Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Cordless Chain Saw Inquiry

I need one for cutting fire wood and tree trimming – at my age will never wear it out - have a Stihl gas model for any heavier work but it is not very easy to use these days.

I have reviewed the battery-powered DeWalt, Ryobi, Makita, and EGO so far and open to others – any of those should fill the bill but main issues have to do with WEIGHT and DEPENDABILITY.

Aiming for an 18 inch 40 volt model (56 volt in the EGO) but cannot determine the weight of the various saws with battery installed. Anyone know weights?

Need to know about dependability and user friendliness (recharge time and ease of handling) with the various models.

All experienced replies will be appreciated.

Used Dewalt and it’s good. I’m getting a Ryobi 40V to go with my other equipment. It’s all been good and you can’t beat the warranty.

I have a DeWalt 20Volt, which is not as good as a 60Volt, but the 20 Volt will last longer than me on one charge.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GLI0VRM


If your time is worth $1000/ hour [Live in Seattle and are a level 5 engineer at Google] then the $15 chains are cheaper than your time to re sharpen them. But if you live in Montana and your time is worth $15/hour [retired machinist], then re sharpen:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D230BNM

https://www.harborfreight.com/lawn-...-brushless-chainsaw-tool-only-56937.html

I have this from Harbor frieght. Have 6 months of hard use on it. Pleased so far. Light around 10 lbs. You can find them on sale a few times a year. HF has a very good warranty now.

A buddy of mine bought the 14” Kobalt 40v brushless from Lowe’s. I cut with it for a couple minutes and thought it worked well for a $200 saw. For $300 they have the 18” 80v model. Might be what you’re looking for. 5yr saw/3yr battery warranty.

Can’t really comment on the weight other than it was reasonably balanced. Seemed a bit heavier than my MS241 Stihl.

A thread about battery chainsaws....finally!

I know this doesn't fulfill your battery requirement; but, it is cordless. If you try it, let us all know how it works. (Sorry guys. I couldn't resist.)

I love my Echo battery saw. It is the one I grab first for jobs lasting up to 30 minutes. The only negative is the weight. With the battery installed they weigh more than a comparable 18inch bar model. If weight is important stick with a 2 stroke model.

I have used the electric, but the dependence on a battery is planned failure. All the batteries come from China....look before you leap. Gas chain saws have been around forever with a very long shelf life. The Pre mixed gas is good for two years in the saw, 5 years in the can and this ends all issues with gas chain saw starting up.

If you go electric, I urge you to consider a 40V a minimum, but a quality saw and the extra dollars will pay off in many less problems, Oiler quality, blade adjustment ease. As the battery gets weak on the electrics I have used, this causes an undue strain on the saw, keep a sharp blade and an extra battery handy.

Best wishes!.

Paul, I bought a Ryobi from Home Depot, that is 40 voltz. My wife can handle it, and it is no problem to start.... so that was my reason for the purchase...
I did pick up the extra warranty....it was about $300.

after that I bought a Ryobi gas chain saw for $154.00 for those kind of jobs, where the electric one runs out of juice fast.

what motivated was seeing Mark Lee's, that he had on his truck, last time down at your place last March, at our get together...
I figured if it was good enough for Mark and what his uses are.... it'll last me on my 1 acre "Spread"....

I've read about the Heavy Duty Model 2.... they run that with a set of pedals off a bicycle....more power but less maneuverable....

I love my Milwaukee 18V.
Uses same batteries as impacts, drills, grinder, etc etc.

I have joined the DeWalt 20 Volt cult.
I have the money to covert to the Milwaukee religion, but not the will.

So I will continue to be second rate:(

This has been discussed here a few times and those threads had links to video comparisons of a variety of saws. In earlier tests, DeWalt was the top performer. In later tests after Echo introduced their saw, the Echo edged out the DeWalt.

Based on that, I bought the Echo which is a 16" 58v saw. It takes standard Oregon bars and chains so an 18" bar is easy to do. I bought a 14" bar for mine thinking the 16" might be too long for my SxS. I use a gas Husky for firewood and the Echo goes on the SxS and camping for lighter use. I've been quite impressed with the Echo...

I have the Milwaukee, it works splendid and I use the same batteries in it that I use for all my other cordless tools.

Milwaukee does it with 18v while everyone else uses more voltage.

The power for motors does not come from voltage it comes from the amount of amperage that you can supply to the motor, as the voltage goes up it becomes easier to supply that amperage.

I do not know this myself but I have been told by someone who owns both is that the Dewalt chainsaw has a higher rpm but the Milwaukee has more torque.

Good luck.

I bought a Makita a couple years ago. I think it's two 18 volt batteries. I have several other cordless makita tools (circular saw, drill, trimmer) and have had good luck with them. I've had no problems with the saw and really like carrying it in the truck for things like cutting down tress across logging roads and occasionally cutting of small amounts of firewood. For small jobs it works well and avoids the hassle of gas, oil, etc. I have to remember to charge the batteries about once a month or so, but I've never had the batteries go dead on me if they start out fully-charged and I had a big tree that took about 30 minutes to cut up this spring. Seems lighter than my Husqvarna (225? rancher?) but that could just be the balance. Oh the other hand I still carry my gas-powered Husqvarna for larger jobs and in case my batteries have gone dead.

Are you running your dewalt with the 20v batteries from your drills, etc? Or did you spring for the 5a battery....

I have a Stihl battery chainsaw with a 16 inch bar. It works great!

Define big, dead tree

12” diameter
16” diameter
soft pine crap or some type hardwood?

Bunch of limbs or all rotted off.

Appreciate the feedback on this, in the process of making my decision betwen the makita and echo

Milwaukee made in China by PRC.

We use em at work and they are good but not for me.

Easy pass.

🔥 away.