Battery powered chainsaw

I bought the bigger Milwaukee 18 volt on sale at a heck of a price. I use all Milwaukee stuff at work so figured I'd try it. Use it for cutting rich pine into smaller pieces before I split it up. Was cutting on a big red oak one time and got it out just to see. Piece we were working on was about 20" across and if you let it cut it done pretty good. I did lean into it to see, didn't stop or bog but over heated the battery. All in all I like it.

 

I bought a husky top handle about a year ago. I can cut a mule load, or approximately 1/4 cord on a battery. I use it a lot.

It's handy for trimming out a path to my cuttins'. I used to use a Milwaukee hackzall for that.

Well...somehow it turned out sideways , but you get the idea.

 

Cheepbeer , thanks for the input! Curious why you chose a top handle? I see you're in Ohio, so I'm certain you're cutting good hardwoods....oak, hickory etc.

When the battery dies, does it do it slowly, or is it all of a sudden?

 

I have a Husqvarna 540i battery saw and I have never noticed the battery getting hot. I have a 16" bar/chain on it. It cuts good, the only complaint I have is that it seems to bind in a big log and I don't know why. It has a narrow kerf bar/chain made specifically for a battery saw, supposedly, and I always have wondered if it is not rigid enough, causing it to bind. I don't know if that is a valid thought. Never having to mess with a finicky motor is terrific. Alot of homeowners could get by with only a battery saw.

I also have a gas powered Echo 2511t top-handled saw that I bought for trekking through the woods making trails and also a rear-handled 2511 for limbing and they work great and are super light. Used to be the smallest chainsaws, maybe they still are. Are certainly super lightweight and handy. Much lighter than my Husky battery saw and it's not heavy. The Echo saws are really small.

 

I wanted a battery saw, for the simple fact it's quiet. I wanted a top handle 'cause I had plans of climbing my tree and trimming it out. Yeah, right! I'm too old for that, so I'll hire that out.

OK. I wanted quiet 'cause if my neighbor hears my saw in the woods, he'll come out there, and it'll take 3 times as long for me to get 1 load, 'cause I help him. Quiet means I can get out with my load, THEN go back and help him. He's 76 and burns about a cord a week in his outdoor furnace.

The top handle's handy though.

As far as the battery, it runs wide open 'till the end. It blinks at ya when it's about to die.

 

Not sure how much you are in to You Tube, but Project Farm just put out a video on small battery powered chainsaws. Pretty informative. He also has several videos on full size battery powered saws as well. They are worth the watch in my opinion.

 

Pretty much any lithium battery can...I think the risk is minimized if the battery charger is unplugged as soon as the battery is charged...but I believe a battery can fail at any time, and when they do, the resulting fire pretty much cannot be put out, except for submerging (and leaving) the battery under water, or buried in the ground.
I have started trying to unplug everything as soon as its charged...used to just leave it plugged in. I was always of the understanding that L-ion batts could just be left on the charger with no consequence, but I recently heard an interview with a guy that is some sort of battery expert and he said that trying to keep them fully charged is actually pretty hard on them...who knew...I didn't!
That said, I had a friend that had a L-ion flashlight catch on fire when it was not on, and not being charged...he saw it smoking/starting to burn and kicked it on the floor and out the door before it started a fire in his new shop...new shop because the old one burnt down! (not due to a L-ion battery)

More on topic, my brother likes his Milwaukee battery saw...he keeps it in the truck for "emergencies"...downed trees across the road, etc...

 

Thanks for the heads up, it is appreciated!!!

 

Gavorosalini, I think I have watched that guy's vid on the saws, lot of good info. It seems like Battery saws are improving daily quickly (i guess like most battery technology), so it's kinda hard to keep up with the info.

This looks like a pretty good deal. Read an article comparing some of the saws and they gave good marks for this Ego...

