re: Best gas 16 to 18 inch chain saw recommendations

I had an Echo for a good 15 years. worked just fine until i was cutting a large branch while standing on a ladder, like a moron. Branch fell down, the bushy end hit the ground and then the part that i had just cut off kicked back and hit be straight in the gut pushing me off the ladder. chainsaw was still running and i just threw it off to the side away from me so i could try to jump with some control and land on my feet, which i did. All that plastic on the chainsaw though took a beating. had issues with it a good bit after that, and taking it apart and buying good replacement parts for it isn't easy.


Got tired of trying to fix it, even though i was still able to use it for a few years after that and got the EGO 18" chainsaw. I already had 5.0ah batteries from other EGO equipment i had. I cut down a water oak that was about 22" in diameter, and then cut it all up into pieces for fire wood. Almost did it all with the 2 batteries, but the 2nd battery died on my with just a few cuts left to make. I probably could have made it through completely if i hadn't been using it constantly and given the battery some breaks as i could feel it was hot, especially when i was making the longer cuts through the base of the tree, which i was doing last. I didn't give it much of a break at all as i was trying to finish quickly before it started raining.

I also cut up some tree that was in my front yard. Dont' know what it's called but it looks somewhat like a live oak but it's obviously not. It's faster growing and only get about 30' tall, but also only lives about 30-40 years. Has a similar look and size to a young live oak. Trunk of that one was 32" and i cut that tree up completely with my 2 batteries.

To give an idea of those two trees sizes, I cut them up for firewood. I have a 9' wide by 7' tall rack where i store the wood. I filled up about 3/4's of the way with the water oak. the other tree had a lot of shite wood in it since that tree was dying and i used the good pieces to fill up the rest and then burned a good bit of the crap pieces on the stump. I probably would have filled up maybe 1/2 the rack with the older dying tree.




While the gas one is going to be the better option for when your cutting up a large tree, especially a hardwood tree, the battery powered one is a really great option for the occasional chainsaw user, and is more than powerful enough to cut up anything. I think the gas one is still the best option, as it will last longer if taken care of, but it's hard to beat the simplicity of the battery powered one, on top of it being a lot quieter.