Cordless Chainsaw that's not a toy?

[dogmush]

SO the wife and I are doing a lot of camping, or more properly "Overlanding", which is just glamping with a 4WD truck.  One of the issues I have run into is National Forests on the east coast don't like you bringing in firewood.  You need to buy it there (not allowed to harvest your own in most places) and it tends to be sold in lengths that are too long for my portable fire pit.  I have a Sven Saw, but it get's old sawing 15 logs in half by hand before starting a fire.

I think a battery powered little saw would be perfect.  8" bar would be more than enough for my logs, and I don't need *too* much battery run time.  Enough to cut like 15-20 4-6" logs, then I can recharge it during the day on the inverter in the truck*

Has anyone used one of the cordless chainsaws?  Brand or model recommendations? Am I expecting too much from a cheap tool?  I'd be willing to spend $100-$150 on this, if it would work.

*Inverter on the truck is not powerful enough to run the plug in chainsaws I've found, Hence the cordless idea.

** My "real" cordless tools are DeWalt 20V, lithium and while one battery infrastructure is nice, I don't know that I am willing to pay for yellow plastic for this need.  I'd want another battery for this tool anyway.

[Boomhauer]

The Milwaukee M18 Fuel one is a beast from everyone I’ve talked too. I
Also heard the Makita one is a good one too.

Also consider a powerful cordless sawzall with Diablo pruning blades is a beast on small wood. The Milwaukee pruning blades are junk.

[bedlamite]

https://youtu.be/_aBZt8m1XkQ?t=1155

[Boomhauer]

Another thing whatever you get you are going to want the big batteries with (such as Milwaukee’s 12ah batteries). These high draw tools eat batteries and are usually sold in a package with the big batteries anyway.

[Ben]

Not exactly your application, but I have a Harbor Freight cordless pole saw. I've had it for around five years and it has just worked. I'm super impressed for a Harbor Freight item. I use it more than I do my heavy ass Stihl gas pole saw and only get the big one out when I absolutely have to.

I only bring it up because that pole saw takes care of pretty gnarly limbs when I'm limbing trees, so if it's standing up to everything I throw at it, whatever battery chainsaw you get, even if a cheap one, will more than handle what you said you want it for.

ETA: The pole saw is the Lynxx 40v. I see that HF has a Lynxx 40v chainsaw as well that's on clearance.

[MechAg94]

My Dad has a newer and older Dewalt.  He likes them.  I think he has old gas saws, but they all stopped working.

[Bogie]

Consider a corded tool, and a larger inverter that you can hook to the battery with the engine running. It won't be a heavy constant draw, so you should be good.
 
And... I use a sawzall, and crappy blades, but I don't go after the big logs.

[cordex]

I have the 12” 20v DeWalt chainsaw for limbing and small work given we have so many trees at the new place. It would fit the bill nicely for your intended use, but as you say isn’t cheap.  I took down and cut up a dead sassafras that was at least 10” thick and didn’t have any issue with it. Battery was just about dead at the end of that but it made a bunch of cuts and never actually quit before I finished.

If you already have a 5amp hour or better battery you really don’t need to get a new battery at all.  Without the battery the DeWalt is under $150…. If you just have the little 1.5 and 2 amp hour kit batteries then you’d want to budget for a new battery which changes the equation a bunch.  I guess you could get a big compatible knockoff battery to dedicate to the chainsaw.

In my experience, a sawzall doesn’t clear chips very well. Definitely have to stick to small diameter stuff.

[French G.]

Milwaukee is a beast, instead of limbing and cleanup my dad is dropping trees and cutting firewood with it. The chains are very good but hard to the point of brittle, we broke a tooth off one. The 12ah battery is ludicrous expensive. Worth it I think.

[Grandpa Shooter]

I have a Ryobi 40v pole saw I run off my universal drive head.  I can run string trimmer, brush saw, etc off the same unit.  I used it in Arizona recently to cut back an old mostly dead juniper with no real issues.

[Jim147]

I have a 12" 40 volt Greenworks. It was under $200 when I got it. It's not my main wood saw but it has quickly removed large trees from the drive after a spring storm so we could get out. I've been impressed by it. I pick up spare Oregon chains from Amazon for under $15.

[Ben]

I have a Ryobi 40v pole saw I run off my universal drive head.  I can run string trimmer, brush saw, etc off the same unit.  I used it in Arizona recently to cut back an old mostly dead juniper with no real issues.

I got my Ryobi 40v string trimmer and leaf blower set after I bought that HF pole saw, else I would have gotten the Ryobi pole saw as well. I don't like having tons of different batteries, and I standardize most of my tools on DeWalt, but have found my Ryobi stuff to be impressive as hell for lawn care / landscaping.

