I completely agree with everything said except the part about battery saws. They're light homeowner grade. I used to cut and split 3 - 4 cords each year when we had kids and the weather here was colder and stuck around longer.
I should not have made such a broad statement. It is true that gas has big advantages in professional or prolonged use. On the other hand, most people don't do that kind of work.
Most of what I do is getting rid of fallen or unwanted trash oaks. I would never use my fireplace, because this is 2026, and I'm not Dan'l Boone. I put all my wood on burn piles. I don't store up cords of wood for winter or save wood for lumber. A typical job for me is maybe 75 cuts. The saw I have goes right through anything, up to a certain size. If I have 4 batteries with me, I can sail through most jobs. I wouldn't use it for big trunks, like 15" and up.
If I were really going to be mature about it, before a job, I would ask myself if the Makita could handle it, and then, if the answer was "yes," go ahead and use it. It's much less trouble. But I enjoy using gas saws I have worked on and more or less perfected, so often I use them when it's not the best move.
When I want to use the Makita, I throw it on the tractor with a couple of batteries and take off. When I want to use gas, I take the saw out and fiddle with it to make sure it will run. Sometimes I have to yank the cord numerous times. It's nice to have something that only requires me to push a button.
As far as I know, there are no cordless saws made for professionals who cut wood all day, so it would not make sense to compare a Makita 16" 36V saw to a Husqvarna 592XP or a big Stihl. The web says Stihl now makes a pro cordless saw, but I don't know how it compares to similar gas saws.
On the other hand, if you compare a 16" Makita to a 16" gas saw, it has serious advantages. Never fails to start. Doesn't have to be started 20 times, or allowed to idle for long periods, during a job. Cuts fast. Doesn't have as many failure points to drive you crazy. No earplugs required. No messing around with gas cans, additives, canned mix, or special no-ethanol gas.
The one I have does not seem to be "light homeowner grade." Far as I can tell, it is considerably stouter than the Jonsered CS2240/Husqvarna 440 gas saw I also own, and that's a better-than-average homeowner saw. I don't know if it's as tough as my Echo CS-501P professional saw, but it's not like the $200 homeowner saws a lot of people use.
If you're cutting big wood or lots of wood, cordless probably isn't for you, but for a lot of us, it is flat-out fantastic.
