Battery powered chainsaw

[IXLR8]

Recently bought an Ego 18” at the local Ace. I have 2 regular Stihls, but the Stihl battery saw was pretty pricey to take a chance on whether I’d like it or not.

Biggest stuff I’ve cut through so far is like 6 inches but no issues. The thing I like about it is not having to start or stop it when you’re intermittently clearing or pruning. It’s a little on the heavy side, but it was cheaper than other brands.

If you have the smaller 2.5Ahr battery, I would use that if you are just trimming to save yourself some weight. That is what I do.

 

[Darth_DMack]

I have a Skil 40v Power Core battery powered chainsaw, that I use 90% of the time. I have yet had an issue with it... I use a 5 amp hour battery in it, and it just runs great!

 

[Grumpycat]

That’s a good idea. I do have the ego weed wacker and leaf blower that have the smaller batteries.

The old 14" EGo (not same design as the 18") was noticeably weaker on my 2AH battery than on the 5AH. Blower is not weaker on 2AH, just much less runtime.

I don't know if it is just that my very old 2AH battery can't source the current of newer EGo battery cell suppliers.

 

[IXLR8]

I can tell you my EGO 16" runs the same whether I use the 2.5Ahr battery or the 5.0Ahr battery, just shorter run time with the 2.5.

 

[Darth_DMack]

I can tell you my EGO 16" runs the same whether I use the 2.5Ahr battery or the 5.0Ahr battery, just shorter run time with the 2.5.

Same with me... I have the 40V Skil PowerCore chainsaw. It cuts just as good with the 2.5Ahr as it does with the 5.0Ahr.

It's definitely lighter and more nimble with the 2.5Ahr but the 5.0Ahr almost more than doubles the amount of cuts I can get out of a single charge.

 

[Jstpssng]

If I drop $500 on a decent saw I want it to last 15 years even if the battery is only good for 5 years.

I don't think I've ever had a gas saw last me that long!

 

[2manyrocks]

Some Home Depot locations have the DeWalt 20v chainsaw on clearance for $89 if they have them in stock.

 

[WinterDeere]

I don't think I've ever had a gas saw last me that long!

Why? I cut a lot more than most, maybe as much as any non-pro you'll ever meet, and mine last decades. Pro saws are designed for more hours per week of use, than most firewood cutters will see in a year, and are usually only junk when parts become unobtainable after 20-30 years.

I'm still running an 064 AV and an 036 PRO, the former from the 1990's and the latter ca.2000, in addition to a newer top handle saw. Both are still going strong after many hundreds of hours and many hundreds of trees felled and processed. I fell and buck about 10 - 25 cords of wood per year, splitting 8 - 14 cords of that for myself, and leaving the remainder for the owner of the property where I harvest most of my wood.

I can afford newer saws, but I still haven't found any I like better than my 064, and the 036 isn't so much worse than the newer MS-36x's that I'm inclined to make the switch.

 

[EdwardL]

they depend on what you need to do. They will not replace a gas powered saw. I have a small Stihl. Mostly its handy for cutting up limbs that drop from a 100 year old maple, and I use it if splitting stringy wood rounds, where I need to cut the strings to continue. Otherwise its not worth having.

 

[ultrarunner]

I think a lot of property owners find their capable gas saws gathering dust once they enter the battery world of chain saws.

At the Christmas Tree Farm the 4 Stihl gas saws were never used once last season.

The 3 AP Stihl Battery Saws totally replaced them...

The reason there are 4 gas saws is to have 3 ready to go because with hundreds of starts the rope pulls would go and some of
the guys just were pros at flooding...

Not keeping gasoline around made the Insurance company happy when they visited...

Application is really the determining factor...

 

[WinterDeere]

Not keeping gasoline around made the Insurance company happy when they visited...

Great post, ultrarunner. And it all made sense to me, except this one line. Aren't these powered by Li-Ion batteries? While incidence of fire while charging is rare, I'd think it'd have to be nearly on-par with fires caused by gasoline-powered OPE.

My father had an electric saw and two or three gas-powered saws. Since he wasn't cutting super-frequently, we usually went to the electric saw first for firewood duty, it was just more convenient and always ready to go. The gassers pretty much only came out when it was time to go harvest wood. Back then, "electric" meant 110V corded, meaning you had to be within an extension-cord's distance of some power source.

 

[ultrarunner]

The insurance surveyor wanted to see secure dedicated storage for the gas cans.

Nothing said about the batteries... maybe batteries not on the radar last year?

I do think the quality of Lithium batteries varies... there were several after Christmas apartment fires from cheap electric kids scooters... often charged indoors with particular care.

I think Stihl is liability conscious and I'm interested to learn if AP series batteries have caused fires.

I too have a large and capable Stihl corded saw at the ready.

One year the tree farm bought 2 inexpensive small corded chain saws to try.

Quickly experienced cut or damaged cords and then there is something about electric power tools plugged in and used in the wet outdoors.

 

[WinterDeere]

Quickly experienced cut or damaged cords and then there is something about electric power tools plugged in and used in the wet outdoors.

I never cut a cord with a chainsaw, or any OPE, but I have admittedly come close and gotten lucky with corded hedge trimmers.

