Battery chainsaw reviews

Here is the Stihl saw, Dennis.

 

I just don't think i can invest $815 on a Stihl battery saw. Yikes!!

 

I have the Husqvarna T540i XP. I originally bought it for my wife because the Army did a number on her shoulder and she was in pain pull starting our T540 XP gasser. Holy lord is this thing amazing. If you use it to buck logs (which is obviously not it's purpose), it will run down after one 14" tree or so. However, limbing it will last as long on one battery as its gas counterpart will go on a tank. It's up to full chain speed almost instantly and... although I haven't done testing like Project Farm... I would bet that it's a hair faster than the gas unit. Another benefit is how quiet it is. When doing trail work I can go all day without ear protection. We have a chipper too and it's great to have a quick start next to it to take care of any loading issues. All this said, I wouldn't give up my gas 540. They both have their purpose in the fleet. I like to use my small top handle to do as much as possible on the ground to save my arms. I can go longer into the day this way. So, it's not an either/or situation. It's a both....

 

I run the Milwaukee platform so I bought the 16" saw. 12.0 battery & I've been impressed so far. The no pull & instant speed are handy by the chipper & I use it to mark for length. Battery lasts pretty well on small stuff. I limbed a 28" Red Oak that I took down & the battery held up fine. So far I'm pleased.

 

Exactly. I've got the Makita 36v XCU03 14" with a semi-chisel Oregon chain and the Stihl 028 WB AV with a 18" Rapid Super chisel chain. When I have a big log to buck, I use the Stihl. If I need to do some limbing or cut a few rounds down to length, I reach for the Makita. That said I was running only the Makita for the last 12/14 months before I got the Stihl and while it certainly took slightly longer I was able to do everything with it.

 

I have the same makita, I mainly bought it for the batteries and curiosity. I also run many other makita cordless tools that the batteries fit and like you said, the saw and dual charger was basically free.
I'm impressed with it for limbing and trimming. It will never replace my gas saws but it definitely has a place at the table. I'm wondering how it (the batteries) would do if it was out in the cold, maybe the 20's - low 30's for a few hours. I know that when it comes to charging temps matter.

 

A dewalt battery saw just popped up for sale locally, asking $250 with two batteries, used very little
If i had the funds right now I'd grab it, be awesome for trimming saw

I think battery saws will have a place even for the serious hoarder, but can't see them taking the place of a decent gas powered

 

I would agree on the homeowner grade units like Dewalt, Milwaukee, Mikita, etc. However, the Husky T540i XP I bought recently is really made for (and priced accordingly) the pro tree climber market and is every bit as good as it's gasser brother that I also own. I also think that smaller saws for trimming and limbing lend themselves more to battery operation. A battery saw can't do much in the way of felling or bucking for very long...

 

I'd be surprised to hear that a pro arborist would even consider a battery saw. Heck if I wasn't knee deep in various (same) battery tools I wouldn't have considered one. A quart of gas imho makes for the ultimate cordless saw if you're not just dinking around.
But maybe it's just a "feel good" public relations move (pro battery saws), I think I read that makita sold or is no longer associated with Dolmar because of the above circle jerk reasons deciding to exit the fossil fuel horror.
Where do these idiot's think most of the electricity to charge the batteries comes from?

 

Have you run one? You might well be surprised.

 

Dolmar saws aren't going anywhere anytime soon, they're just going to have the Makita name on them. Which really shouldn't be all that surprising since Makita has owned Dolmar since the early nineties.

20% of electricity in the USA still comes from coal. Given that natural gas has and is replacing most of the coal and oil power production, fossil fuels aren't going anywhere anytime soon either, despite what some environmentalists and politicians fantasies are.

 

For me, the choice of adding a battery powered saw to my fleet had nothing to do with environmental concerns for sure. It's just a different tool for a different purpose.

