Any feedback on small battery chainsaws approx 12" bar, want something for light occasional use. Have looked at Nordic but little feedback on them off the retailers site. They offer 4 year warranty on skin which seems more than generous.
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Any feedback on small battery chainsaws approx 12" bar, want something for light occasional use. Have looked at Nordic but little feedback on them off the retailers site. They offer 4 year warranty on skin which seems more than generous.
No personal experience with Nordic, but a business I worked for long ago uses Nordic tools exclusively now. Crews of people doing orchard pruning etc. He has north of 100 skins, and rates them highly for the reliability.
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Have had a Sthil 140 for about 3 years and an extra battery, have had heaps of trouble free work.
Just bought the Stihl 140C at the Fieldays last week, so 2 days work with it doesn't really count. But its nice to have a saw that just sits there making no noise till you do a cut then shuts up again. But they are not as quiet as you would expect. Will still be wearing my helmet and muffs. Keeping them razor sharp and not doing any cuts near the ground seems to be key to maintaining their productivity.
I have an 18V Ryobi, the chain speed is higher than a mates 18V Dewalt. batteries last about the same. They both do well as trimming, track clearing, firewood at the campsite saws.
The Nordic package looks a good deal. Better chain speed and 26V so a bit more oomph.
I like the idea for having in the back of the 4WD for track clearing, beats having to carry around fuel. I am looking at buying one of the EGO branded ones from Mitre 10 as we already have a few other EGO products and batteries.
picked up one of the single handed tape dispensor looking ones off counter of shop the other day...the 4" long blade and tiny chain looked really hard case..but for doing wee branches poking over a track etc I can see it would be very useful...
My Stihl MSA200 12" has been in daily use (fencing) for over 5 years now . . . Very annoying that I cant kill it cause the new model looks even better!
I have a Stihl battery chainsaw, they are brilliant . I sold the the petrol one as it wasnt being used.
I have the new Ego chainsaw. Comes with 30 and 40cm bars. The new one has a few upgrades over the old one and has a much faster chain speed. Such a handy piece of kit for small jobs!
Recommend getting a 5ah battery or up to go with it, as smaller 2.5ah overheats quite quickly.
I've got a Nordic. Seemed to go well initially, but I'm tempted to take it back for them to check because it seems to quit if there's any load at all on the chain. If I take it easy and keep the chain speed up with lots of little bites it will go through something up to 8" no worries, but larger diameter or too much resistance and it just stops and beeps at me.
I've got a 18v Makita with a 10" bar. Goes very well within reason for its size, goes through most stuff easily, surprisingly quite grunty. Only issue has has been trying to get a spare 1/4" chain off the shelf.
I've got a 12" DeWalt, brilliant. In the hunting block we use Ryobi, also good.
https://youtu.be/9WDaTwEwhTk
Should have viewed this first b4 buying mine.
Just watched it, interesting - I feel like the run times are quite short but that is probably because it was continuous running and not cut stop cut like a normal use situation. The recharge times seem about right, you kind of need three batteries if you want to replicate the use of a petrol saw - one in use, one charged and one charging - but after that you're taking a break and the cost is shocking!
I got a toolshed brand just because I have that drill and driver. The 18v batteries fit their chainsaw. Takes 2 batteries. Had it a couple of years with no problems. Saw was about 180.00 and already had batteries. Can cut up about 4 x pallets for firewood before going flat. Good for garden pruning but not the sort of tool to cut down a pine tree.
I’ve also got a Stihl MSA200. In fact I have two.
I love it, awesome saw, battery seems to last forever. Chain saws aren’t popular in our neighbourhood, so aside from not mucking around with mixing fuel and cursing because it won’t start. Subtle tree trimming is very easy and no neighbours need be concerned
I’d happily sell the second one if anyone wants one. It’s practically brand new. You’d be hard pressed to know it’s been used.
I bought it used for a very good price to get a weed eater leaf blower and 2 batteries, someone was selling as a set.
If anyone’s interest me know.
Using a Stihl MSA220 for work, nice to use. Need 3 batteries to get me to the afternoon though.
+1 for the Stihl. Not mine, but spent a fair bit of time behind one. On pine the same diameter as the bar (14"?) get about 13-15 rings cut on one charge, then 40ish mins to charge, which allows enough time to move and split what you've just cut... maybe even enough time for a cuppa or a cold one too if you're handy on the axe.
The chain chatters a bit on the thicker stuff, which - the pros might know better - I think it's the small guage chain not clearing the chips fast enough? Just ease pressure off and it's away again.
Two batts would be ideal if it's for work, but ones good enough if not. I think the saw is about 4 years old and no problems at all with a decent amount of use. Def hard to go back to a petrol saw for small stuff.
You mention “ chatter” in the cut
Here’s a 592 with the rakers taken down too far
You can really hear it as he settles into the second cut
With the rakers filed down the teeth are biting off more fibre than they can clear through their gullet
“ chatter” also occurs when you have uneven length/angles on the cutting teeth so some teeth are taking more material than others
When cutting ——smooth is fast!!!
