Neat Toy, battery powered chainsaw

[booyah]

So, for my birthday I put together some gift cards family had gotten me to Home Depot, and picked up this little guy
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-ONE-10 ... word=p546a

Had to have it shipped and just got it yesterday. In person it looks more like a real saw in person than the toy it looks like in the pics, but 10" bar, narrow gauge chain, battery powered, push button bar oiler, and runs off the same batteries as my other tools and lights. The one I ordered is the plain tool, my local HD had the kit with battery and charger, but I dont need any more of either and wanted to save some dough.

Last night, I took it out in the yard to test it out.

Now I have a small 2 cycle gas (36cc 14" bar) thats been sitting dry in my garage for the last two years. Its a good saw, but I hate dealing with 2 cycle. Oil, idles, starting, gas storage, noise, smell, heat, etc... Basically unless I'm doing a days worth of cutting, I don't break it out. Mainly because when I'm done I have to drain it or run it dry, drain the bar oil and get it back into storage, and now I have some mix gas I need to deal with. I also have a nice recip saw (sawzall) but there are some jobs that it just cant do, or even when it can, its just not the right tool for the job.

One of those jobs that was too big for the recip saw, but not worth dealing with the gas saw is a stump i have in the back yard. Its about 9" across the bottom, and tall enough to trip on (trust me!). Perfect test case for this little guy.

I tossed a 4a battery in it, poured a little bar oil in the res, and pumped the bulb running the chain in spurts until I saw some sheen on the chain. Headed over to the stump and zipped through it in about 30 seconds. Not as fast as the gas saw, but it actually did it unlike the recip saw. Took a good look at the stump and decided I could go through it again and get it right flush to the ground. Ran a second cut that took longer, this is the actual 9" across part, but the little saw ran through it without slowing significantly, and without stopping.

I think this guy is going in the tongue box this year to cut up fallen wood for firewood when we boondock camp. A right nice little saw without the noise, stink and general hassle of a gas saw, but its got capabilities WAY beyond even a nice recip saw. Toss in the fact that they have a 12v charger for their 18v batteries (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-ONE-18 ... /100342149) and I can charge it off the electrical in the camper. Its new tool love at first sight I tell ya!

[lrrowe]

Nice....now if only if they made a Rigid one, I would be all set too.

[MtnDon]

Drain the bar/chain oil before storing or it runs out and makes a mess (at least the older ones were designed that way)

If you don't use a gas saw often buy the premix oil/gas. It stores very well.

[lrrowe]

I like the idea of a battery powdered chain saw. But what about this idea.

Use a $39 HF electric saw at 1/2 or more of the price of a battery one (less battery).

You can use shore power, and or a generator. Now I wonder what the math looks like for a 12V battery with converter (for this 9 amp unit.)

http://t.harborfreight.com/14-inch-elec ... 20provided

I might have to consider this option.

[MtnDon]

It would be interesting to hear the experiences of others with both battery and AC electric chain saws. I've had experience with both and my gas powered saw is still my go-to saw.

[lrrowe]

Agree with the "go to.....". But it might just have it's place to carry along when wood cutting isn't a high priority event. I.e., i do not always want the big oily dirty saw with me.

[MtnDon]

Well, I owned one of the Ryobi and it was very slow cutting compared to my 40cc gas saw. Veeeery slow in comparison. It was stolen this summer and I said good riddance. My neighbor in town has a 120 VAC of some kind. The only thing he likes about it is that it doesn't need gas. But it is slow too. Both those saws are on the cheap end of the price scale.

I did a little search this evening. There is a whole new breed of battery powered chain saw. 36 volt batteries. Apparently they have been available in EU for a couple of years and are very popular. They cut much faster and longer than the 18 volt variety. They operate very much like a good gas saw. They also cost $350 to $800. I read one article that loved them for home yard clean ups,that sort of thing. But they still preferred a gas saw if the job is to cut much firewood. I came away with the thought that I would like one of those 36 volt saws for small stuff but the gas would still be my firewood saw.

[booyah]

So a few things, I didnt want to quote everyones posts, but I wanted to reply to multiple people

1. This saw is supposed to be much faster than the older ryobi battery saws. No personal experience, as its the first battery chainsaw I've owned but that's what pushed me over the line. It is slower than my gas saw, but I knew that going into it.

2. I looked at 12v to 110 with inverter for a corded saw, but there is fairly often I find wood farther back and dragging a cord or generator gets too far away from the convenience of electrical. Might as well bring the gas saw in that case.

3. As far as a "go to" this could qualify for me, since I live in suburbia, and the main time I use a chain saw is for storm damage, over sized tree pruning, camping, or clearing shooting lanes for the hunting blind/treestands (which this should rock for, its really quiet). After I tamed the neglected jungle that was my back yard, I don't do much cutting anymore.

