NTD - Chainsaw & 6-batt seq. charger combo
Posted Jun 19, 2020, 8:44 PM UTC
2414
$299 combo. Separate 12.0AH high-output battery $189 (not shown). Total delivered cost was $533. Time to get started on that tree that fell down!
3
I’d love to know how it goes! I’m a huge fan of the M18 line. I always thought the chainsaw was a stretch for battery tools, but I would love to know it works just as well as an ICE chainsaw!
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I had a tree fall in wind (eucalyptus) about 12” diameter, measured 4 feet above the ground. Not a big tree, per se, but a pretty tough wood. The chainsaw dismantled it no sweat. Well, I was using 5.0 batteries. I was cutting the trunk into 18” sections, really driving the felling dogs into the tree and pulling the handle up hard. I was pushing the saw pretty hard, about where a 50+cc gas would bog and jam. After 3 cuts on the 12” diameter, the saw shut down for battery temperature. Popped another in and kept going. Took 35 minutes to section and pull aside the, about, 40’ tall tree.
Overall sectioning the tree used 4 bars total, on 3 separate 5.0s. One battery overheated and took about 30 mins to cool down. The other two I cycled, purely out of fear but they could have done it since I had better learned how hard to push the saw.
It’s sorta quiet. Kinda at the threshold for hearing protection. The chain oiler, I dunno, works overtime. There’s way more oil, everywhere, than I’m kinda used to. Whatever, you have to wipe down the saw after. Now it sits in the shed, waiting for the next use - could be tomorrow or next year, the saw will be ready, drop a battery and go. No engine maintenance, carb tuning, hell, not even a pull start or 5.
I’m very happy with it for my purposes. I need a chain saw maybe a couple times a year or less, and don’t need a small engine maintenance burden each time. 10/10 would buy again.
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Awesome reply. Thank you so much for the detail! I’m sold
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No problem. Lemme know if you have any other questions, I usually wish I had post-buy information before spending hundreds in a somewhat uncertain purchase.
I’ve since picked up a 6.0 and 8.0 battery and don’t anticipate any of the problems I had with the 5.0s.
Also, while we’re on the subject. The chain is narrow and the bar height(?, dimension in the cut stroke direction) seems short - I assume all to reduce current draw on the motor. It’s not a problem in any way, it’s just visually different than, say, a Stihl MS 261 - you can see it in pictures how the saw looks really long overall rather than a “fatter” look of a gas machine. One place I could maybe see it being a problem is your cut could (maybe) start to wander, then the trailing chain also has to cut just to get through. I haven’t had any problems, just seems like it could theoretically be a situation. Usually tension on the log is a way bigger problem, but that’s the nature of chainsaws, gas won’t really save you there unless you have a huge engine.
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Might be an adjustment on chain oiler alot gas saws have them
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I would get that 6 bay charger if it didn’t just charge one battery at a time. IMO that isn’t worth it for the cost when I can just swap batteries when one finishes charging.
We use it at work and it's great when you leave for the day and just throw 6 batteries on and they are all done in the am.
I can see how that would be nice. We don’t really have a “shop” everything stays in the van.
I remember when one of our guys got that charger. He forgot to charge any of his batteries so we swung by HD on the way to the jobsite. The look of disappointment on his face was priceless when he realized it was sequential.
Like someone else said it’s great to just throw them all on charge at the end of the day.
Yeah it just wouldn’t work to well for me, all my shit stays in my packout in the van and I top off batteries as needed on jobs. But I have 9 batteries so it’s not a huge deal if I forgot to charge one.
With a Super charger I’d be down with that. I have two regular chargers (not even Rapid). The sequential charger lets you pick which battery you want to currently charge, which for me helps a lot when I want a specific battery charged since I have 3 types.
I guess it’s because I’m not on job sites and am uneducated about it that I don’t understand. Does it take more time to charge two batteries sequentially than to top off the same two batteries from the same point?
Well i have nine batteries (mostly normal XC/3.0’s, one 5.0, two CP3.0’s, and one 2.0) and two chargers, one rapid and one regular. All my batteries I’ll just run till they’re dead, then if I have a handful that need to be charged, I just plug the chargers in and there them on. But being on a job site, I’m always close enough where I can keep an eye on them and if one is done charging, I’ll swap it with a dead one. It’s a quick easy swap, so for me, the 6 bay isn’t worth the extra cost.
But I can see how it would be great in a shop.