DeWalt 20V, 12" chainsaw-review (1 Viewer)

[Rusty Marlin]

Bought one this spring from a local big box store and have about a half gallon of bar oil through it, so I figured that was enough cutting time for a legitimate review.

This little saw is no joke. It's a great tool and it has perminent residence in the LX.
I have it in a poly tote, along with spare batteries, spare chain, chain files and a gallon jug of bar oil.
It's stowed on its side, fill cap up, loaded with oil and ready to work. Its never leaked. The rag is there to wipe up my messes after filling with bar oil.

I did have to mod the tote with a heat gun and press the tip of the bar guard into the corner so the saw would lay flat.

Just to give you some back ground; I grew up running a Mcculloch Super 250 (that dates me), a couple Homelites and bought my Stihl 029 Farm Boss nearly 23 years ago.
In the last decade or so the Stihl hasn't seen much use as I don't heat with wood anymore. But for a while it was cutting 3.5 cords a year.

Why the battery powered saw?
I really didn't want to drag that gas powered saw around and risk gasoline spills in the truck. I have been carrying a cheap hardware store bow saw, but for anything over about 4" inches, it just kinda sucks; I drive a desk for a living and am not as fit as I used to be.
After watching a few (O.K., hours) of reviews, I went with the DeWalt 20v. There are no other battery powered tools in the stable so it didn't really matter which one, as there was no "system" I had already bought into.

How's it working for me?
Just fantastic! I can stall it if I lean on it, but I can stall the Stihl Farm Boss too, so that's not really a falt.
The biggest job yet was a HUGE hickory that was across a trail. It was bigger than the saw could reach from both sides at the butt end by an inch plus and at the other end the center could be reached from both sides. It was Big tree. It took two batteries to limb it and then finally cut the center out wide enough to let the truck pass. There were two limbs that were 10" or so in the center section that had to cut and winched out of the way before the center section could moved. It took about an hour and half of cutting and winching to move it.
The saw never overheated, the batteries were warm to the touch, but just over body temp. Didn't have to get into the third battery, thank goodness, I was whiped.
It's now the first saw I reach for around the house for cleaning up limbs, or any other job I would have grabbed the Stihl or a bow saw. It's quiet, conveinent, and light weight. An abolute peach to use.
It's best at 6-8" and under, just zips right through.

Today I removed a sickly Crape Myrtle from the yard. Took one battery, still wasn't "dead". How much cutting? enough that I would have had campfire wood for 3 or 4 days. Did I mention how quiet it is?! When cutting campfire wood along the trail, nobody even knows you stopped to run a chain saw. Truley wonderful.

Complaints?
Only one, it will not back cut on the top of the bar. It chatters like mad and won't bite. I've been reading that this trait will go away once I've resharpened the blade. But I've been good to it and haven't touched dirt yet (knock on wood); I know it's coming, that's why I carry a spare blade and files.

That's my review. If you're thinking of getting a battery powered chainsaw, I hope this helped provide a little more information for your comparison shopping. I'm super happy with my purchase and wanted to pass along my expirance.

 

[sahelzer]

Love mine, Cut and removed six 8 inch trees. Mine leaks oil.

 

[Bang Bang]

I have one as well and bring it on trips in the GX. Works great! Mine also leaks a little oil so I just empty it after each use and keep it in a generic saw bag made for a 15" bar. It's a little big but it works.

 

[Land Shark]

Agreed! That little saw is a great option to throw in the truck. No gas only oil to contend with. I have recently in the last year ish swapped my saws over to Milwaukee but that was only to keep my batteries all the same.

 

[Corbet]

Battery saws are great. I’ve had one since Stihl started making them. Perfect trail saw for that unexpected down tree and firewood. Great around the house when you don’t want tire fire up the gas saw. They will do what most people need without any fuss. And if you already have battery tools it’s a no brainer.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

Thanks for the review. I just bought my first new to me gas saw last year (I had a very old echo saw that I "borrowed" from my dad years ago...mostly to keep him form using it). I was on the fence about getting a gas vs electric saw mostly becasue I was buying to be prepared for storm prep. Honestly I just wanted a nice new gas saw that I would have forever so I bought a ms261. But like others have said I do wish for an electric saw when I only have a few things to cut, and it would be amazing to have a gas free saw I could bring around.

My very good friend in Bellingham WA maintains his small property with a home scale orchard and plenty of other alders and Doug fir and he happily does it all with his electric Dewalt chain saw. I am on the fence about brand mostly because of investment in other battery systems. But a mud member review is worth WAY more than any review encountered in an online store so thank you again for taking the time to share how the saw preforms and how you store it.

 

[AirheadNut]

My dad and my brother both have the DeWalt 20v chainsaw and I’ve used both of them a fair amount. A few years back my parents had a big windstorm that took out a lot of large trees in the neighborhood and we helped clean up several cords worth of large Doug Fir. The little electric chainsaw was the perfect tool to perform the bulk of the limbing; so much safer and easier to use while crawling over big trees on steep hills, doesn’t require hearing protection and doesn’t stay running when you set it down.

They’re also the perfect size to carry in the LandCruiser in case there is downfall across the trail or for gathering camp firewood and don’t shatter the stillness of the woods when out in the middle of nowhere. The only downside I’ve experienced is that they do like to leak bar oil.