops, away from you, before placing it down. There's approximately a 1 second delay of momentum from releasing the trigger
• It may look like a toy/baby Stihl chainsaw, but obviously keep it away from children
• Keep long hair tied up and don't wear any loose clothing or jewellery that could get caught in the chain
• These are just a handful of the safety tips, so ALWAYS read the instruction manual yourself

🎯My Chainsaw Battery Powered Review Verdict?

Although I can't compare it to a big cordless chainsaw, I found this garden cutter such a versatile tool and much less intimidating to use, and much quicker than hand sawing.

I feel safer knowing the blade has a much smaller surface area. Also, for around an 8m squared garden with a couple of trees, hedges and bushes, it felt perfect for the job.

During the performance of the product, there is minimal wrist torsion while using and it's also a light and simple design to carry for easy maintenance.

Buy a Spare Stihl Garden Pruner Battery

As mentioned earlier, I'll definitely be buying a spare battery for this because it's a great tool that allowed me to cut bigger than I expected. Although while bagging stuff for the skip, this was perfect to take a "recharge break" for me and the battery(!)

I'll also be taking it with us on holiday on our narrowboat as it's perfect for compact living and will be great for chopping firewood or towpath obstructions. And I'll keep checking the LED display.

We definitely don't have room on the boat for what you may even consider the biggest and best Stihl chainsaw on the market. It's small enough to join our other tools - under our dinette sofa.

Where to Buy the Stihl GTA

If you are looking to buy one, you can order one here or check out your local dealership.