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Dissenting voice here. The time when you're most likely to really really need a chainsaw in an emergency way in these parts is during hurricane clean-up. During which time, there is about a 95% chance that you will be without power.
How lucky do you feel that you'll be one of the blessed 5%?
LUCK has nothing to do with it. After Wilma, the power was out for a couple of weeks. During that time I was happily sawing away with my electric saw and cleaning things up. I had both a generator and inverter that would power it. I had a 99.9% chance of HAVING power.
LUCK has nothing to do with it. After Wilma, the power was out for a couple of weeks. During that time I was happily sawing away with my electric saw and cleaning things up. I had both a generator and inverter that would power it. I had a 99.9% chance of HAVING power.
I have an inverter as well, but it is not big enough to push the chainsaw.
My brother used to have tree business, that saw never saw action unless he was in the tree. As far as the electric ones go I'd imagine they might be practical for the homeowner that only needs to do some small jobs, maybe even preferable because of the safety issues but if you know how to run a saw anything electric is pretty much a joke.
I'd sooner say that the real complaint against electric saws is that more people try to use them with hopelessly dull chains and small cords and then figure they don't have the power to get the job done. For me, it depends on what I'm doing and where. Running 200' of extension cord is going to degrade the rating significantly. Running 25' or 50' of heavy cord to where I've pulled stuff for cutting into firewood makes sense. I'll be shifting stuff and not continuously sawing, so electric is fine. In Florida, a lot of the wood is so fast growing and weak that cutting it with a saw made out of old dog teeth would have been possible. Here, I think I'll keep the electric away from some of the old hickory I have.
Electric saws are tools. They have reasonable purposes. Volkswagens had reasonable purposes in the age of muscle cars, even though the macho doofuses didn't see it.
Dissenting voice here. The time when you're most likely to really really need a chainsaw in an emergency way in these parts is during hurricane clean-up. During which time, there is about a 95% chance that you will be without power.
How lucky do you feel that you'll be one of the blessed 5%?
That's a good point.
However, most of us don't live in Hurricane areas. In fact, the last time power was out in Omaha - for any extended period of time - was in 1997.
We have one and love it. When we get firewood we cut the logs to length with the gas saw, trailer them up and finish cutting them at home with the electric on an extension cord.
One huge advantage an electric saw has for the casual user, the maintenance is far less. If you only use the saw a couple of times a year, you spend most of the day trying to get the gas saw running, after it has sat for a period. If you use a gas saw frequently, it's probably well maintained and starts when you need it. The electric always starts, if you have an outlet...!
So... It seems that we can basically narrow it down to this:
For the basic homeowner & once-in-awhile user, an electric chain saw is probably pretty decent. It's considerably cheaper, and there's virtually no maintenance.
But anybody who does a lot of sawing is going to want to go with a gas-powered model. Lots more power and usability.
Does that sound about right?
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As far as the electric ones go I'd imagine they might be practical for the homeowner that only needs to do some small jobs, maybe even preferable because of the safety issues but if you know how to run a saw anything electric is pretty much a joke.
