I had a rather bad storm go through the other day and it knocked down several decent sized trees. I have a gas powered Stihl chainsaw but have been thinking maybe it is time for something that I can just get out and start cutting without all the gas headaches. It looks like battery powered equipment has come a long way recently, so maybe it is time. Im wondering if anyone here has any experience with them and what they might recommend? Makita looks to make a decent one andI have a couple of the Makita 18v tools but only one battery, so am thinking about buying one of them, but they are fairly pricey, so would appreciate any advise.

I went cheap & bought a Greenworks, 14" 40 volt. It has been used hard, & so far has worked harder than I've wanted to. I've since bought their weed-whacker (to share the batteries) & found it to be all I need. I was prepared to be underwhelmed based on the prices of both, but I have not been let down. FWIW, I bought an extra battery, & rarely get into the second one on a cleanup project.https://www.greenworkstools.co...ushless-chainsaw-kit

I went even cheaper and bought a harbor freight 20 volt chainsaw. It has worked well for what I need around the property.

I probably use it about twice a week to cut up limbs that have fallen from trees on the property.

I have the 16" EGO w/5AH battery & it took care of 2 pear trees that came down a couple weeks ago. They were maybe 8" dia & 35' tall.
Quieter, lighter, handier than going & grabbing the stihl over at the farm. The battery lasted longer than I wanted to.
Have the weedeater & the blower as well - all 3 work well & seem to be quality tools.

Looked at the Consumers Reports ratings and went with Ego. The charger and batteries power a bunch of other Ego tools as well.

I've bought an Echo 58v chainsaw, blower, and weed whacker. No problems whatsoever. Lots of power.

Here is a copy of a post I made about two years ago.

I started with this. My brother in law had done this a couple of months ago just so I could repair the fence.



About a half hour and a dead battery later I had accomplished this.



This was a total of 22 cuts in some sort of hardwood. I don't know the specific type of tree.
I didn't measure the diameter of the tree, but based on the relationship to the chainsaw bar, I would say it ranged from 7 to 11 inches.



Bottom line:
It had plenty of power and cut quickly through the tree.
Would I have liked a little more battery life? Sure, so I may look at a weed wacker that takes the same battery in the future.
If I had it to do over again would I go back to gas? No, I would not. I see this doing everything I need it to do.
As I said in my initial post, I only expect to use it a few times a year, and the quiet, cleanliness and convenience of this offset the limited cutting time for me.

New information since original post.

I have now used it to cut a larger tree that used almost every inch of the bar.

I have also added the matching string trimmer and leaf blower to my collection. With three batteries, I never run out of power.

Thanks for the replies. From looking at YouTube videos, I’m sure a battery powered chainsaw would pretty much do everything I need most of time. I don’t know anything about any of the brands mentioned other than the Echo. I will give them a look. My only thought on the Makita is that I already own a couple of tools that use the same batteries. However, the saw and a couple of batteries is in the $400 range. But the they do make just about every tool you would ever need that uses the same battery

Got an "Oregon" 40v model a few months ago. Has built in sharpener, handy the one time finally needed it. Have cut up to 1/2 cord at a time of 2" to 10" firewood. Satisfied so far. Mostly I'll need to stove length cart load of wrist size, good results . Comes with charger, around $250 iirc.

Well, I hate to rain on Rich's parade but my experience with the DeWalt 60 volt chainsaw and string trimmer have been pretty bad.

The chainsaw chain adjuster broke after about 3 uses. Looking around online it seems this is a pretty common problem. I bought a few more and the guy at the DeWalt service shop told me if I installed the replacement myself I was voiding the warranty. A) he was rude about it, B) he is wrong.

The saw has decent power but I'm not too keen on the reliability. I bought 3 extra just in case.

I thought I liked the string trimmer until I got to the end of the first spool. The string won't stay out of the spool and keeps pulling back in. I ordered a new spool and the same thing happened. I hate spools anyway so I went to install my favorite trimmer head and it won't work. DeWalt purposely made the head so that it would not be compatible with after market heads.

I fixed that problem in 2 ways: I bought a Stihl for mew to use and then I voided the heck out of the warranty on the battery trimmer and put the head I liked on it for my wife. She likes the way it balances and the light weight. I trim a ton of fence line every week and don't have time for shoddy design. I've been a DeWalt guy forever and will continue to buy their drill type tools but I'm done with their outdoor equipment.

FWIW I have both Stihl and Echo gas saws and while both cut well I find the Stihl to be a little better saw, mostly the little things like chain adjustment, balance, oil and gas reservoir caps, bar removal, etc. Nothing groundbreaking but just a little nicer overall, but at a little higher price.

When it came time to buy a battery saw I looked at many of them and also asked the logger I had on site (figuring I'd likely get a "just buy a real gas saw" response) but surprisingly he said he loves his battery saw which is a Husqvarna, same brand as his gas saws. Hs suggestion was if you're going to buy one get a good one, a light pro model Husqvarna or Stihl.

I paid more than I really wanted to ($600) but I ended up buying a Stihl MSA 200C 14" with charger and one battery and I must say I'm really pleased with it. It's my go to saw which I keep in my Mule for cutting up fallen trees across my trails, some can be pretty large. I'd say it'll cut as much on one charge as my gas saws will on 1 - 1 1/2 fills of gas. And just lift it out of the bed, pull the trigger and the offending limb is off faster than I can even start my gas saws.

If not Stihl or Husqvarna my next choice was Makita.

