The Corona ComfortGEL+ Extendable Bypass Lopper is marketed for sturdy pruning work, consisting of the capability to cut through limbs up to 1 3/4 inches in size. That’s a pretty vibrant claim for a pruning lopper so I put it to the test against a few of the hardest wood around– mesquite.
About Loppers
Think about loppers as long handled pruning shears. When your hand shears are just too small to cut through larger product, you then have to choose it’s huge brother/sister, the lopper. Loppers come in a variety of configurations and prices. But suffice it to say the old expression of, “you get what you pay for” applies.
Functions of the Corona ComfortGEL+ Bypass Lopper
Here’s what Corona has to say in their marketing products:
PowerSOURCE cutting action for limbs up to 1 3/4 inches
ShockGUARD bumper system
Strong, trapezoid steel handles
Extreme convenience grips
Patent-pending blade and hook style
Lowered handle opening for less work and more power
So, let’s address their bullet points and include what our testing showed …
According to Corona, the ComfortGEL+ Extendable Bypass Lopper, with its substance action cutting head, should cut through limbs as much as 1 3/4 inches. When I put it to the test, I had no problems cutting through 1 3/4 inch deadwood. And to the lopper’s credit, I was able to cut through 2-inch live product.
In both instances, the deals with were encompassed their full length of 30 inches. For lower diameter wood the prolonged deals with can be easily slid back to their compact deal with length of 22″.
The extreme cutting power that I discovered even eclipsed Corona’s specs by 1/2″, which I attributed to the distinct PowerSOURCE style. With 4 hinge points (as compared to some other lopper configurations that have a set of blades with a single bolt, or other substance action cutting heads with 3 pivot points), the PowerSOURCE innovation provided the lopper some genuine “brute force” on even the hardest deadwood.
I evaluated it on mesquite tree nonessential, one of the hardest woods you’ll find, and the Corona ComfortGEL+ bypass lopper made quick work of it.
Corona mentions that the PowerSOURCE style offers the lopper a 3X power boost when cutting. Equated into layman’s terms, for each pound of pressure applied on the deals with, the cutting jaws exert a force that is 3 times the deal with pressure. While I can’t state for sure that power was tripled with this lopper, it’s an extremely great function when you wish to power through hard products.
Now, we don’t live in a best world and the PowerSOURCE design did have its restrictions.
Like numerous loppers that we’ve evaluated here at the Gardening Products Review, blade spread (when the non-cutting blade spreads apart from the cutting blade) was also an issue. When we evaluated other brand names with compound action cutting heads (see the WOLF-Garten RR900T Telescoping Loppers review), the same issues arose. The restorative step is to have the cutting blade on top and the non-cutting blade listed below.
Cutting on a bias causes comparable problems with blade spread. This is NOT a program stopper, and is common among lots of lopper designs. We did find that with smaller size branches (in the community of 1 inch), the ComfortGEL+ bypass lopper left extremely tidy cuts even on predisposition cuts.
And one final reference about the Corona cutting mechanism– be mindful not to nick live bark on branches that stay after pruning. I discovered that the 4 bolts that hold the PowerSOURCE cutting head together (they’re found on the back side of the lopper) protrude beyond the fastening nut.
Once aware of the cutting head style and appropriate use to prevent tree limb/branch injury there were absolutely no issues.