I have the Echo 58ah. It works great. Keep the blade sharp. No more hard starts with the Stihl gas, it runs about an hour of hard cutting.

Quite, no gas to mess with. Slower but effective. I don't look at or compare to a gas rig. I use mine for small trees and trimming.

so sounds like the battery models are not really made for heavier cutting? Just smaller stuff?

perfect for gathering mesquite for the cook pit.

They'll cut the big stuff, just slower and uses up the batteries quicker.

I have cut pretty big oak logs with my Dewalt.

We have these two on the ranch....I'll grab them and a couple of batteries most of the time. They are very handy and light.

Got one of these around Christmas but haven’t used it yet…

It wont replace my gas saw, but I do use it more, because it is more convenient and lighter. On six inch stuff and smaller it gets the job done. I have a leaf blower as well that uses the same battery. If I run both batteries down I'm ready for a break, and have a nice stack of fire wood together, or have cleaned a bunch of pasture roads.

Kobalt 40 volt stuff has been great for us. Pole saw, Blower, weedeater and push mower so far. All have been great for home and lease. I have 3 different Kobalt tool sets too and have been pleased with all of them.

I'm in the market for one with a 14-16 bar to carry in the new power wagon as I don't want to scratch my new truck up if I can help it. I currently just crash through the limbs with my suburban. Can't do that anymore. I want a lighter saw than most and with a smaller sized body than most. And one that will not overly leak bar oil while stored. So I have been reading up on them recently.

I have had a Ryobi cordless for years. I had put an Oregon bar on it to be able to use thicker non ryobi chains and would do the same thing again if I bought another. It finally gave it up last trip at the hunting lease. The problem I had with the Ryobi is it always leaked bar oil like crazy, even when just stored. Reading reviews that is normal for their saws. I would be confident with another one. I would just have to dump the bar oil out each time after I am done using it.

I am leaning towards one of the Stihl cordless saws. They are lighter than most comparable ones and have a narrow profile. Not as wide as the others. There also was mention in the reviews about the bar oil not leaking outside of use, but I am sure they all do to some degree. I also liked the fact the chain could be adjusted without a tool. It looks to be a good candidate that I could find a bag for it to fit and store in a rambox.

I have a Stihl that works fine for light duty work. According to Project Farm, Echo is the best overall . Some may not like his reviews because he is too detailed, but I'll post a link anyway:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WDaTwEwhTk

There is a round 1 if your saw is not included.

I have the 58V Echo and it’s impressive. I took two 30’ sixteen inch limbs off a client’s red oak tree, cut them up into 2’ lengths, trimmed off all the little stuff on two 4ah batteries. The debris filled my 5x10 utility trailer twice and I stack hard. Don’t force it, just let it cut, and keep it sharp.

This would get my vote unless you already have tools that can share batteries such as the Fuel.

My Stihl doesn't leak, even hanging on the wall bar down. but it is less than a year old...

The wife has a 12” bar Stihl, which I think is the smallest one. I keep it on the floor of my workshop and there isn’t any sign of oil leakage. It’s real light and handy. I use it for light work, but when I’m out back for more serious work, I take a Stihl gas saw. With a sharp chain on the battery saw, it’ll surprise you with how well it cuts. I only have the one battery. If somebody wanted to do some more serious work with it, a second battery would be good.

I did this not long ago…first question you need to figure out. Do I want one battery and a bunch of tools or mix match stuff is fine. I wanted several…I did a bunch of research it came down to Milwaukee or Makita for me. I’ve never owned anything Ryobi that was worth a crap but a lot of folks like them. I chose Makita because I liked the tool options better but I don’t think you can go wrong with either.

Stihl and Echo and and Kobolt and eGo got honorable mentions.

Good luck. I love my Makita chain saw.

Yup, lighter. Speaking as a guy with a bad shoulder.

X2

I’ve had a Kobalt 80 volt but I think it’s 18” blade. It was a beast for two years but the battery is weaker now. And of course they discontinued the 80 volt battery. I’ve cut down stuff that I thought no way that’s gonna make it but always has. Keep the blade sharp.

We have started to use electric saws on our fire apparatus. We have Echo and if we are using it you can bet they are good quality.

I have a Makita and it will do anything my gas powered will within reason. It's light, quiet, and run time on the battery is great unless you decide to cut down a larger tree. For that I fire up the gas powered anyway.

The battery saw also gives me a nice break. I'll use the gas Stihl to make bigger cuts or down trees. Then shut it down, service it - refuel/oil, tighten the bar/chain and then pick up the Makita and go to work on the limbs and trunk that's left.

If you service it like a gas powered saw you will have not trouble. It is nice to have the spare battery ready to swap on the charger when the 1st one goes dead.

I've used a Milwaukee for the past 2 years. I really like it.

Go to protect farm on you tube. He does a pretty thorough test on them.

I plan on getting a Ryobi 14" or 18" chainsaw this spring as my old McCulloch Mini Mac 35 finally died. I have lots of 40V Ryobi stuff already, so I have plenty of batteries. I have their pole saw and have abused the heck out of it as a regular chainsaw. I am very impressed with what the pole saw can do.

Check out the 40 volt Worx chainsaw. Love mine.

They make a good blower and weed eater for light duty stuff around the house.