Battery operated outdoor yard tools

[Doc]

I have the greenworks 16" chainsaw, and it works for pruning and light duty stuff. But I saw an ad for a small 6" hand held pruner. I couldn't resist. 79 bucks later I had it with two batteries and two extra chains. Tried it out today and it works great. Nothing better for the overhead cuts. Easy to hold and cut with one hand. You can pull down on the branch to cut higher or to steady the branch. Neat little addition to my stable.

 

[chowderman]

how well it works . . . .
it's all about the chain - design and sharpness.
that is all.

 

[Melensdad]

Finished cutting the rest of the fallen branch into manageable pieces. The battery chain saw is certainly ‘good enough’ for a lot of the cutting jobs on the property. I still think it’s a bit larger and heavier than an equivalent gas saw but it is a lot more convenient.

I can’t imagine a commercial application for many of these tools. It would take a huge investment in batteries to run these things all day in commercial use. That alone would likely drive new/independent competition out of the marketplace. Only well financed landscape crews could afford the batteries/chargers if laws change and outlaw gas units. But for home owners and those of us with modest acreage these things are pretty handy and can beat gas powered yard tools for convenience and ease of maintenance.

I was at Home Depot today buying paint, noticed a 40volt leaf blower priced at $299. To me that is a crazy high price given how cheaply some of these tools feel compared to their gasoline powered counterparts. In the long run I think gas equipment will be legislated out of use but it is better in many ways.

 

[EastTexFrank]

I have the greenworks 16" chainsaw, and it works for pruning and light duty stuff. But I saw an ad for a small 6" hand held pruner. I couldn't resist. 79 bucks later I had it with two batteries and two extra chains. Tried it out today and it works great. Nothing better for the overhead cuts. Easy to hold and cut with one hand. You can pull down on the branch to cut higher or to steady the branch. Neat little addition to my stable.View attachment 152691

I have a somewhat similar saw made by Stihl. It's great at doing what it was meant to do. It trims like a son-of-a-gun but you have to be careful. It's so easy to get your hand in front of the chain and it doesn't take any prisoners. I was lucky and only ruined one pair of work gloves so now I wear an extra heavy-duty padded glove on my left hand when using it.

 

[bczoom]

It's so easy to get your hand in front of the chain and it doesn't take any prisoners.

Chainsaw in right hand, beer in left hand. Then you won't put your left hand near the chain. Just kidding. It's a cardinal rule for me that if I've had a beer, I don't run a chainsaw.

 

[Melensdad]

Chainsaw in right hand, beer in left hand. Then you won't put your left hand near the chain. Just kidding. It's a cardinal rule for me that if I've had a beer, I don't run a chainsaw.

But whiskey is totally acceptable.

 

[Doc]

I continued a project today. I'm cutting branches off of a grove of pine trees so that I can get the tractor through them with the brush hog. Relatively small stuff mostly. A few 3" and 3.5" branches. So I started out with the greenworks electric. 16" bar. Did okay for a bit then the chain came off. Put it back on and came off again in short order. I was going to go get the Stihl chain saw but then decided to try the hand held with 6" chain.

The little thing amazed me. Cut everything I needed cut and was easier to maneuver into place through vines and overgrowth. It cut the 3" stuff no problem. I cut for 25 or 30 minutes on a hillside. I wore out before the little saw did.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

We were doing the same thing today doc. I was back at moms place cutting more trees and brush. First, I reached for my greenworks 60v to limb a 100ft tall balsam. Then I fired up the husky 450 rancher to buck it up.

Afterwards, I headed over to another pile with the greenworks again and easily worked through the entire pile cutting branches smaller to fit in the trailer. When I got home, after mowing the lawn, I got to work sorting and unloading the wood and started burning some brush off.

Back to the greenworks. After I was done unloading and had a burn pile going, I pulled the battery from the saw and put it in the weed eater and used it for a half hour around the fire pit area.

 

[Melensdad]

I had an 18-20 foot pine tree die. It's been standing dead all summer. Today was the day it came down. Mostly.

Took out the Ryobi 14" 40volt and it would not cut through it. I'm guessing the blade is gone. It was bought 'refurbished' off Facebook Marketplace. Which means it was cleaned after it was returned to the store. I used it on small stuff in the past and found it cut slow, but it literally was unable to cut through the pine trunk. I managed to make, with a lot of effort, a V notch about 4' off the ground.

Pulled out the GAS powered STIHL limbing saw, which is clearly not designed to take down a tree with a trunk of 10" diameter but is zipped right through that trunk. Tipped it down with the tractor so it would not fall on my fence. The used the STIHL to de-limb the fallen trunk, cut the limbs and the top 3/4ths of the trunk into bite size pieces so they can be used in the patio fire-pit with the smaller scraps easily hauled down to the burn pile. Then I ran out of gas.

Figured it was time for a break. So as it is, there is a 4' trunk still standing. There is another 4' section of trunk laying on the ground. Pretty much a bunch of debris, small branches, etc are laying on the ground.

Plan to run to Tractor Supply, buy a new chain for the Ryobi saw, come back and try that saw with a fresh blade. Hoping that it works well with a good blade. If a new blade does not DRAMATICALLY improve the performance then I would have to dismiss the saw as close to worthless. But at this point I'm assuming it is just a dull blade.

 

[chowderman]

I've found the round chain saw files&guides exceptional useful. I have a plug-in electric - if it's not doing well, about 10 minutes with the file makes it quite zippy.

note that there are different diameter files for different size chains - the proper size&guide is needed.

 

[Melensdad]

New saw blade turned the Ryobi 40volt chain saw into a beast. It actually works. It is quiet and cuts fast. The downside is that I didn't have a charged battery so I only got 1 of the cutting project done.