The 36 volt 14" Makita battery chainsaw has a OEM 0.043" gauge bar and very thin saw teeth with an Oregon chain. The Makita motor appears too powerful for the narrow gauge teeth after ruining three chains with broken teeth without hitting anything, just cutting (white ash, red elm, white oak, red oak, bitternut hickory, sugar maple). Research showed some folks replacing the 0.043" gauge bar with 0.05" gauge on battery chainsaws which would cost me around $60 for two chains and the new bar. Searching also found Upstart brand 0.043" gauge 14" chains at a price of 5 for $30 which was less than half the Oregon price for chains. What the heck - worth a try - and so I ordered them several cords ago. Fresh out of the box, there was an "Oh Wow" and "Oh No". "Oh Wow" was the teeth which contained about four times the metal of the Oregon 0.043" gauge chain because the teeth were longer and wider. "Oh No" was the wider teeth would reduce my battery life because removing more wood (wider teeth) requires more work, i.e. battery. Several cords later of cutting white ash, red oak, white oak, bitternut hickory, and sugar maple all I can say is "OH WOW". The Upstart 0.043" chain teeth stay sharp twice as long as Oregon. My batteries are cutting 25-50% more wood per charge because sharper teeth cut with less work, more than compensating for the extra width. No more broken teeth. I just purchased another set of 5 Upstart 0.043 chains since many brands come and go. Social distancing has kept us home instead of our usual camping trips and so the wood pile is getting big.
