Need Battery Powered Chainsaw - Recommendations?

Only Stihl for me

Dick Coers

I don't have any cordless, but have enough confidence in Stihl equipment that it would be my only choice. They only sell through dealers, so you'll get the real information you want there.

Re: Need Battery Powered Chainsaw - Recommendation

Keith Newton

William, What other brand of cordless tools do you have that could share the same batteries with? I'm pretty confident you have a good brand, so I would be thinking about sticking with whatever that is. For me, I've got a bunch of Makita 18v, so getting the Makita seems like a no brainer. Getting it with the double batteries that could be put into service when the chainsaw isn't needed would be a bonus as well.

Re: Need Battery Powered Chainsaw - Recommendation

William Duffield

I only have Festool and Ryobi ONE+ batteries. What little explanation I've gotten from Stihl indicates their batteries are not compatible with anything else, and I suspect typical power tool batteries don't have sufficient voltage or the watt-hours to support what I would ask of a chainsaw.

Husky

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

My excavator had a Husky that I tried out. 14" bar 40v Li battery. Blew through limb wood. Nice balance.

Re: Need Battery Powered Chainsaw - Recommendation

Pat Evans

If it were me, I'd get the Stihl tuned up or even overhauled if necessary. I can't imagine trying to do the volume of work you seem to have with a battery saw. I also don't like mixing gas/oil, so I just buy the premixed. More expensive, but worth it.

Re: Need Battery Powered Chainsaw - Recommendation

Larry Barrett

HF has some (of course). Both a 40v Li and a 80v Li. My son bought the 40v and I have been using it. You need a second battery so you can keep going when the first one slows down. The batteries recharge pretty quickly. I used this one to cut up a 20" oak log and it did the job (with the second battery).

Re: Need Battery Powered Chainsaw - Recommendation

Don Goodwin

A year or so ago, I was ready to toss my 20-year old Stihl because it was hard starting and wouldn't run full speed. After suspecting it was the carb, I purchased a new one and installed (easy to do). That didn't work. I came across a video that suggested removing and cleaning the spark arrestor within the muffler. That worked miracles on my saw. The spark arrestor was almost completely clogged and blocking the exhaust. The saw is now running like new for me.

Carb cleaner and a wire brush worked for me. If you are interested in keeping your Stihl, take a look at the spark arrestor. I never even knew mine had one, let alone that it gets a carbon build up. Good luck.

Milwaukee

Joe shelton

This is a great saw. I'm amazed by its power.

Re: Need Battery Powered Chainsaw - Recommendation

Mark Nowicki

Silky Katanaboy is next on my list, probably the 650.

This year I have bought a Samurai Ichiban 330 and a Silky Huyauchi 21ft pole saw.

Quiet, safe, healthy for the user ,fun to recharge (wife is a good cook), not made in the country that gave us the virus.

Re: Need Battery Powered Chainsaw - Recommendation

Bill White

Don, good point on the spark arrester. Had the same issue with my Stihl string trimmer. Went to the Stihl dealer, and he said that they could service it for $40.00 or I could clean the arrester for free. Guess what I did? Cleaned it!

Re: Need Battery Powered Chainsaw - Recommendation

C Pearson

I have a 12 inch Makita 18 volt and a brushless 16 inch Makita 36 volt. I purchased these because I was already invested in the Makita lineup.

The 36 volt is very similar to using a small 16 inch gas chainsaw (I would compare it in power to an inexpensive Ryobi chainsaw that I own). If I have a couple trees that need chopping it does the job, starts and stops immediately, is quiet, and avoids messing with gas. I'm fortunate to have plenty of Makita batteries to keep going as long as I need. The one feature that I dislike is that if you take your hand off of the safety switch the saw shuts down and you have to push a button to energize the saw again (unlike the 18 volt which is always ready with the pull of a trigger).

The 12 inch 18 volt saw is extremely handy. It works great for chopping small branches and trees. Its very nice to use as it is both quiet and light.

Neither one of these saws would be enjoyable to use if your tree is 20 inches in diameter. For anything like that I pull out my Stihl and go to work on the trunk. Once the big stuff is done, and I'm breaking down branches for the fire pit, I pull out the electrics.

CP

Re: Need Battery Powered Chainsaw - Recommendation

Dave Bair

I am happy with my GreenWorks 40V tools: 12" chain saw, 10" pole saw, 24" hedge trimmers and 16" trimmer. I have two batteries which keeps me running without pausing to recharge. While the saws are too small for serious felling, they are light, quiet and always ready to go for limbing, etc.

Re: Need Battery Powered Chainsaw - Recommendation

David Weaver

carb, fuel line and spark arrestor....

clean carb, intact fuel line and cleaned screen in the muffler probably solve the vast majority of problems people have with two cycle tools.

My local lawn guy sold me a shindaiwa trimmer and said that he gets tools from lawn guys all the time. He said "idle or full throttle, nothing in between or it'll eventually clog the screen".

