Milwaukee M18 Fuel 16" chainsaw
- Thread starter colb
- Start date
JMerritt
Branched out member
- Location
- santa cruz
I’d be interested to hear what people have to say about this. I’ve been thinking about getting a cheap battery saw for trimming up small wood for my pizza oven and such. I have a bunch of ryobi 1+ tools but the chainsaw looks crappy.
ATH
Been here much more than a while
- Location
- Findlay, Ohio
I've thought the same thing...even one to keep on the truck when there is just one little cut to make here or there. Doesn't need to be an everyday duty saw. I'd tent to trust Milwaukee to a certain degree. Ryobi stuff is decent, but certainly a step down from Milwaukee. Of course, chainsaws aren't necessarily in the core of what Milwaukee does...drills and reciprocating saws are another thing.
I bought the weedwhacker/blower combo last quarter, thinking the same thing. My girlfriend wanted a weedwhacker, and my Stihl handheld blower is moody. Well, the weedwhacker whacks as advertised, for about 25 minutes. The blower is less powerful than the bg55, but comes out every time - either used for small cleanups because I don't have to start it and it is quieter, or in tandem/double fisting with the bg55.
I finally picked up the chainsaw. It did duty on a 30" laurel oak removal and was great at skinnying up limbs for narrow access, then chipper. It's easier to hear and interact with the ground crew, and faster without having to pull start each time. The 12.0 battery lasted all day without issues, although I had another 9.0 battery on hand.
I took it out to deliver a bit of firewood the next day. It had two bars of power left and cut most of a quarter cord. Then I had to switch out to the 9.0 battery to finish a few more cuts.
The bar/chain are definitely narrow kerf so I'll have to see how they stand up to production use.
Like my battery blower, I feel like I won't buy another gas middle-sized saw ever again, which makes me nostalgic. Initially, the advantages of the battery saw seem too great.
I took it out to deliver a bit of firewood the next day. It had two bars of power left and cut most of a quarter cord. Then I had to switch out to the 9.0 battery to finish a few more cuts.
The bar/chain are definitely narrow kerf so I'll have to see how they stand up to production use.
Like my battery blower, I feel like I won't buy another gas middle-sized saw ever again, which makes me nostalgic. Initially, the advantages of the battery saw seem too great.
samsquatch
Participating member
- Location
- SE MN
Was looking at this too, but the weight turned me off. I handled a new Stihl battery saw at the dealer too, and I couldn't picture it hanging from my belt for hours on a removal.
- Location
- Retired in Minneapolis
Many years ago I bought Dewalt 18v battery tools. Good service
Now I’ve git some 20v Dewalt. Last summer I got the top handle chainsaw for $150 no battery. Seems to be ok quality but no where near the Husky. Either is the cost. The DW will travel with me in my camper along with my other DW tools. If I was using it for pro/full time use I wouldn’t be surprised to break or wear it out but...$150!
Now I’ve git some 20v Dewalt. Last summer I got the top handle chainsaw for $150 no battery. Seems to be ok quality but no where near the Husky. Either is the cost. The DW will travel with me in my camper along with my other DW tools. If I was using it for pro/full time use I wouldn’t be surprised to break or wear it out but...$150!
TimBr
Official Well Known Greeter
- Location
- Northern Virginia
Here's a link to a kit at HD that has almost 300 reviews of the saw with it, if you just scroll down a bit. I hope the mods don't mind this.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwauk...ery-and-M18-Rapid-Charger-2727-21HD/305058651
The saw ended up with a 4.7 out of 5.0 stars possible on average with those reviewers. You can filter the results, also. I like to read all of the one star reviews before I buy something to see what the most likely problems will be if I end up with a lemon. Usually the one star reviews on any item mention the same set of problems. I hope this helps.
Also, there is some question about whether the kit includes only one battery or two. Two different answers are present for the same product listing, so let the buyer beware.
Tim
P.S. Also, the specs list this saw as weighing 13.9 pounds.
I bought the "kit", which is just the single 12.0 battery and my third charger. You should be able to tell if there are two batteries in a kit - they cost about $200 apiece, currently. I really don't think they would sell it with two batteries.
14 lbs seems on the heavy side - that's the weight of a dry ms440/460 powerhead. In hand on the ground, it feels like an ms250 or 260. I didn't notice excessive weight. Rather, noticed excessive convenience.
Good call on reading the reviews. Some of them baffle me a bit - particularly the run time and the chain popping off. I think the ones I paid most attention to are the bar oil leaking and the guy with the bolts going through the face plate. I'll try to avoid over tightening. The saw feels very cheap/plasticky, which for me is not necessarily an issue; when I bought my first echo tophandle I thought it was cheap and plasticky compared to my ms193, ms250s, and ms661. The echos (the first, and my second echo tophandle) just ended up being repair-free workhorses for the past 1-3 years.
ghostice
Been here a while
Another battery chainsaw article:
http:// tcimag.tcia.org/publication/?i=555352#{"issue_id":539289,"view":"articleBrowser","article_id":"3228578"}
(just remove the extra spaces)
http:// tcimag.tcia.org/publication/?i=555352#{"issue_id":539289,"view":"articleBrowser","article_id":"3228578"}
(just remove the extra spaces)
