{"id":656,"date":"2022-09-13T09:52:58","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T19:52:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahualoa.net\/farmblog\/?p=656"},"modified":"2023-01-06T22:42:02","modified_gmt":"2023-01-07T08:42:02","slug":"powerful-battery-electric-chainsaws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ahualoa.net\/farmblog\/2022\/09\/powerful-battery-electric-chainsaws\/","title":{"rendered":"Powerful Battery-Electric Chainsaws"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After a few weeks of research, I think I know what new chainsaw to buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Greenworks Commercial 82CS34<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For context, battery chainsaws have not been considered “serious” in the past compared to gasoline models, but now (as of Summer 2022) there are abundant powerful options, for up to a 20″ bar. For nearly 4 years, I’ve been happily using a 14″ Makita XCU03 (LXTx2), and I’ve been delighted with the quality and reliability, but now I need something bigger and more powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what I found about the power of chainsaws now available:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/th>Bar<\/th>Volts<\/th>Max Power (kW)<\/th>HP (kW*1.34)<\/th>Chain speed (m\/s)<\/th>Gas engine cc equiv<\/th>Battery Wh<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Makita LXT x2 chainsaw<\/td>16″<\/td>36<\/td>0.9-1.0 ?<\/td>1.2-1.3 ?<\/td>20<\/td>32<\/td>2x5Ah=180<\/td><\/tr>
Makita XGT chainsaw (*)<\/td>18″<\/td>40<\/td>1.6<\/td>2.15 ?<\/td>25.5<\/td>?<\/td>4Ah=144
5Ah=180<\/td><\/tr>
Ego CS1804<\/td>18″<\/td>56<\/td>2.1 ?<\/td>2.8<\/td>20<\/td>45 or 42<\/td>5Ah=270<\/td><\/tr>
Kobalt KCS 4080-06<\/td>18″<\/td>80<\/td>2.5<\/td>3.35<\/td>20<\/td>50<\/td>5Ah=360<\/td><\/tr>
Greenworks GS181<\/td>18″<\/td>80<\/td>2.5<\/td>3.35<\/td>21<\/td>50<\/td>5Ah=360<\/td><\/tr>
Stihl MSA 300 C-O with AP500s (*)<\/td>20″<\/td>36<\/td>3.0<\/td>4.0 ?<\/td>20-30 variable<\/td>?<\/td>9.4Ah=337<\/td><\/tr>
DeWalt DCCS677 with DCB615<\/td>20″<\/td>60<\/td>3.1<\/td>4.0<\/td>13.5 ?<\/td>“around 60”<\/td>5Ah=270<\/td><\/tr>
Greenworks Commercial 82CS34<\/td>20″<\/td>82<\/td>3.4<\/td>4.5 ?<\/td>24<\/td>“more than 60”<\/td>4Ah=288?
5Ah=360?<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The two saws marked with a (*) are, as far as I can tell, not yet released in the USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My first impulse was to buy a more powerful Makita chainsaw, but it’s not sold in my country, and also, as you can see in the table, it’s surprisingly underpowered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next saws (Ego, Kobalt, Greenworks) are just three examples of affordable 18″ saws under 3 HP that are sold under dozens of brand names by many companies. They appear fine, but…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last three saws are all new this year, and are the first three to reach 4 HP and directly support a 20″ bar. Stihl is a major German chainsaw manufacturer, and their MSA 300 looks amazing, but, once again, it’s not sold in the USA yet, and will certainly be very expensive when it does (probably $900 for saw, $400 for battery)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That leaves a choice between the last two, the DeWalt and Greenworks Commercial. From online reviews, both are impressive. Both are affordable. The DeWalt saw seems to sell for around $390, the battery for another $390, but bundled together for only $550. The Greenworks Commercial is $600 for a similar bundle. The final points I considered, in favor of the DeWalt saw:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • DeWalt is a much bigger company with a much bigger user base.<\/li>
  • DeWalt has a better reputation for support.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Some points against the DeWalt, in favor of the Greenworks saw:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • Some claim that the DeWalt might overheat more easily than other saws, or that the bar retention mechanism is a little better on other saws.<\/li>
    • Subjectively, to me the DeWalt looks clunky and blocky.<\/li>
    • The DeWalt has a strange low chain speed, which some YouTube videos indicate produces a rougher cut surface when doing chainsaw milling.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      After a few weeks of research, I think I know what new chainsaw to buy. For context, battery chainsaws have not been considered “serious” in the past compared to gasoline models, but now (as of Summer 2022) there are abundant powerful options, for up to a 20″ bar. For nearly 4 years, I’ve been happily […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ahualoa.net\/farmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ahualoa.net\/farmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ahualoa.net\/farmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ahualoa.net\/farmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ahualoa.net\/farmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/ahualoa.net\/farmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":716,"href":"http:\/\/ahualoa.net\/farmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656\/revisions\/716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ahualoa.net\/farmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ahualoa.net\/farmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ahualoa.net\/farmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}