Cordless Chainsaw?

Re: Cordless Chainsaw?

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

Crews around here seem to be migrating from gas to electric for their climging saws. Seem evenly split between Makita and Husky although I've seen a couple of EGOs.

Re: Cordless Chainsaw?

Jack Dover

I have used a cordless 18V Makita a few times. It has enough power to trim ends of 4 dried cedar logs 14-16" OD and then cut some joinery, about an hour of uninterrupted work. Batteries were fresh. It was a smaller saw and it can be bogged down or stalled completely, but I think it should be adequate for limbing.

Re: Cordless Chainsaw?

William Duffield

I have a 36 volt brushless motor Makita XCU04 (2 18V batteries in series) that I've used extensively since September for felling, bucking and cutting trees into firewood, and also for cutting up branches. It has been more than sufficient for hardwoods up to 18" in diameter, even with a 16" bar. It came with an extra pair of batteries and a charger, which can charge two batteries in the time it takes me to walk back from the woods, swap the batteries in the charger, swap the batteries in the saw, make a pit stop and walk back out to the woods.

You can easily stall just about any saw, especially if you pinch or dull the chain. In general, saws in the class of the Makita have more torque and are thus more difficult to stall than equivalent gas powered saws. Does the Ryobi you are contemplating take two batteries, or just one at a time? I know my Makita has plenty of power, as do several other battery powered saws, but I wouldn't put it in the "plaid" category.

Re: Cordless Chainsaw?

walta

My friend bought a Milwaukee M18 chainsaw with the 12AH battery. I was skeptical but it won me over the battery lasted as long I wanted to work that day. We were cutting brush and smaller trees up to 14 inches.

Yes my gas saw is faster in the big wood but the electric is faster for cleaning up when you are starting and stopping the saw all the time.

It is so quiet no need for ear muffs.

You never need to pull the rope over and over trying to get it started.

I think it is safer because when you let off the trigger the chain stops.

Walta

I have the 60V Dewalt

Mike L

and use it a lot more then the gas powered. I have a lot of Dewalt tools and this fits into them nice. I can use the 60V battery on my 20V tools and have a 9ah battery. I have cut a lot of trees and branches with it. I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

Check the archives

Tom Dunlap

There have been a couple of threads in the past few weeks.

I don't know any arborists that aren't looking at battery saws for trimming/small cuts.

In the arbo world Husky is #1..even with Stihl diehards.

Next in line is a group that are strong performers. Service from a nearby dealer may sway your choice

Makita...my brother, an arbo too, runs two and loves them

Milwaukee

Stihl

I bought a Dewalt because I have batteries. I would never consider using it in even a heavy day use in the yard. It's good..but not that good.

Ryobi isn't even mentioned in pro circles.

If you want to read the pro chatter, check the archives at treebuzz.com

stronger saws...(ryobi)

David Weaver

I don't think Ryobi makes any of the stronger saws. Some of their tools are actually pretty good (cordless large impact wrench, impact driver, some of the drills).

I've had ridgid and ryobi stuff just because it's local and ryobi used to be really tinny (and before that, I've only seen good japanese-made tools, and have one of the older big japanese routers).

At any rate, I had two ridigd tools and three batteries. Two of the batteries failed and the one of the tools pooped out, and that was that. Haven't broken anything ryobi, but...

...unless something changes with branding, they'll never be a preference in larger tools for someone who can write off the cost.

(I just counted - I have 10 ryobi cordless tools. No failures yet over the last 7 or 8 years, though some don't exactly feel expensive).

I don't know how stihl and husky cordless (or dewalt or makita or milwaukee) chainsaws will hold up, but most of them that I've seen taken apart are lighter inside the chain cover. For an arborist working in an area with noise and time restrictions, that's not that big of a deal - wear one out, write off another. But I wouldn't expect one to last like you can get a mid grade husky saw to last (20 or 30 years of wood gathering for main heating, etc)

I think we're not that far away from bigger stronger battery/electric saws becoming available, though.

For the gas saws, almost to a T, every arborist here uses husky saws and stihl top handle when climbing.

(I love ryobi stuff for intermittent use, but wouldn't expect them to compete with any pro line goods or home depot will have to find someone else to make the bottom of their range).

Re: Cordless Chainsaw?

james runchey

I have a Green Wrks 60 volt that also powers my weed whip and leaf blower. I've been very happy with all three.

Re: Cordless Chainsaw?

Barry Irby

No one has mentioned the fact that most chaps and other PPE are not rated for electric chainsaws. I don't understand why the stuff for the gas saws is not suitable, but it's not. Be careful.

probably torque

David Weaver

If you can stop a gas saw with a tangle, it won't continue running until you can get it untangled. They just develop no snot at all until they're wound up some (and that's probably on purpose, as the older saws had bigger pitch chain and more low end torque - often geared for the long bar saws - they would push out of a cut instead of snappy kickback and a stall and they could push you out and put you on the ground.

I'd bet the battery saws wouldn't come close in speed to a gas saw for someone who knows how to run a decent gas saw (file the teeth right, keep it in the upper range and don't manhandle it), but for the average person, they probably do because they have the low-side torque to cover up mistakes. I'd bet that also makes them able to continue to go through chaps and such that would stall a gas chinsaw in practical testing and keep it from continuing.

Just a guess.

A gas saw with some porting and a high top end is a thing of beauty to run, but even those saws are nutless if someone bogs them down and keeps them from getting up to that range.

Read #6---PPE

Tom Dunlap

Even though this is a manufacturer's website Clogger isn't stuck on self-promotion. Read what they say, #6. There is a standard now but there are also PPE made previous to the standard that will give some level of protection. Some is better than none here.

http://blog.goclogger.com/top-10-chainsaw-chaps-pants-questions-answered/

so, I don't have an electric saw..

David Weaver

..but have a gas saw.

Their explanation doesn't really give much of a why, but I'm guessing the difference between the two is the clutch on a gas saw (so you can bind the sprocket area more easily not because of the sprocket, but because of the clutch?).

Which goes back to the whole torque thing. Definitely not suggesting someone should forgo wearing something that's decent just because it's not perfect.