Battery chainsaw questions

[TresK3]

I don't know if things really break in set of three, but they certainly do in pairs...

About two weeks ago, my 11 year-old Husqvarna lawn mower - yes, I know, lawnmower; I'll get to the chain saw in a minute - gave up it's last ghost with a cough, a sputter, and some metal shavings. It was a 21" push with a B&S engine. RIP. Fairly certain I want to replace that with a battery mower of similar size.

A week later, the chainsaw started acting up (losing chain tension and sending sparks when I tried to cut anything; engine seems fine). I have that in the shop now. It's a 17 year-old Echo CS440 with an 18" bar and standard chain. It has a 45cc engine. It's been a very good saw - pretty much does everything I need: felling smaller trees (12-24" diameter), limbing anything, and bucking larger stuff that I have a professional drop, but also I've used it a lot. Not sure if it will be worth the $$ to fix, yet. So now I'm considering a battery chain saw as well. Obviously, I want to go with the same system for both.

Looking for any recommendations (or negatives) on an overall brand and/or voltage line. Mostly my decision will be based on the chainsaw since there seems to be more variability with those. The two top contenders at the moment are:

GreeenWorks 60V, 20" w/ 8.0 Ah battery and rapid charger (model CS60L810). It has a 4 year warranty on both tool and battery. Claims to be equivalent to a 60cc ICE. $450, complete.​

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Stihl MS-271 36V, 18" bar, 2 year warranty on tool. No battery with this one, but obviously, I would use the mower battery. $429, tool only.​

The GreenWorks specs out a lot better and has twice the warranty. Has anyone had experience with this line? For lawn mowers, the 60V GreenWorks is $500 with two 4 amp batteries and charger; the 36V Stihl is $799 with one battery and charger.

I've looked at the EGO versions, but the saw has some really bad reviews. Also looked at the Echo line, since I like my current saw - they have a 56 V line with a 5 Ah battery. The mower is $550 with one battery and charger; not sure about pricing on the saw.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Or should I stay with gas on the saw and just look at mowers?

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[hearthon]

Stick with the brand that you have battery's for and buy the chainsaw tool only on sale. That's what I do with all my dewalt stuff. I bought the 20v dewalt chainsaw and I like it, I don't do anything serious with it but it's good. Would love to try their 60v saw someday.

 

[Stelcom66]

I have a 16" Ego chainsaw. That's used mainly for quick, intermittent cuts of pieces to fit in the stove, or cutting large branches. The battery started losing it's charge after about 5 minutes a week or so after buying it. I contacted service, and they sent me a replacement battery. So I can say good customer service.

As for the saw - with a sharpened chain it does an adequate job and is convenient for the use stated above. I couldn't get by with just this though, even just for cutting rounds in my yard. I use a gas saw for that. With the way battery technology is going, maybe there is an adequate battery operated chainsaw that can almost match the performance of a gas saw, but for less run time.

Next season I'll probably buy an Ego weed trimmer - all of their batteries are the same 56v size, with different amperages. The tool batteries can then become backups for each other. The weird thing about Ego is at nighttime seeing a disengaged battery lighting up and going through a self test - both the original (kept it for a 5 minute run time) and replacement at the same time.

 

[walhondingnashua]

I started down the Echo line with batteries after a lot of questions on here along with reading/ watching a lot of reviews. From what I was told by the local battery repair shop, they cannot fix ryobi or ego. They CAN repair husky, stihl and echo batteries. I went with echo because most reviews on their battery line concluded that they were as good, or better than the husky or stihl equipment at a better price. The 56v was another reason. I only have the leaf blower and weedeater at this point because of a sale on a combo pack. Been happy with both. The chainsaw (tool only) is $200 so I will be purchasing it soon. Next summer, I have plans on buy one of the push mowers.