Battery powered chainsaw?

[Chomsky]

Actually I did not have an opinion on those things, but I will pay attention to them now.

I must admit, your description of the star ratings seemed right-on!

 

[Grand Mal]

I have the milwaukee chainsaw, only because I'm fully invested in the brand and I have a lot of milwaukee cordless tools. I also have a mid size stihl.

For occasional use, electric chainsaws are awesome, because they can sit for a year and they will always start. The pros are it cuts pretty good for what it is, it's quiet, and it always starts. Cons are it's heavy for such a small saw. Last winter I had a 10" or so tree fall on the roof of a rental house I own, and I had to climb up on a snowy, icy roof to remove it, and the milwakee was perfect for that. It's so nice to be able to just grab it and go without worrying about gas and 2 stroke oil or if it will start.

I just thought of something- does an electric chainsaw have an oil tank for the chain/bar?

 

[noonereal]

My spread might be a bit smaller and more urban than yours, but I've had contracted landscaping & snow removal for years now, and I swear it is amazing peace-of-mind! My stress is way down, especially with the snow! I'll never go back to doing it myself. Never!

Yeah my driveway is far to long to not have someone with a plow. The guys jumps out and does my steps too. Very cool.

 

[aociswundumho]

I just thought of something- does an electric chainsaw have an oil tank for the chain/bar?

Yes.

 

[Rexedgar]

And I'll throw in a "skip the battery power" chainsaw. Granted it was a decade or so that I bought my battery powered chainsaw, but suffice it to say I was not at all pleased with it. It was a Poulan, if I recall correctly.

Poulan was junk in a 2-cycle.

I tried McCullough, Poulan and Home-lite. When they needed service/parts no one would work on them. Stihl is the gold standard, imo.

 

[Rexedgar]

I just thought of something- does an electric chainsaw have an oil tank for the chain/bar?

Yes as far as I have been able to ascertain.

 

[Grand Mal]

As much as I like you, Grand Mal, I'm so glad we're not (nearby) neighbors!

Most people do here. Lots, anyway. But we're looking at going the heat pump route, maybe. Our source for logging truck loads dried up. I'll be 68 this summer and I probably shouldn't be out in the bush falling and bucking trees anymore.

 

[humbolt]

@Cardinal is on record as “green.”

Truly green would mean a hand saw. There are many versions, and they're as reliable and effective as you are, if they're sharp.

 

[Rexedgar]

Truly green would mean a hand saw. There are many versions, and they're as reliable and effective as you are, if they're sharp.

………green and lazy?

 

[mike2810]

Mike is onto something here. A reciprocating/saws all is a versitile tool in the yard and in the shop. The terror factor is lower as well. Usually one is available as part of a kit including two or three other “must haves” for the shop.

I got a Ryobi recip saw years ago when the company had a deal out for buy the drill and impact driver kit and get one tool free. I picked the recip saw.
I can't tell you how many hours I have used it to trim palm trees, cut roots to remove stumps, etc. The brush blades worked well.
Run time on the large battery generally got me through the yard of multiple trees to be trimmed. It is starting to show its age, but it still meets my needs.

I personally would not purchase a homeowner grade electric chainsaw. Don't care if it is corded or battery powered. The motor just can't take the strain on larger diameter wood. Have not tried a commercial grade electric saw but the write ups seem to indicate they would hold up better.

 

[Chomsky]

Yeah my driveway is far to long to not have someone with a plow. The guys jumps out and does my steps too. Very cool.

My biggest regret about getting these services?

"What took me so long?"

I can't believe all the time and effort I wasted, to say nothing of the stress.

When younger, I was so adamant in always wanting to do things myself. I've since reconsidered, and now fully ascribe to focusing all that time and effort in improving one's financial and business successes, to put one's self in a position to have pros take care of life's more mundane needs. The pros are better at it, you'll have less stress, and you're better off focusing on what you know how to do - which is your career and/or business.

Why is youth wasted on the young . . .

 

[Grand Mal]

Any chainsaw under 21" and not gas powered is a waste of time

They are cheap crap.

I own 4 saws ranging from 27" to 21"

Well, my 61cc Husky is about 24" and it's all I need, that and the smaller, 52cc and 20", Stihl back-up saw. The largest trees I cut here would be about 18", tops.

 

[Grand Mal]

Poulan was junk in a 2-cycle.

I tried McCullough, Poulan and Home-lite. When they needed service/parts no one would work on them. Stihl is the gold standard, imo.

Stihl or Husqvarna. I've got one of each. The Husky must be 30 years old at least- has a white top cover- and still has the original bar and original clutches.

 

[Rexedgar]

Any chainsaw under 21" and not gas powered is a waste of time

They are cheap crap.

I own 4 saws ranging from 27" to 21"

I have a 12” Stihl that I added a 14” bar/chain to. I call it my “tree climber.” It’s excellent for limbs and small brush. It has a loop that you can attach to a belt hook. Just warm it up and turn it off and climb to where it’s needed. It’ll start right up.

 

[ttwtt78640]

I'm starting to research battery powered chainsaws. Any suggestions?

This would be for regular home use -- clearing out some dead trees now and again, basic pruning, etc. I don't imagine we'd ever need to cut anything thicker than 12". So it seems that an intro brand tool like Wen, Kobalt or Ryobi would be fine considering the limited use it would get, and that a Makita, Milkwaukee, Dewalt or Bosch is over the top. I'm reflexively biased against black and decker, but if you have reason to disagree because you know that a B&D chainsaw happens to be good, then that's fine.

