Mine has an electric motor running a hydraulic pump, 4 tons of splitting force. Not much compared to the 15-20 ton gas models.
However, for the 4-5 cords we cut every year, it works fine. Occasionally a big snarly piece of wood gets set aside for the chainsaw, but that's ok with me. The two-button system is easily "got-around", mine has a spring holding one lever depressed, just one finger required to run it.
We split all our wood within 100 feet of the house, so power is never an issue. I have a folding table the splitter sits on, the splitter stores under the bench in the garage. I think the cycle time is about 12-14 seconds, which is fine if you're not in a hurry. One person splitting and the second one stacking makes for a comfortable pace for everybody. $379 Cdn at Home Depot. No gas fumes, no noise, and you can chat while you're splitting wood if you choose. Splitting kindling in the garage or basement is do-able in the dead of winter too.
Now... if you're going to split more than 5 full cords a year, if you're in a hurry, or if your wood is more than 12-14 inches in diameter, it's not the right tool for you.
There are 220 v models with considerably more power and speed, in time I'll build one of those as the parts appear. For now, I'm happy with the one we have, which is a Ryobi. I think the same splitter is sold as Homelite now.
Sean