Time to convert from small engine to battery tools?

[hawkeye08]

Dad went to electric start or battery stuff probably 10 years ago before his scheduled rotator cuff surgery.

His chainsaw has some sort of spring thing you wind up and let go to start it.. he uses the premixed gas from the hardware store. It has great shelf life and he doesn't mess with mixing it then..

 

[jjp8182]

I bought the Makita duel battery weed eater from Amazon and I've been impressed. I don't do a lot of weed eating, which is why I was considering going with battery instead of gas. I did my back yard, around the front of the house and my outbuildings two times now on the same set of batteries. I haven't used the second set of batteries that it came with yet. It has a lot of power, it's super quiet and the weight isn't an issue. Now I wish that I had bought it sooner as dealing with mixing gas and filling up my old weed eater was always such a pain, plus how loud it was!!!

https://www.amazon.com/Makita-XRU09...&s=gateway&sprefix=makita+weed,aps,318&sr=8-3

I'll second that, I went with this model: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078WHD6N3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 -- which even fully assembled is easy enough to bungee onto my tractor when mowing. Doing so makes it more likely I actually trim the areas where the mower won't fit (or right up next to an obstacle) as I can stop mowing, trim the spots that need to be trimmed, and then get back to mowing.

It makes it faster and easier than finishing mowing, and then grabbing the trimmer and walking around the property doing small clean-up trimming.

 

[ultrarunner]

Stihl makes spring assist starting for some gas models... I have the MS250 with the spring... no effort to start which helps after I snapped a tendon and injured others in my hand...

As for the AP battery pole saw... I almost did not buy it but use it a lot... it is just so handy around the property to cut limbs... sure it has limitations... no where near the reach of the Stihl gasser but I can borrow bros once a year.

Still waiting on the lightweight AP pro chain saw... supposed to be out now but still delayed.

 

[dragoneggs]

Stihl makes spring assist starting for some gas models... I have the MS250 with the spring... no effort to start which helps after I snapped a tendon and injured others in my hand...

As for the AP battery pole saw... I almost did not buy it but use it a lot... it is just so handy around the property to cut limbs... sure it has limitations... no where near the reach of the Stihl gasser but I can borrow bros once a year.

Still waiting on the lightweight AP pro chain saw... supposed to be out now but still delayed.

WHAT! Should I hold off on the MSA200???

 

[ultrarunner]

The MSA is a very good... we use it on the tree farm.

The MSA 161 is a compact top handle saw... some prefer top handle in the trees.

Cordless Stihl Top Handle Chainsaw MSA 161T | OPE Reviews

 

[ernemats]

About a month ago I purchased a Redback 120 volt chainsaw then I purchased 2 of their 120 volt string trimmers and I have used them a lot. I have been using the chainsaw to cut some 16 inch plus poplar , maple and cherry trees , it has handled them with ease and the battery lasts longer than I do. The string trimmers handle tall weeds thick grass and small trees as good as my Stihl gas trimmer. For a brand I never heard of I am very impressed with both, my biggest complaint is they have them on sale now at a lot less than I paid. How they last is yet to be seen but the tools have a 5 year warranty. Right now their price cannot be beat I don't think for what you get. redbackpowerusa.com

 

[tjkubota93]

Anyone like the husky cordless stuff?

I have blower and hedge clipper. Really like them. Been wondering about a weed eater and chainsaw. I need 30 minutes of run time on a weed whacker.

 

[flashpuppy]

Stihl makes spring assist starting for some gas models... I have the MS250 with the spring... no effort to start which helps after I snapped a tendon and injured others in my hand...

I have one of these. It came with our property when we bought it. The older fella we purchased from said he just didn't have the strength for starting one anymore and the Stihl dealer recommended it to him.

It is odd for me to use. It is just so non-intuitive to me. I mean, it does work okay but it's just such a weird feeling. I have put some low-kickback semi chisel chain on it, and deemed it to be "my wife's saw". It is easy for her to start.

 

[dragoneggs]

I have one of these. It came with our property when we bought it. The older fella we purchased from said he just didn't have the strength for starting one anymore and the Stihl dealer recommended it to him.

It is odd for me to use. It is just so non-intuitive to me. I mean, it does work okay but it's just such a weird feeling. I have put some low-kickback semi chisel chain on it, and deemed it to be "my wife's saw". It is easy for her to start.

It is a weird feeling... I bought a Stihl smaller garden tiller for my wife. The easy pull start works great! I would have to say though, I think I would have a hard time getting used to it on a chainsaw after all these years of trying to yank my arm off. :laughing:

 

[jjp8182]

Even as easy as gas tools are becoming to start, I've found that I much prefer electric for small tasks as the electric tools don't develop the issues I've seen with gas tools when used for frequent start/stop short duration tasks.

For example, I probably wouldn't do the below with a gas tool as the exhaust would get hot and cause problems/damage (and develop previously mentioned issues I've seen with short duration run times). However, a battery powered trimmer is easy enough to strap to the tractor, in order to trim around sign posts, mailboxes (etc.) in a brief stop right after mowing around them.