Thoughts?

I have an Echo brand 16“ bar chainsaw powered by a 58v (4ah) battery. I am very happy with its performance and immediately sold my Poulan brand 16” bar IC powered chainsaw.



I also own three other Echo brand battery powered tools: a 21” push mover, a string trimmer and a leaf blower.

 

[ttwtt78640]

My philosophy is, if It's a tool you're going to use a lot, get the best one you can afford. If you're only going to use it a couple times a year, go cheap.

IMHO, it’s better to rent (or, better yet, borrow) a good tool than to buy a cheap one. For battery powered tools it’s worth considering choosing a brand which makes a large variety of tools using the same battery and charger. Once you have a few batteries and chargers you can add tools without buying (and finding storage space for) more batteries and chargers.

 

[ttwtt78640]

I've literally never used a chainsaw. I plan on watching multiple youtube videos first. But I use a circular saw, jigsaw, miter saw and table saw with some frequency, so I'm familiar with electric cutty things wanting to murder me.

For most tree trimming chores, I use a battery powered reciprocating saw with a (9”) pruning blade.

9 in. 5 TPI Reciprocating Saw Pruning Blades, 5 Pack

Amazing deals on this 9In 5Tpi Pruning Recip Blade 5Pc at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[ttwtt78640]

My advice- get a file guide for sharpening your chain. It's just a strip of steel you clip onto the file and it has marks at various angles to let you get the right angle on the teeth. When I was doing it free hand I was going at a slightly different angle on the right-hand pass and the left-hand pass and the saw wouldn't cut straight, it would drift into an arc on deep cuts.

This tool works well and keeps the depth stops at the proper (if not slightly aggressive) level in one pass as you sharpen the cutting teeth. Since the file sizes are fixed, be sure to get the right sized tool for your chain size.

Robot or human?

www.walmart.com

 

[ttwtt78640]

The worst case scenario is a 12" cut (well...maybe). How practical do you see a reciprocating saw for that?

Not very - if at all. It is possible to get 12” pruning blades for a reciprocating saw, but that is the total blade length - not what protrudes beyond the saw’s shoe.

 

[ttwtt78640]

I know nothing about chain saws, but do often ascribe to purchasing the 'value oriented quality' segment of products. However, to properly ferret those products out requires a lot of effort and dedication.

But crazy as it sounds, I've found Amazon to often be a good research source for a plethora of products; it seems they handle pretty much everything these days.

Research products with a high number of reviews and a high star rating, and sort the reviews by various parameters to assist your search.

I look at 4 star reviews, because those reviewers often sensibly point-out the slight or moderate negatives in an otherwise good product. I then glance at the 1 star reviews, only to see if there's a common critical complaint or caveat. Besides that, I avoid the 1 star reviews as they often are 1 star for skewed reasons, often reasons not even related to the product itself.

And I must say, if an item has either an 'Amazon Best value', 'Amazon Top Seller', or 'Amazon Best Rated' tag, I tend to buy with confidence if the item seems to otherwise meet my needs.

Also, Amazon buyers - by their nature - seem to predominately buy value oriented products. Yes, there may be some high-end products on Amazon; but they invariably are of lower sales volume. But the ones that are high volume sales, those that sell in the many hundreds and thousands, tend to be of good value.

Seriously, if you find a high volume sales Amazon product that has the 'Amazon Best Value' or 'Amazon Top Seller' tag, and it otherwise seems to fit your needs after your perusing the reviews, I'd consider buying it. I don't think I've ever been let down, doing that myself.

(I also might add I've used this Amazon research technique for products I've purchased elsewhere, as well)

One word of caution about Amazon reviews: they tend to batch them for “similar” items sold by that manufacturer. You might be looking at a $40 product and reading a review on an $80 “similar” (but much better made) product.

 

[Chomsky]

One word of caution about Amazon reviews: they tend to batch them for “similar” items sold by that manufacturer. You might be looking at a $40 product and reading a review on an $80 “similar” (but much better made) product.

I'm aware.

The reviews also can vary by supplier.

 

[KevinKohler]

I have a kobalt corded electric chainsaw, and I love it. It was...150$, I think?

 

[ttwtt78640]

We have one lone palm tree in the postage stamp we call a "front yard".

View attachment 67376058

But you wouldn't believe how many dead fronds that damn thing releases every month, it's
incredible. So I too have been looking into a battery operated chainsaw but I'd really
rather get a product where the battery system will work with a variety of tools instead
of JUST a chainsaw.
But if and when I finally DO get one, it will mostly get used to chop up all the dead
palm fronds that keep raining down on us.
Too bad we don't live in a climate with real actual cold weather, I could burn them in the
fireplace but as long as I can rid us of them in short order I don't really care what
happens to them.

I'm leaning toward Milwaukee or Ryobi.

I have loads of Ryobi 18v “one+” battery powered tools and really like them, but that is not enough power for a chainsaw. You should have no problem using an 18v battery powered reciprocating saw with a pruning blade to keep dead palm fronds under control. You are also much safer not climbing with a chainsaw.

 

[ttwtt78640]

The eGO brand is pretty decent.

They tend to get good reviews.

 

[rickc]

Well for occasional light use one of the max volt dewalts could work.

Problem with any 2stroke gas engine is if not used regularly the carbs gum up. Sure if you run them dry it and put in new gas at each use it certainly helps. But just forget that one time and next time you have problems.

Electric tools either work or they don't. I hate it when I see 3 guys on a job spend a couple of hours trying to get a demo saw running.