Last point…….. a lower powered saw accentuates any chain sharpening inaccuracy’s
https://youtube.com/shorts/yq9xUAuNkbw?feature=share
I suspect with those guys that the exhaust on that saw might have had some work done too - seems to be the fashion in those parts. You're very right though re rakers and uneven teeth though, the numbers of chains I've seen that are almost new on the left side and below half on the right or vice versa is quite amazing - some of them fresh back from a shop grinder sharpen too! Bloody near impossible to get them to cut right like that, but take the high side back to where the low side is and reset the angles and raker heights and back cutting again. A lot of people reject the chains like that, but it doesn't take much work to reset the angles and lengths and get them going again. I had a ripping chain with 10deg top plates that had been burred a while back, elected to file it back to a standard crosscut as it took the least off the cutters. That wasn't much more work than sharpening a standard chain.
I think you can get away with a few angles off spec from what is 'right' provided the cutters are sharp and everything is equal, more so than if the lengths and raker heights are on the piss. Also, it seems that you need a few rings cut after a fresh sharpen before the chain settles back down again and works it's way back to being dull and needing a tickle up. I suspect on a fresh sharpen the teeth are biting a bit hard and then bouncing same as with the uneven raker heights, and it settles down after a few runs through timber.
Could possibly be a crook protection circuit in a battery pack - I have one here that the cells all check out when individually tested and everything works right but with a bit of load on it the thing shuts of and the tool stops. Plug it into charge, and the charger says fully charged. Seems to work OK on light drains like a torch or a drill using a small drill, but on grinders or circ or recipro saws it shuts off virtually straight away.
Not the OP's original question but my DeWalt 16inch leaks chain oil all the time and is a bit of a cunt in that regard
Hasn't put me off electrics as a small saw but will get a Stihl or Husky next time
a different battery will tell yo ustraight away if its your battery...
Don't think so, they and the spot welds are all tight. The battery cells are all fully charged, the charger is saying charging, then charged, so it appears to be the circuit that has an issue rather than the cells. I have another circuit, but it's a serious pain in the arse changing them over and I can't really be bothered at this stage.
Easiest way is try another battery thats known good, and see if that fixes the problem. If that isn't the solution, it is most likely the tool is the issue and in that case it could be a case of stripping the thing down and cleaning everything up. If it's the brush-contacts version, they might be not playing the game and I think this is relatively common in the scheme of things. If it's a brushless one, the simple fixes and most usual causes of problems aren't in the picture!
Thanks for this! Good to know, will have a look next time I'm behind it.
At risk of derailing the thread (sorry OP) but I've been taught run the back cut an inch or so higher than the scarf, creating a back-stop to prevent the trunk sliding off the back of the stump, but noticed this guy hasn't done that, but was just dropping a clear trunk. Is that still best-practise, or does it depend a bit on the situation.
well......I learnt something new on that one..if pushing tree with digger etc you go BELOW the scarf so digger has something to push on..but you are correct,what you leave is called hindge wood. you DONT cut right through.
get on utube and watch buckin billy ray....... hilarious but man he knows his shit when it comes to dropping a tree with precision.
That distance between the scaff and back cut is very handy in controlling the direction of fall as well as stopping the base from kicking back towards you or any structure
I've used a hired Stihl battery chainsaw 3 years ago
.Was brilliant cutting 150 to 300mm pine h4 posts for house subfloor- having watched the vid Zimmer posted- and being an Ego mower owner and being amazed by that performance- I'd be going Ego chainsaw- I walk past them at the shop daily and am awaiting a time I need one :)
I have used a few.
Just for smaller occasional jobs the bigger ozito double battery one is hard to beat. Under $400 with batteries and will cut logs far bigger than it's bar length. Best thing is the 5 year replacement warranty. Battery life isn't super but a twin pack of 4ah batteries is only just over 100 bucks.
For anything that is getting used quite regularly it is hard to go past the Stihl saws. The company I used to work for had a couple and they done us well.
Haven't tried the Husqvarna ones.
Same. I have an Ozito twin battery at home and use Stihl at work. The Stihl is undoubtably the better saw but then the Ozito was about $200 for the skin. It has done a fair bit of work on firewood and around home and as @TLB said, the 5 year warranty is pretty good.
Kinda the equivalent of buying a pro model saw vs a homer series - if you are doing lots of work and expecting to get paid for it when a breakdown of the kit stops you getting paid, you tend to stump up for what is likely to be the most reliable. If you're only doing home work or the odd job the cheaper gear probably will work fine for you - I've had a crap run with the Ozito brand gear but to be fair it is actually quite nice to use. I understand that it has gotten better too, the issues I had were all due to internal failure of motors and switches - and replaced under warranty until the retailer ran out of the dodgy designed model when they substituted another. The main thing I had the issues with was a combo die grinder/router doohickey, bloody handy tool but died young. The other was a wet vac of all things, was great in use but the three I had all died young. Replaced under warranty with a Ryobi version, almost identical but a slightly better design electrically.
As far as the saws, I do hear that they go OK and for the price if you aren't using them commercially what do you have to lose? The only thing I don't like about the 36v units is having to charge two sets of two batteries, you end up needing a bank of chargers and them things are bulky. As bad as a 20L can of petrol!