[zxcvbob]

I have a 12" 40 volt Greenworks. It was under $200 when I got it. It's not my main wood saw but it has quickly removed large trees from the drive after a spring storm so we could get out. I've been impressed by it. I pick up spare Oregon chains from Amazon for under $15.

My brother has one of those (not sure whether his is 12" or 14"), and a matching pole saw.  I have been impressed with them, and I am biased against battery powered tools except for drills and trim saws.  Buy Oregon "yellow" replacement chains (91VXL)

[AZRedhawk44]

I have the 40v Husqvarna cordless saw.  Love it.

Bogie mentioned using a reciprocating saw.  Honestly, that's pretty damn good too.  I've used a 12" sawblade on one of those for several years before I bought the Husky.  The recip saw takes up less space.

[Boomhauer]

My brother has one of those (not sure whether his is 12" or 14"), and a matching pole saw.  I have been impressed with them, and I am biased against battery powered tools except for drills and trim saws.  Buy Oregon "yellow" replacement chains (91VXL)

The battery powered tools of today are leaps and bounds ahead of even a decade ago. Good, higher capacity lithium batteries and brushless motors have made a huge difference.

[dogmush]

Bogie mentioned using a reciprocating saw.  Honestly, that's pretty damn good too.  I've used a 12" sawblade on one of those for several years before I bought the Husky.  The recip saw takes up less space.

But I HAVE a cordless sawzall.  If I use that I haven't bought a new tool.   

Looks like the 20V Dewilt tool only and the 40V Greenworks are both right around $150.  Time to spend a day watching YouTube reviews.

[Northwoods]

If you will only be using it for this kind of application those non-Stihl/Husqvarna saws are probably great.  If you’ll be using it (or can reasonably foresee using it) for much more than that I’d highly recommend the Stihl/Husqvarna battery saws.  The price of quality is soon forgotten.

[MillCreek]

The battery powered tools of today are leaps and bounds ahead of even a decade ago. Good, higher capacity lithium batteries and brushless motors have made a huge difference.

Can someone explain to me as if I was five years old, why brushless motors are better?  I see them mentioned in advertising a lot these days.

[Nick1911]

Can someone explain to me as if I was five years old, why brushless motors are better?  I see them mentioned in advertising a lot these days.

From an end use perspective, brushless motors offer higher torque and longer runtimes.

From a technical perspective, brushless motors avoid the losses that are inherent to current flowing through carbon brushes to transfer power to the armature windings (the rotating bit).  They do this by having the stator (the non moving part of the motor) have the windings.  To make this actually work is more complex - it requires microcontroller control and fairly high current semiconductors for switching, which use to make this technique cost prohibitive.  As time has gone on, these parts (MOSFETs, IGBTs, SCR's, etc) have become cheaper.

[dogmush]

If you will only be using it for this kind of application those non-Stihl/Husqvarna saws are probably great.  If you’ll be using it (or can reasonably foresee using it) for much more than that I’d highly recommend the Stihl/Husqvarna battery saws.  The price of quality is soon forgotten.

I have a real, gas, Husky for actual cutting of trees and stuff.  This would be solely for camping.

Can someone explain to me as if I was five years old, why brushless motors are better?  I see them mentioned in advertising a lot these days.

Brushless motors are more efficient and give you more torque for a given current as they tend to have bigger windings.  They have less friction and wear parts from not having brushes or a commutator.  Downside is they are more complicated to build and require electronics to run.

[bedlamite]

Brushless motors are more efficient, but they don't always have more torque. Torque depends more on how the motor was designed. I've got a couple brushless motors for R/C that use the same armature and housing, only the windings are different. One is 4800 rpm/volt and has very little torque turns a smaller propeller faster and the plane has a higher speed, but thrust/weight is low, another is 1600 rpm/volt and has a lot more torque and can turn a lot bigger propeller, not as fast, but thrust/weight is much higher.

[Bogie]

Electric chainsaws and sawzalls are MUCH more stealthy than the gasoline powered one.
 
FWIW, small electric garden mulch chippers are available (HF and others), but I'm not sure how well one would work with a heavier duty load.
 
Well, the river _is_ nearby...

[Boomhauer]

Can someone explain to me as if I was five years old, why brushless motors are better?  I see them mentioned in advertising a lot these days.

When it comes to power tools- more power, better battery life. Also possibly smaller sizes, manufacturers are focused these days on reducing the sizes of the tools as well as increasing power.

Battery tools have heavily supplanted  air tools in the mechanical fields. No hose to drag around and tangle but power is pretty much right up there with the air equivalents and the better batteries give the tools staying power.

Milwaukee has 1” impacts now, something that was inconceivable five years ago. Also cordless big miter saws and I think even a table saw. Also there are now cordless concrete cutoff saws and jackhammers, battery power is coming to tools that were previously strictly corded.

[HeroHog]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7QFYAdmFjk

Oh, wait, did you say NOT a toy?