I couldn't abide and said I'd just clean the screen, which he said was also fine. Apparently, learning that is a bridge too far for most, even the lawn services who bring trimmers in in multiples because the workers like to "feather the throttle".

never have clogged the screen yet - happens also with folks who believe that if 50/1 mix is recommended that they'll do their machines a favor by adding a lot more oil than that. Noted what the guy said, though. Lots of old saws carbs and fuel lines that can't handle ethanol gas - I have much more experience with that than the screen.

Except for the tools that use pairs....

David Weaver

..the only lower voltage batteries that I've seen that work fast on a saw are the Milwaukee fuel, and their big batteries are really expensive.

Not sure what they do to draw huge wattage out of an 18 volt battery, but they have apparently fixed early issues with batteries tripping thermal protection.

(it looks like their high amperage batteries are about $200 each, though...out of the frying pain into the...)

Hard to tell what's what in a lot of the battery saws because nobody likes to publish continuous wattage at this point. They look like great limbing and light clean up saws, though, and you can run them over the fence from a neighbor without making them mad, but I wouldn't want to drop and buck a tree larger than their bar, though.

Arborist view

Tom Dunlap

I’ve followed the development of battery saws for the beginning. Now there are some leaders in the race. Don’t count on these saws to do all day 20” removals. They aren’t engineered for that use. Be realistic.

If you want more info from arborists who are using the. To make a living look on my forum: TreeBuzz.com

My brother bought two Makitas for his crew and he’s super happy with them. They are a favorite and good value

Husky is the favorite though. More money than Makita but stronger.

My choice is a B grade saw, DeWalt. Not for pro use since I’m retired but it will make a 12” oak cut. The rest of my tools are DW so it makes sense. I got the top handle DW with a large battery for $150. It travels with me in my RV for firewood cutting

There are other battery saws that do work. They aren’t as broadly used as Husky and Makita though

Dewalt 60V for me

Mike L

I have a lot of Dewalt tools so the battery's are interchangeable. It is my go to saw when I just need to cut a few branches. I have used it to cut up a lot of trees branches etc. The battery take awhile to charge but last a long time.

Mike

Re: Need Battery Powered Chainsaw - Recommendation

Dale Stansbery

After doing some research, I also bought a Greenworks 40 volt 16" saw. I haven't used it enough to give a full review, but so far it works flawlessly on the trimming that I've done. I really like not having to pour fuel and cranking it up to get started. They also have a line up of other 40v tools that I may eventually add. If you're a veteran, it's nice to get the Lowes 10% discount as well.

I stand corrected

C Pearson

My 12 inch saw is actually a 36 volt. Nevertheless, it clearly has less power than the brushless 16 inch version. Nevertheless it works well as a "hatchet."

CP

Re: Arborist view

Roy

My neighbor uses his regular power tools around his farm by toting a small generator along. Works for him to cut wood for building sheds, drilling holes and so forth. There are a lot of electric chainsaws on the market.

Roy

Re: Arborist view

William Duffield

That's an interesting idea. I could also use my generator to run my air compressor, to run my roofing nailer, framing nailer, etc. However, my generator is even noisier than my gas powered chainsaw, and it doesn't solve the problems of weight, air pollution, hard starting, gasoline transfer, etc. I'm hoping to eventually be able to charge my chainsaw batteries from my CyberTruck; that should be super-convenient. I'm hoping the CT will have a built-in compressor and winch when Tesla finally gets around to building it.

Re: Arborist view

John K Jordan

>>>My neighbor uses his regular power tools around his farm...

I often use 110v power tools around the farm too such as a small table saw and SCMS and small welding machine, but I run extension cords as needed to avoid messing with the generator. I use 10ga and 12ga cords and pay attention to the amperage and voltage drop. The longest I've run was about 400'.

One thing about air compressors - if I need to run air tools a long distance to a job, such as when building a horse shelter about 600 ft from power, I ran 100ft cord to a pancake compressor then I extended long air hoses to complete the distance. Besides shortening the distance for the electrical, the long air hoses added a bit of capacity to the compressor tank. Nail guns worked a little longer before the compressor cycled, although it did have to run a little longer than usual.

I've since run underground power to several key locations so things are much easier now. The longest is about 1000 ft from the house.

JKJ

Re: Arborist view

William Duffield

It's about 600' from the shop's back window to the big bad mulberry tree on the back corner of my property, so I'll probably have to save any pruning of that one to the gas powered Stihl. I think everything else should be doable with extension cords (I have plenty) and a plug-in chainsaw, or maybe even with my sawzall. Thanks. You have provided too good advise. I was hoping to talk myself into a new tool.

Stihl 12” battery saw review *LINK*

Tom Dunlap

This review may...or may not...be valuable


Saw review

Re: Need Battery Powered Chainsaw - Recommendation

Jason Roehl

Good to hear on the Greenworks 40V tools. I have their cordless leaf vac/blower, since they were one of the only companies that makes one, and now I’m considering adding to the system next year, probably starting with a pushmower, since I can mow my yard in about 20 minutes, and I’m getting sick of my gas mower. I think I would probably add a pole saw as well, as I’m surrounded by trees that need to occasionally be trimmed back from the house or patio.

Jason