Battery powered chain saw

[Lefty315]

Watching Randy's video on what he carries in his truck prompted this post. One item I was thinking about is a chain saw, but not a gas powered one.


Looking for input on those who have used a battery powered chain saw. Before anyone gets too twisted around the axle and tells me to use a gas powered one I'll explain. I already have a perfectly good gas powered chain saw.

I'm thinking about times when I head into the hills for any reason, hunting, scouting or fishing and I wouldn't mind having a saw with me and I don't want to deal with hauling gas. Or I want to put it in the cab of my truck or jeep and not smell like gas and oil. Maybe a smallish tree needs to be removed from a road or I'm camping and just want to zip up a little campfire wood and again just don't feel like dealing with gas.

Primarily it would be very limited use but be handy to have along. I'm not sure what bar length but I'm thinking 14-16 inches.

Any input on brands, models would be appreciated.

 

[TheSurveyor]

We tried one 5 or 6 yrs ago. I think it was a Black and Decker. It worked for our use sorta. We would use it to cut sight line near property lines like ninjas as not to piss off neighboring land owners. I think ours had a 12" bar and one battery with a sharp chain was good for a few 8-10" trees. I'm sure they've got way better now with the battery technology today. Sure beat stirring the pot with grumpy land owners if you could avoid it.

 

[Gr8bawana]

If you look up reviews on battery powered chainsaws you will see the runtimes are very short. So any smallish tree could probably be moved by hand. You would also end up with a very small pile of campfire wood.

http://www.consumersearch.com/chainsaws/best-cordless-chainsaws

 

[brockel]

Why not a battery powered saws all with a long wood blade?

 

[Lefty315]

Why not a battery powered saws all with a long wood blade?

Never thought of that. I may have to seriously look at that option. What kind of life can you get out of the batteries?

 

[wytex]

Husqvarna makes a pretty good one actually but they are pretty expensive . Not sure how well it works personally. I know one sold at our RMEF banquet for many hundreds of dollars, the logging company that donated it ended up having 2 of their kids bid it up big to buy it.

 

[idnative1948]

My vote is for the Echo. It is 58v and brushless motor.

 

[dalbo]

I don't have any first hand experience with the battery powered saws but Husqvarna says their battery packs runtime is roughly equal to a tank of fuel http://www.husqvarna.com/us/products/battery/ I can cut quite a bit of firewood for camp with 1/2 a tank generally. They are pricey little buggers, I'll stick with gas.

 

[Lefty315]

Yeah they are a little pricey. Not really looking at cutting a bunch of wood. Mostly for getting a few smaller trees out of the way or just some additional camp fire wood. Maybe for some minor yard clean up. If I had a bunch of work to do I'd just pull out the gas saw.

 

[EasternMTHunter]

This is a willow that fell in our yard this fall knocking over our 500 gallon propane tank. I cut all of it up with an electric chainsaw. It took 3 battery charges of a 40v lithium ion.

 

[rideold]

A reciprocating saw (aka sawzall) with a pruning blade does work quite well. It's all I use around the yard. My saw is corded but the battery ones work just as well (corded version was just cheaper when I needed it). You can get a 12-16 inch pruning blade that makes quick work of pretty large stuff. Wouldn't replace a chain saw if you had a blowdown to clear from the track though.

Now, if you want a real chain saw but don't want to carry the gas then why not just keep some pre-dosed packs of oil and a siphon with the saw. You can siphon gas out of the truck if you get to really needing that saw.

 

[1_pointer]

Funny to see this thread as I was just looking at these last night on Amazon! The majority of my use would be a bit different, hinging and other habitat work on my property, but could definitely see it's use in how you're proposing.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

I think you might be better off with a small generator and an Electric Chain Saw. But we are back to gas......That will be $0.02. John

 

[Lefty315]

Yeah, if I had to pack a generator I'd just take the gas saw. On thing I wondered about would be an electric chainsaw hooked up to a power inverter. Not sure there would be enough juice to run the thing. I've never looked at the specs before on a saw with a cord.

 

[Okbow87]

The guy I work for some has one of the Stihl models with a pretty dang short bar, 10" or 12" I believe. I cleared a trail of burnt timber and beetle kill blow downs on his ranch last year. Probably made 20 cuts or so on 8"-12" trees so myself and another guy could move the trees from the trail. Seemed like I had plenty of battery life left after that. It wasn't even close to comparable to my gas powered saw, but it sure was a lot more quiet and less smelly.

I just did a quick browse and the echo looks pretty nice. 58v and up to 16" bar, vs 36v for the stihl and husky with 14" max bar length on the bigger models.

 

[wytex]

F250 inverter will not run a dewalt saw. We just have a smaller gas chainsaw we carry when the 372 is too much. Hooyman (?) makes a battery powered pole saw.

 

[Jorgy]

I don't carry a electric saw, but in my truck box, I keep a pocket saw, chainsaw blade with handles. I've used it a handful of times over the years, works great, and doesn't run out of batteries.

 

[TimeOnTarget]

Never thought of that. I may have to seriously look at that option. What kind of life can you get out of the batteries?

I use my dewalt 20v sawsall. I mostly prune shooting lanes with it but I rarely even need a 2nd battery. Cutting mostly 1"ish branches. some up to 4" I spose. I use the most aggressive toothed demolition blades I can find.

 

[shootbrownelk]

You mean someone doesn't offer a chain saw that's propane powered? The propane Ice augers are pretty nice.

 

[Epfd217]

The only advantage to a battery vs a gas powered saw if they are equal sizes , is the noise and the exhaust. Electric motors are great and proven already, its mainly the power source being discussed.

You won't find many in a larger size because the batteries and the motor cannot hand the "load" of a large diameter cut. Batteries have a finite amount of power and it can come out fast or slow. A thick piece of hard wood will suck more power from the battery.

Like was said above, a good battery is equal to about one tank of fuel. If both are equal, I'd just bring the gas one and a quart can of the pre-mixed gas. Its sad they sell it like a can of pop now, but its a lot cleaner and no odor either. The gas saw will always outperform the battery power and a gas will never run out drain its battery sitting in the garage.

Of course if you don't own a little saw yet, then by all means compare the two and get what you need. An inverter in the truck will charge batteries, but most inverters will not run an electric saw. Far be it from me to tell a man he doesn't need more power tools.