Electric Chain Saw???
- Thread starter jacobconroy
- Start date
calicamper
Expedition Leader
Haven’t bothered, I have a 4ahr, 6ahr and 2ahr battery they have been getting non stop use this fire prep season zero issues. Only machine thats burned through all of those in one go was the line trimmer. Chainsaw and limber last way way longer than I or the amount of stuff I’m cutting lol.
Sorry dont think I made it clear- I'm referring to if the battery won't accept a charge any more or whatever Ryobi allegedly will replace it. I havent had too many issues with DeWalt but some have died/wouldn't hold a charge anymore where if I could have gotten a free replacement it would have been great.
calicamper
Expedition Leader
Yes they have a great warranty same group owns a few major brands Milwaukee, green something, and ergo something.
geoffff
Observer
That's a great idea. I tried an electric chain saw a decade ago, and it made a big oily mess during storage.
Alloy
Well-known member
This is the firewood (limbed and bucked) a 16" EGO with a 5Ah battery will cut.
![20210517_183643[1].jpg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/565/565512-55126c52241e643e5ffc30cfdf0e5374.jpg "20210517_183643[1].jpg")
It's a toy saw but cuts great and our solar charges the 5Ah battery in 40min with the rapid charger.
The downside...limbing with an axe and cutting the minus 6" trees with the Katanaboy the 5Ah battery was only enough to clear 1 mile of winter blow down and deadfall on a FSR. Electric saws are great for clearing 1-3 trees off well used tracks but don't work for clearing the less traveled routes with more fallen trees.
It's a toy saw but cuts great and our solar charges the 5Ah battery in 40min with the rapid charger.
The downside...limbing with an axe and cutting the minus 6" trees with the Katanaboy the 5Ah battery was only enough to clear 1 mile of winter blow down and deadfall on a FSR. Electric saws are great for clearing 1-3 trees off well used tracks but don't work for clearing the less traveled routes with more fallen trees.
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calicamper
Expedition Leader
Just need more battery lol
I just cleared an acre of 3-4ft tall brush with the weed / line trimmer. Its nearly as good as the good gasser only quieter and no fumes to breathe. Just heavy with the 6ahr, I went through 24amphr of batteries doing it. I ran a 6ahr, 4ahr and 2ahr just fast charging as I went non stop. Zero issues. The chainsaw would have been easier given I typically go longer between battery swaps on the chain saw.
calicamper
Expedition Leader
Milwaukee owns Ryobi and a few other lower priced brands. They are very similar in design just way more affordable lol.
beef tits
Well-known member
But milwaukee batteries don't work in a Ryobi.
Ryobi is decent for the weekend warrior Home Depot folks doing little projects around the house. I was a GC for years. The Ryobi tools I have owned are not nearly as good quality as Milwaukee. Some of my M18 tools I have had for 8+ years and they still work great even with many long periods of daily use.
calicamper
Expedition Leader
The current stuff is more or less close to the same only Milwaukee is after the contractor grade job tool market
laxtoy
Adventurer
I ended up getting the Makita 14” (XCU07) that takes (2) 5ah batts a year ago and love it. I have 8 5ah batteries total now and a lot of cordless tools. My guys are all switching to cordless 10” miter saws and table saws, which I was always committed to corded tools that generally stay stationary, because what’s the point when you have a stationary power supply and don’t need the tool to go up on a roof or on a ladder. Still, their saws run a while on a charge, pretty impressive.
From my experience with the Makita and what I’ve read about the Milwaukee’s (the best reviewed), they beat gas in an off-road rig simply for the ease of use and are very impressive, as have been all of my other cordless tools.
All my subs use Milwaukee, and once they started to replace heavy right angle drills with cordless versions that cut out the second you take your finger off the trigger making them immeasurably SAFER I saw the direction at least my industry was going in.
My impact or baby skilsaw will go all day without a charge. So with the benefit of not cleaning out old gas or packing premix or risking spilling gas, definitely safer and cleaner which is a huge plus. In most of the national forests I’m aware of around Washington you aren’t supposed to run an unmuffled compression engine without a spark arrester anyway. Disagree with the law all you want, still adds to my consideration.
In an emergency situation at my home I have a 35 year old 20” Homelite that starts on the first pull every time and is good to have around for emergencies when the power is down for weeks (which hasn’t happened…yet). I also have plans for a PTO generator for my tractor, so charging tools can be done as well.
If you’re clearing 5 acres, yes, a gasser is a no brainer and you probably better go 40cc minimum, but we’re not really on a clearing land message board. Do you go out on trails looking to clear that much? I hope t hell not, not exactly treading lightly, which should always be the goal.
If I go out with even 4 batteries I know I’ve got a solid 45 minutes of decent cutting ability and I always carry an axe as well, which I got by just fine with that and a bow saw for years and years.
Bottom line, for a vehicle based chainsaw, use what you see as appropriate, but packing a gas saw for a week worth of travel isn’t what I plan to pack when I drive a little truck alreadytight on space.
From my experience with the Makita and what I’ve read about the Milwaukee’s (the best reviewed), they beat gas in an off-road rig simply for the ease of use and are very impressive, as have been all of my other cordless tools.
All my subs use Milwaukee, and once they started to replace heavy right angle drills with cordless versions that cut out the second you take your finger off the trigger making them immeasurably SAFER I saw the direction at least my industry was going in.
My impact or baby skilsaw will go all day without a charge. So with the benefit of not cleaning out old gas or packing premix or risking spilling gas, definitely safer and cleaner which is a huge plus. In most of the national forests I’m aware of around Washington you aren’t supposed to run an unmuffled compression engine without a spark arrester anyway. Disagree with the law all you want, still adds to my consideration.
In an emergency situation at my home I have a 35 year old 20” Homelite that starts on the first pull every time and is good to have around for emergencies when the power is down for weeks (which hasn’t happened…yet). I also have plans for a PTO generator for my tractor, so charging tools can be done as well.
If you’re clearing 5 acres, yes, a gasser is a no brainer and you probably better go 40cc minimum, but we’re not really on a clearing land message board. Do you go out on trails looking to clear that much? I hope t hell not, not exactly treading lightly, which should always be the goal.
If I go out with even 4 batteries I know I’ve got a solid 45 minutes of decent cutting ability and I always carry an axe as well, which I got by just fine with that and a bow saw for years and years.
Bottom line, for a vehicle based chainsaw, use what you see as appropriate, but packing a gas saw for a week worth of travel isn’t what I plan to pack when I drive a little truck alreadytight on space.
roving1
Well-known member
I pulled the trigger on the 16" Makita. It seems to do well in most of the comparison tests and unlike all the special battery models the batteries are easy to find and pretty cheap to replace down the road. Plus it comes with 4 batteries which is nice. Just zipped through some dimensional lumber to test it out. So far so good.
The thing that absolutely sucks is the dual battery charger is gigantic. It is seriously bigger than an Atari 2600. It's also heavy too. It weighs more than my 1/4 impact does with a battery in it. It is seriously the size of 4 DeWalt chargers lol. I was looking to swap to a single battery charger but even the single chargers are huge. Probably the size of 2 DeWalt chargers. What the heck Makita? ? So yeah that part sucks for traveling.
The thing that absolutely sucks is the dual battery charger is gigantic. It is seriously bigger than an Atari 2600. It's also heavy too. It weighs more than my 1/4 impact does with a battery in it. It is seriously the size of 4 DeWalt chargers lol. I was looking to swap to a single battery charger but even the single chargers are huge. Probably the size of 2 DeWalt chargers. What the heck Makita? ? So yeah that part sucks for traveling.