Ego POWER+ 18” Chain Saw Kit With 2 x 5Ah Batteries CS1804-2 from EGO - Acme Tools

I saw the combo with one 5 Ah battery for $350, and a separate 5Ah battery alone was $250, so $500 for combo w two 5Ah batteries seems pretty good....

 

Eckie I'd be hesitant about off brands and even some of the major brands if they aren't real OPE companies. I have the Husky T540 gas and the T540 battery so I have the perspective of using saws that are made to do the same job but powered differently. If used for their intended purposes, they function about identically. Limbing and cutting small stuff will get you the same runtime out of a tank or gas or a battery at full charge. That said, if you go outside what either saw was designed for, you will quickly find a difference in performance. For example, trying to buck a 12" tree will be OK with the gas unit but will quite quickly drain the battery on the electric saw. For that reason, I enjoy having both and I use them for completely different tasks. The electric is great for keeping trails open, limbing small trees, clearing small brush, and bucking branch wood once a larger tree is dropped. I also keep it next to the chipper when eliminating brush piles. When you get a branch that has a crotch that won't play nice with the chipper, it's nice to just pick up the electric saw and go. No guessing how long it's been since you ran it and whether you need the choke or not. No pulling and trying to listen to what's happening over the roar of the chipper. Just pushbutton on. The gas saw on the other hand is really a do all when dropping smaller trees. I use it for everything from dropping and bucking small stuff to limbing large branches once the bigger trees are down.

As to cold weather, the battery saw works just as well as in warm weather. The only restriction is charging. Charging a LiIon below freezing will damage the battery. So, in the winter I bring the batteries and charger in from the barn and keep them in the attached garage. As mentioned earlier, it's also easy to forget to refill the bar oil on an electric saw. It's almost muscle memory to do it when filling the fuel tank but when swapping a battery, your brain goes into cordless screwdriver mode and it's easy to forget and run it dry. All this said, I don't think battery saws are at currently ready to replace gas saws. However, they do have their place in a saw fleet and I wouldn't go without ours. I say "ours" because the wife loves it too. She was very comfortable with the gas T540 but starting it hurt her shoulder. (Old Army injury.) The electric is right up her alley though and when she's out helping, there is no getting it away from her...

 

Great info and perspective System, thank you. I'm definitely not looking to replace my 310 and 460 with a battery saw. Just those little/smaller tasks just like you mentioned, where a gas saw is a bit too much or a pain, and the limbing. And less noise...and not smell like two stroke cause of a few minutes of cutting...

 

System , I forgot to ask....do you consider the EGO a "off brand"? Or are you referring to brands like Hart and the ones sold at Harbor Freight and such? I have seen EGO quite a bit, and it usually gets pretty good reviews.

I'm a Stihl guy, I don't like the other colors of orange... But I'm just not feeling the stihl Battery saw for some reason. I was pretty sold on that Echo, couldn't find it to put my hands on it, and now read they've discontinued the 58v.

That's one thing that makes me nervous about the battery saws. After a few years, if your battery(ies) go bad and they've discontinued and stopped making the ones you need, you're up the creek....

 

Stihl has not gone in to the battery realm like Husky has and I'm also not loving their battery option. I honestly think Husky's battery OPE is second to none. As to EGO, I'm sure they are OK. I just wanted a little bit more of a pro grade saw...

 

Ughhhhh....even thinking about a Husky hurts me deep inside....

 

I don't know if it's been mentioned but Stihl has a new battery saw in Europe, model 300? Touted to be same or close to a ms261 gas saw. Narrow kerf bar/chain. Based on what I've read, it will likely be the most powerful battery saw available. At a price. Probably not in USA yet.

 

Good to know! I hadn't heard about that one. Will have to research...

 

Yeah, can't imagine how much that'll cost....

 

The saw will likely be around $ 800 and the AP 500 S battery $500 x3 = $ 1,500 so $ 2,300 before taxes , this is Canadian price so take off 35% for a US price $ 1,500 .
I'm thinking 3 batterys to do half a cord .

 

Yep, not happenin!

 

Agreed.