Felco 2 Pruner Review: A Comprehensive Evaluation for Garden Enthusiasts

The Felco 2 pruner is a renowned gardening tool, praised for its durability and precision. But does it live up to the hype? Our in-depth review, conducted by experienced product testers, provides a comprehensive analysis of its features, performance, and overall value.

Introduction: The Felco 2 – A Gardening Staple?

For decades, the Felco 2 pruners have been a cornerstone in many gardening sheds. This Swiss-made tool is favored by both professionals and hobbyists for its purported ergonomic design, sharp cutting ability, and long-lasting construction. But with numerous pruning shears available on the market, it’s crucial to determine if the Felco 2 truly justifies its premium price tag. This review aims to provide an unbiased assessment, delving into its features, performance in real-world tests, and comparing it to a close competitor, the Felco 31.

Felco 2 Pruner: Features and Design

The Felco 2 boasts a classic bypass design, with a hardened steel blade and a curved anvil blade for clean cuts. Key features include:

• Ergonomic Handles: Contoured finger grips and a comfortable handle spread (6.5 inches) are designed for extended use and reduced hand fatigue, even for larger hands. While primarily for right-handed users, our testers found it usable for both left and right-handed individuals.
• Hardened Steel Blade: The angled cutting blade, made of high-quality hardened steel, ensures long-lasting sharpness and efficient pruning.
• Wire-Cutting Notch: A small notch at the base of the blade allows for convenient cutting of thin wires, a useful feature for gardeners dealing with plant ties or fencing.
• Micro-Metric Adjustment Mechanism: This feature enables precise adjustments to the blade tension, ensuring optimal cutting performance and extending the tool’s lifespan. While initially challenging to locate and understand, our testers found this mechanism allows for blade realignment with a wrench. A small tool for blade replacement is also included.

Performance Testing: Putting the Felco 2 to the Test

Our expert testers, Sheri Kaz and Dylan Fischer, rigorously evaluated the Felco 2 pruners using a variety of materials, including wooden dowels, deadwood branches, and live greenwood stems of varying thicknesses (0.25-inch, 0.5-inch, and 0.75-inch).

The Felco 2 excelled at cutting through smaller stems and branches, particularly greenwood, making clean and precise cuts with minimal effort. However, thicker materials, especially those exceeding 0.5 inches, required significantly more force and, in some cases, two hands to complete the cut. While the pruner’s tension and spring mechanism were generally well-regarded, performance noticeably decreased with increased material thickness.

Felco 2 vs. Felco 31: A Head-to-Head Comparison

Both the Felco 2 and Felco 31 share similarities in cutting capacity and target hand size. However, key differences emerged during testing:

• Blade Attachment: The Felco 2 utilizes rivets for blade attachment, while the Felco 31 uses screws, potentially making blade replacement easier on the latter.
• Cut Quality: The Felco 2 consistently produced cleaner cuts across all tested materials. The Felco 31, while adequate for smaller stems, exhibited slight indents and tearing on thicker branches, indicating a less refined cutting action.

Based on our testing, the Felco 2 emerges as the superior choice due to its consistently cleaner cuts.

Final Verdict: Is the Felco 2 Worth the Investment?

The Felco 2 pruner is a high-quality tool that excels at pruning smaller stems and branches. Its ergonomic design, sharp blade, and convenient features like the wire-cutting notch contribute to its overall appeal. However, its performance on thicker materials may require more effort than anticipated.

The lifetime warranty and readily available replacement parts significantly enhance the Felco 2’s long-term value. While the initial cost is higher than some competitors, its durability and potential for decades of use make it a worthwhile investment for serious gardeners.

Where to Buy Felco 2 Pruners

The Felco 2 is widely available at retailers such as Amazon, The Home Depot, and Walmart, typically ranging in price from $60 to $80.