My grandfather had an electric mower, which must have been from the 1950's or 60's. He had a Bolens garden tractor for most of his mowing, which he replaced with a Wheel Horse in the 1980's, but would use that little electric thing around the house and gardens. Always scared me a little to use that one, since there'd be a mile of cord laid out to avoid, but he had a system that always kept him "down-cord" of it.

 

[Jstpssng]

Why? I cut a lot more than most, maybe as much as any non-pro you'll ever meet, and mine last decades

Probably because I don't know how to work on them. Also, they ride in a toolbox in back of the truck for 50,000 miles/year. Possibly because the shop I took them to makes more money selling new saws. My 254 lasted the longest, actually just about 15 years before the crank went. My 346 lasted about 4, again before the crank went and they told me it wasn't worth fixing. I cut about 250 cords with that, plus my firewood and did several dozen miles of property line maintenance.
My first Echo was a good saw for 5 years. Problem is that I kept it for 7. My 545 Husky never ran right from the start, it would stall every time that I let off the throttle; I then would have to hold the throttle and drop start it.. That's not really safe when you are walking up fir trees on snowshoes, limbing them.
Somebody here told me after I got rid of it that it needed to be reset by putting it into a log and holding it open for 5 minutes: the shop where I bought it didn't know that. I was using a Poulin because it ran better.

My 490 needed a carb after 3 years; and still doesn't run. Then my 590 started running like crap. I bought it 5 years ago this month. That's where I was at when I made the post you cited, and I was at a loss as I need a running saw and it was pointless to have one of the previous places work on it. Tuesday I dropped both saws off at a different shop where they seem to know what they are doing; hopefully I will have 2 running saws when I pick them up.
The two shops I had been going to are run by older guys who are used to older saws.

 

[ernemats]

I have 2 battery powered chainsaws that I use to cut my firewood, about 4 cords a year. A Ryobi 40 volt with 16 inch bar and a Greenworks 60 volt with a 20 inch bar, and I also have a Husky 396xp with a 24 inch bar for the larger trees. Very seldom do I use the Husky. The Ryobi is fairly light and I probably use it the most because of the weight, you cannot lean on it too much or it kicks off and will restart after you leave go of the trigger and pull it again. The Greenworks you can lean on it pretty good and it just keeps cutting, but it is a lot heavier than the Ryobi, so it gets used less. I have extra batteries for both saws so runtime is not a problem and besides I am over 80 years old and I cannot go too long cutting anymore. I really like battery powered as there is a lot less maintenance on them and they are easy to start. Battery power is not to the point of replacing gas yet but it is getting there for a lot of applications.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I suppose the only cutting I know is a small job being 3 hours and the average being 5, felling 60’ trees, limbing and then cutting logs. I’d never venture into that with my battery saw.
For small homeowner cleanup, it’s fine, but I’d never choose it if I had to process a 60’ tree.

Which reminds me, I need to sell my battery saw.

 

[Jstpssng]

Battery power is not to the point of replacing gas yet but it is getting there for a lot of applications

I will say the same about corded power tools. Most of my lumber sawing is away from the house. I haven't even picked up my corded power saw since 2018. Until about 3 years ago all of my cutting was done with hand saws. Then one day I was talking to a friend as he was using his DeWalt circular saw and I said "I've got to have one of those."

 

[WinterDeere]

Probably because I don't know how to work on them. Also, they ride in a toolbox in back of the truck for 50,000 miles/year. Possibly because the shop I took them to makes more money selling new saws. My 254 lasted the longest, actually just about 15 years before the crank went. My 346 lasted about 4, again before the crank went and they told me it wasn't worth fixing. I cut about 250 cords with that, plus my firewood and did several dozen miles of property line maintenance.

Holy carp! 250+ cords in 4 years!!! That's a whole lot of cutting. You're into wearing out bars and sprockets territory, there. Also, 346 is just a farm and ranch saw, not a pro saw, so you're really getting your money's worth out of that one.

My 490 needed a carb after 3 years; and still doesn't run. Then my 590 started running like crap. I bought it 5 years ago this month. That's where I was at when I made the post you cited, and I was at a loss as I need a running saw and it was pointless to have one of the previous places work on it. Tuesday I dropped both saws off at a different shop where they seem to know what they are doing; hopefully I will have 2 running saws when I pick them up.
The two shops I had been going to are run by older guys who are used to older saws.

Yeah, you shouldn't be having carb problems after just 3-4 years, especially with the continuous use you're putting on these things. Carb problems are common with age and storage, not daily users.

Mine get used nearly every weekend for half the year, and then mostly sit half the year. I leave fuel in them for the half of the year I'm using them, but then drain them for summer storage. So far, no problems with that routine. But as much wood as I cut, I'm nowhere near your 62+ cords per year numbers.

 

[Grumpycat]

Semi-related to my EGo Chainsaw, power was out last night for nearly 3 hours. Broke out my EGo Nexus and collection of EGo batteries to power my CPAP not knowing when power would return. Display claimed I had over 24 hours of runtime. Dead quiet. No emissions in my bedroom.

POWER+ Nexus Portable Power Station

Introducing the EGO Nexus Power Station; Quiet Clean Power for Indoor and Outdoor Use.

egopowerplus.com

 

[WinterDeere]

No emissions in my bedroom...

... excepting from the occupants.