4. Definitely drain the oil, I don't know of a cheaper saw that DOESN'T leak

5. This was bought with the intent of it being cleaner and simpler than the gas saw, I posted about it here thinking that since it was much simpler and cleaner, and also did so nice at that job that others might be interested. Its certainly not the solution for everyone in every case

Lastly my brother-in-law has the 40v brushless saw (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-14-in- ... /204589654) and it does easily as nice a job as my 2 cycle, but the batteries need 110v to charge, and I didnt want to jump into a new battery platform.
If I was OK with that, that saw could very easily be a direct replacement for a small 2 cycle saw. I was very much a skeptic when I first saw it, but after watching him run it, and how well that did it got me to look at this one. While my little 10" isnt in the same weight class, its still better than I expected.

[Fenlason]

I am a chainsaw guy.. and have a few saws, and use them a bit. Yet I do understand and appreciate your decision. My comment is to the Sawzall.. What did you use for a blade. Among my saw work, is trail work. We have our own network of trails… We have build 20+ miles of trails. We of course have to remove a lot of stumps in doing this. Most of the stumps are small.. but while some I cut some of them off flush.. many are fully removed. I purchased my Battery Sawzall just for that task. They make pruning blades for them now. I would much rather stick an easily replaceable $ 3.00 blade than a saw bar and chain.

[lrrowe]

I think these are all good comments and this thread has me thinking of adding something electric to my CT for those times I need to cut "smaller" limbs for campfire wood.

Also I too trim "lanes" for both treestands and ground blinds. This electric saw concept offers some good choices for this work.

[kudzu]

We have an 18v Black & Decker chainsaw. It is not only slow but can't go very long on a charge, even with the newer lithium batteries. The saw is a couple years old. The blade is very short, maybe only 8", and though there have been a few times it was the right tool for the job, most of the time the reciprocating saw is a better choice. We have pine limbs and the occasional tall but spindly pine that drop onto the horse fencing we have in the woods. It is just too far back to drag electrical cords. We'd need several hundred feet. The need for a chainsaw comes up barely once a year. The gas powered saws wouldn't get enough use to warrant the maintenance. When our battery operated saws can't cut it completely, we break out the hand saws to finish off the job.

A somewhat longer and more powerful battery operated saw with a longer battery life would see us through most of our wood cutting chores. I strongly suspect we are the type of people for whom they market these things. Personally, I am so unimpressed with our current chainsaw that I would not consider getting another one. To be on the safe side, I will not tell BF about the newer versions left he optimistically decides to splurge on another.

Edit: Despite what I wrote above, I would like to know how well the OP's new saw operates. Hope it serves its purpose well.

[booyah]

I am a chainsaw guy.. and have a few saws, and use them a bit. Yet I do understand and appreciate your decision. My comment is to the Sawzall.. What did you use for a blade. Among my saw work, is trail work. We have our own network of trails… We have build 20+ miles of trails. We of course have to remove a lot of stumps in doing this. Most of the stumps are small.. but while some I cut some of them off flush.. many are fully removed. I purchased my Battery Sawzall just for that task. They make pruning blades for them now. I would much rather stick an easily replaceable $ 3.00 blade than a saw bar and chain.

so, my recip saw is mostly for demo use, usually on pallets where i harvest the wood for other projects. as such my blades are the usual wood+nails blades, not dedicated pruning blades.

i'll keep people posted and try to get a pic of the stump for comparison

[booyah]

stump

original pics were too large to be useful

[booyah]

trying smaller pics

20170128_131942.jpg (110.46 KiB) Viewed 807 times

20170128_131948.jpg (120.05 KiB) Viewed 807 times

[Fenlason]

I am a chainsaw guy.. and have a few saws, and use them a bit. Yet I do understand and appreciate your decision. My comment is to the Sawzall.. What did you use for a blade. Among my saw work, is trail work. We have our own network of trails… We have build 20+ miles of trails. We of course have to remove a lot of stumps in doing this. Most of the stumps are small.. but while some I cut some of them off flush.. many are fully removed. I purchased my Battery Sawzall just for that task. They make pruning blades for them now. I would much rather stick an easily replaceable $ 3.00 blade than a saw bar and chain.

so, my recip saw is mostly for demo use, usually on pallets where i harvest the wood for other projects. as such my blades are the usual wood+nails blades, not dedicated pruning blades.

i'll keep people posted and try to get a pic of the stump for comparison

You already have your new saw so it doesn't matter, but man a pruning blade made for cutting trees and such would make a huge difference. I have cut stumps as big as you showed, but for my trail work most of them are 3" and smaller.. Most 2" and smaller.. but when I go out to do that on a trail.. I will cut 100-200 at a whack.