 

Rodney you missed where I have one.
I am just surprised that there'd be much interest among the guy's doing it for a living, BUT I have not seen, held or operated a "pro grade" battery saw either . With battery life being finite, and replacement being a substantial investment (or "repair") that would be required much sooner than any real repair expenditures with a gas saw.
I'd never criticize a guy for choosing his own tools, but I might be surprised, or even learn a thing or two.

 

I didn't miss where you had a battery saw. I missed where you have a high end unit. There are homeowner marketed battery saws and then there are units designed for commercial use. The two couldn't be more dissimilar... as with any other homeowner grade tool compared to a tool designed to be used everyday. Think of Husky's cheap China made gasser top handle vs. the T540 XP.

As to battery life, I am amazed at how long Li Ion batteries last. I still have the ones that came with my first Milwaukee 18V drill back in 2009 and they are performing as well now as day 1. The drill has since seized and been replaced but the batteries live on... I expect that the more advanced BLi200X batteries that came with my saw will far exceed the 11 year old tech that continues to impress from Milwaukee.

 

My understanding chaps don’t work for electric saws, to me the lack of noise gives a false sense of safety. Don’t get me wrong I’d love to have one in the garage to trim long splits.

 

I just found a used Stihl MSA200c kit with spare chain, charger and three ap300 batteries on FB Marketplace for less than half that. I’m picking it up tomorrow so I’ll bring it out to the gtg to play with.

Since I’m cutting mostly smaller wood for my mini stove, this should be sufficient for a lot of the cutting I do.

 

I had a pair of pants with pads and they do work with a MSA 160. I wish that I had taken a picture of the pants before they got thrown out!

 

I just saw this on another thread:

Apparently battery chainsaws can’t draw near the amperage of 120v electric chainsaws and are easily stopped by Kevlar chaps.

 

I stopped at the local Stihl dealer today to get the Stihl 2in1 sharpener for the 1/4” Picco chain on this MSA200. The saw came with a 10” bar so I asked them about a 12” bar and chain for it. (I just don’t like the looks of it with the 10” bar, dunno why).

The guy behind the counter warned that the 12” bar and chain would drain the battery quicker. I told him I have three of the AP300 batteries and he just smiled and said that’s wasn’t a problem then.

I explained that I found the used MSA200 saw, charger, battery and spare chain advertised on FB Marketplace for $300, then realized the same guy had a separate ad up for two AP300 batteries for $200. I offered him $400 for everything and he accepted that, and I thought that seemed a fair deal.

The guy behind the counter smiled and quietly got on his computer and was silent for a minute.

Then he said, “That saw new here is $339, charger is $99, each battery is $189, and figure $30 for the spare chain. That’s over $1000 new. Yeah, I’d like to find a deal like that.”

The seller kept the saw on his Razor to clear atv trails.

I picked up the Stihl sharpener, a 12” bar and two 12” chains for it, and I already have the 10” bar and a worn and a new 10” chain that came with it.

I went out and cut up some 4” to 8” branches with the new bar and chain today and really was happily surprised how well it cut. It kinda feels like a toy. It’s not.

 

I’m over the Covid and felt good enough today to cut up a wild cherry tree that came down in the windstorm last week.

It was about 12” at the base.

I used another Stihl MSA200 battery chainsaw I just found on FB Marketplace. (Electric CAD?) It only used 1 battery to process the whole tree. I’m impressed with it.

The seller bought it with other stuff from a storage unit and was having trouble selling it because it didn’t have a battery or charger. I looked it over and it had never been used, with no oil in the oil tank and no sawdust or oil under the cover whatsoever. I got it for literally half the price of a new one. This one had a 14” bar and new chain. So now I have the 10” bar with two chains, a 12” bar with two chains, and a 14” bar with a new chain. And the three batteries and charger. I might search for a second used charger to keep them going while I’m cutting.

I have an MS250 and an MS290. This MSA200 just might be adequate to replace that MS250, which might be for sale soon.