That is sort of the one thing holding me back from the Makita. I just wonder if the guys like Stihl, Echo, and Husqvarna build better battery chainsaws than some of the tool makers like Dewalt and Milwaukee, etc. I’d prefer to spend a bit more and get something 5hat I can count on.

quote:

Originally posted by vandrv:
That is sort of the one thing holding me back from the Makita. I just wonder if the guys like Stihl, Echo, and Husqvarna build better battery chainsaws than some of the tool makers like Dewalt and Milwaukee, etc. I’d prefer to spend a bit more and get something 5hat I can count on.

My feeling is Makita's battery, charger, and motor will be just fine but I doubt the rest of the saw will be quite as good as Stihl/Husqvarna. But it's probably better than most battery saws and a little cheaper than a top of the line Stihl or Husqvarna.

I attended the outdoor power equipment show in Louisville last October (show is called GIE+EXPO).
My main purpose was to talk to manufacturer reps concerning their battery-powered outdoor equipment (plus test out some new zero-turn mowers).
I was most interested in chain-saw offerings.
After talking to reps, and trying out some of the products at the outdoor exhibit area, I was most impressed with the Makita people & products.
The Makita reps were very educated about their products, and were very happy to answer any questions. Also, their 18V LXT battery system will interchange between something like 200 different tools across the lines of drills, saws, grinders, and a variety of outdoor equipment.
They had a couple logger looking guys using their battery powered chainsaws on pretty large logs in the booth (it was a big booth).
About two weeks after the show, I came across a Makita chainsaw deal that included two extra free batteries. I used the chainsaw (it has a 16" bar, and uses 2 batteries together) last week on a few branches that fell during a storm.
I have three gas powered chainsaws, a 30+ year old Homelite, a 25 year old McCullough, and a 7 year old Stihl. But I've gotten too impatient to try to get one of them to start these days. It was great to just check the chain & oil, pop in two batteries, and start cutting wood.
I've also bought a Makita hedge trimmer, string trimmer, and a blower that came with 2 batteries. So I now have 6 batteries & should be set for awhile.
I've been impressed with the string trimmer, I've been using it while trying to get my Stihl gas trimmer to run well again after using it for 20 years. While not quite as heavy duty as my old FS90, I'm not quite as "aggressive" in my string trimming at the age of 58.

Thanks for the information on the Makita. I have aMakita impact driver and circular saw that use the 18v battery. They have been excellent with plenty of power. I know they have huge number of tools that use that battery. That was sort of my reasoning for going that direction I would think their chainsaw that uses the two batteries would pretty much do all the tree work I’m ever going to do.

Mine is gas, but my brother bought a battery powered Stihl earlier this year. I didn’t even know Stihl made one. He’s been working the crap out of it and it’s performed beautifully for him.

You probably know from threads in the Forum about conventional gas-powered chain saws that it usually comes down to Stihl or Husqvarna (what I have). Sounds like Stihl’s electric is worthy of its name. BTW, I see Husqvarna makes a battery chainsaw too, just like in gas saws, both Stihl and Husqvarna get a lot of 5-star ratings.

I have a gas Stijl chainsaw but am looking for something that is a little less of a big deal to get out and use. I know Sthl makes a battery powered saw and I’m sure it probably is great. I may give them a look as well, but it is a bit hard to get pricing of them online.

quote:

I have a gas Stihl chainsaw but am looking for something that is a little less of a big deal to get out and use.

I have had several gas chainsaws. I started in the late 1980's with a Sears Craftsman, made by Poulan. It did the job I bought it for... but after storage the gas lines deteriorated and the carb gummed up. I was told it wasn't worth repairing.
I then stepped up to Stihl... and I've been happy with Stihl. I've had a couple of MS290s which were great, but I now have an MS362 which is even better.

The problem is... it's a heavy saw. After felling a tree your arms get tired cutting up the small stuff with a big saw. My brother has a Stihl MS250 which does that job.

I would also consider getting a smaller electric saw to supplement the gas saws.

I came across this one, at a good price, @ Vipoutlet:

Dewalt DCCS620P1 20V Max Compact Cordless Chainsaw Kit With Brushless Motor

https://vipoutlet.com/product/...ith-brushless-motor/

This message has been edited. Last edited by: chellim1,

amazon has 2 DeWalt 40V's

1) is a Dss69om1 for $315.81
#2 is a Dccs690x1 for $419.99

what do you suppose is the difference ?

I like chainsaws - I think they're fun. Like Chellim, I have a Stihl 362cm and it's an awesome saw. It's got serious power for its size and handles very well. For real cutting work, it's a hell of a tool.

As Chellim notes, it's still a pretty big saw, and with full tanks of fuel and oil, and a 25" bar and chain, it takes its toll when you're doing a lot of work, and especially if you're working away from your body and above your waist. The saw weighs something around 18 pounds, and it gets tiring to hold that much weight out away from your body over and over again.

My solution?

I added a smaller saw. Stihl makes rear-handled versions of its compact "in-tree" saws. I got myself a 201c-em for the small stuff. Weighs about 10 pounds (with fuel, oil, bar and chain), 2.4hp, and can use a 16" bar. It's got excellent balance, too, and is quite peppy. Makes all that limbing and trimming work pretty effortless.


Battery powered chainsaws are starting to come into their own. I still prefer gas designs, but the well-made battery saws now have a purpose. Pay attention to how the bar mounts, the chain adjusts, and the capacity of the chain oiler.

I think plenty of equipment builders can put together a decent enough battery and electric motor, but if the bar mounts poorly or the chain adjustment is a pain in the ass, you'll hate the saw and it gets dangerous if you can't get the chain tensioned correctly. If you can avoid a front-mounted tension system, I think you should do so. Those are awkward to use and hard to get right compared to the side-mount systems. I haven't tried the toolless adjustment systems, but those don't seem to be as well received as the tried and true side-tension design.