Big Battery saws, Greenworks 82v or Ego 56v?

Ob2 · Dec 26, 2023

Anyone here running one of Greenworks or Ego's larger battery saws to report on?

I have Huskys T536Li which has been very impressive. I don't want to beat it up too much in larger wood, so I'm looking for the biggest battery saws available. Stihls MSA 300 seems most powerful, but $1700 for saw, charger, is more than I'm willing to do.

Huskys 350i homeowner saw doesn't quite seem to have the chain speed and torque of the greenworks or ego from comparisons I've found. I'd be more tempted if the battery that comes with it as a kit weren't incompatible with 500-level /xp saws.

Greenworks 82v, 3.4 Kw, 20" saw appears to be the next most powerful thing... Hopefully the money they're saving on branding / aesthetics has been spent making more reliable products? They also just announced releasing a 'HOG' 70cc equivalent next year, which makes buying into their ecosystem more tempting.

Any experience or perspective on the topic welcome!

Keeth · Dec 26, 2023

Don’t know if you’ve seen this, but Project Farm on YouTube has a good review for battery saws.

We own the Stihl 220 MSA and 300 MSA saws. The 220 is a gem, but in my opinion, the 300 is the biggest saw purchase disappointment we’ve ever made. Both the Greenworks and Ego are all plastic. Between the two, Greenworks is better made and cuts much better.

evo · Dec 27, 2023

That is a pretty damning statement on the msa300 care to elaborate a little so we all can know?

Neill · Dec 27, 2023

I tried the ego one time and was thoroughly unimpressed. It was very heavy and was weak

Shadowscape · Dec 27, 2023

I was visiting a friend in Arizona who had one tree in his back yard. He showed me a Greenworks chainsaw he bought because the tree kept dropping branches. I don't remember which model it was, but I thought it might do for the one inch diameter limbs he was talking about that fell from his little tree. I was not at all impresses.

Keeth · Dec 27, 2023

evo said:
That is a pretty damning statement on the msa300 care to elaborate a little so we all can know?

It’s supposed to be equivalent to a 271. I’m not sure it will match up to an MS 250.

With two batteries and a charger, the $1700 price above is accurate. The saw alone is $800. For that price, I expected 261-like performance. Instead, it’s noticeably weaker, heavier, and not well built. It’s sitting in the shop waiting on parts for the recall (going on month three.)

Other people I know like it okay, but I don’t know any pros that love it. Again, I had high expectations because of the price. That’s on me, not Stihl. The dealer I work with is great, but it seems like the Stihl reps just shrug their shoulders when concerns are relayed. Live and learn…

Bart_ · Dec 27, 2023

Big gotcha for me are the shifting sands of battery best-ness flavour of the month or season because they'll keep incrementing (possibly then incompatible generation) the batteries with tech advances. Not so worried about fine tweaks to design/motors/controls, they're likely to all be improvements. Anyone got a collection of drill batteries?

Ob2 · Dec 28, 2023

For performance/ affordability I'm currently wondering - would it make sense to buy the Husky 350i Power Axe and swap a .325 sprocket/bar/chain in place of the stock 3/8? Assuming I can find a .325 18-in bar... I might be okay with trading some chain lifespan for performance? I'm guessing that would give me chain speed like the 540i... Even if the saw has more plastic on it.

27RMT0N · Dec 28, 2023

Really, both the Greenworks and Ego are just cheap consumer battery saws, not made for regular/professional work.

The MSA300 is seems to be the 'most powerful' pro battery saws, but as pointed out here it has some serious problems.

I'm in the Husky ecosystem with their battery top handle, rear handle and pole saw. I love the top handle, the pole saw kinda sucks, and the rear handle is quite good. That said, it's for brush and limbing; bucking wood over 8" is a waste of time. From the couple of videos I've seen on battery saws, honestly I've been pretty impressed with the Milwaukee M18 FUEL lineup, and from what I can tell their rear-handle, top-handle and pole-saw are all quite good.

Ob2 · Dec 28, 2023

27RMT0N said:
Really, both the Greenworks and Ego are just cheap consumer battery saws, not made for regular/professional work.

The MSA300 is seems to be the 'most powerful' pro battery saws, but as pointed out here it has some serious problems.

I'm in the Husky ecosystem with their battery top handle, rear handle and pole saw. I love the top handle, the pole saw kinda sucks, and the rear handle is quite good. That said, it's for brush and limbing; bucking wood over 8" is a waste of time. From the couple of videos I've seen on battery saws, honestly I've been pretty impressed with the Milwaukee M18 FUEL lineup, and from what I can tell their rear-handle, top-handle and pole-saw are all quite good.

That's definitely my concern with the first two consumer brands, just throwing money away.
8" bucking is a lower max than I'd hoped. Which rear handle Husky do you have, with which chain, bar and battery?