PSA: That $300 battery-powered chainsaw I bought last spring was a complete waste of money.

It bogged down on a single 12-inch oak branch and now won't hold a charge for more than 20 minutes of cutting, has anyone else had luck with the cheaper corded models instead?

3 comments

3 Comments

felix1471mo ago

Did you try running it again after letting it sit on the charger for a full 24 hours, not just until the light turns green? I almost tossed mine until I found that trick in the manual buried online. For the cheaper corded models, yeah I grabbed a $80 one from Harbor Freight and it chews through 8 inch oak limbs like butter, just keep an eye on the cord so you don't trip over it. The battery ones are really only good for light pruning and dead pine branches, anything hard like oak or maple will smoke the motor.

joseph_adams661mo ago

Man that 24 hour trick saved my cheap chinese chainsaw too, battery ones are useless for anything solid.

graygonzalez1mo ago

Yeah I actually saw a video on YouTube where a guy tested a bunch of those cheap battery saws and he said the same thing about them dying on anything tougher than pine. He recommended the corded ones too, said they have way more torque since you're not limited by battery output. I got a little Black+Decker corded one from a garage sale for like 20 bucks and it surprised me, cut through a 10 inch maple branch no problem. Just gotta watch your extension cord gauge, I learned that the hard way when I used a thin one and it kept tripping the breaker.