Best Chainsaw Brand? Let's find out! Milwaukee vs DeWalt, Makita, Ryobi & WORX

when i think of gas-powered chainsaws i think of lots of noise and a lot of two-stroke smoke but the question is are lithium-powered chainsaws actually better today we'll compare one gas-powered chainsaw against five lithium brands and we'll see which brand is the best in the first test we'll see how fast each brand can cut through nine four by fours then we'll see how fast each brand cuts through some hardwood we'll also compare run time as well as battery recharge times at 199 and 99 the least expensive brand we'll be testing is made by works 14 inch bar 40 volt max brushless motor the kit includes two 20 volt 2 amp hour batteries the worx chainsaw is made in china battery charger both of the 20 volt batteries are 2 amp hour the chain pitch is 3 8 of an inch chain drive links 52 chain gauge .043 both the bar and a chain appear to be pretty good quality they're both made by oregon the works has a 14 inch bar but you're only going to be able to use about 13 and a quarter inches of the bar length the worx has a self-tightening chain system both batteries came fully charged so let's go ahead and power up this chainsaw i really like this charge indicator on top of the chainsaw the trigger lock is also in a good location [Applause] the worx does not have a variable speed trigger it's all or nothing let's take a look under the hood the 62 steel gear looks pretty solid with the two steel pins sticking out as well as the stud this seems to be a fairly well manufactured setup wow only 4300 no load rpm a two-stroke chainsaw is well over 10 000 rpm there's a little bit of delay with this chainsaw it takes about a second from the time the trigger is pulled until the chain is reached full speed the second least expensive brand we'll be testing at 200 is made by ryobi just like the works it has a 40 volt lithium it also has a brushless motor it has a 14 inch bar it claims to have gas-like power load sensing technology automatically adjusts power for optimal performance we're going to test that 4 amp hour battery for longer run time made in vietnam 5 year warranty 40 volt 4 amp hour battery battery charger just like the works the ryobi also uses a 3 8 pitch chain with 52 links it does have a 0.50 instead of a 0.44 chain gauge the tool to remove the chain is mounted at the back of the saw even though the robe has a 14 inch bar there's only about 12 inches of usable length 62 steel gear looks pretty solid two studs and the rest of this is made of plastic the ryobi bar and chain appear to be made by oregon 11 700 rpm for ryobi so the ruby has about two and a half times the chain speed compared to the works costing nearly twice as much as the works in the ryobi is this dewalt brand at 349 the dewalt comes with a 16 inch bar 60 volt max 3 amp hour brushless chainsaw up to two times faster cuts the dewalt comes with a three year warranty tool and accessories made in china charger made in china or thailand battery made in china japan south korea or malaysia battery charger at 20 volts the dewalt delivers 9 amp hours at 60 volts just 3 amp hours about 14 and 3 4 inches of usable bar length with the dewalt the bar on the chain on the dewalt appears to be made by oregon pitch on the chain is 3 8 of an inch it also has a narrow curved chain .043 which is the same as the works the drive length count is 56. the dewalt has a 6-2 sprocket just like the ryobi as well as the works a steel stud as well as just one pin the setup on the dewalt doesn't seem as robust as the works or the ryobi i really don't like the dewalt safety switch location it's just not in a very natural position and it takes quite a bit of downward pressure the safety switch setups on the other sides just seem a lot better 8156 rpm at a price of 406.55 is this makita lxt brushless chainsaw 36 volt 16 inch bar the makita comes with an extra set of batteries 3 year warranty it claims to offer a 45 minute charge time 3 8 inch pitch .043 gauge the makita has a variable speed trigger the chainsaw is made in china and so is the charger the batteries are made in japan china singapore korea or malaysia further processed in china vietnam or korea battery charger oregon chain six tooth sprocket two pins as well as a stud the makita also uses metal instead of plastic the chain cover also makes use of metal instead of plastic i really like the safety setup on this makita the best so far all you have to do to use this chainsaw is grab the handle and it's ready for use power switch the magita has a dual battery indicator makita has a variable speed trigger [Music] wow the makita spins up a lot faster than the other brands [Music] 10 726 rpm metal bumper spikes very nice very nice with a chain guard the makita has a 16 inch bar but only 14.5 inches of usable bar length at 445 the most expensive brand we'll be testing is made by milwaukee m18 fuel driven to outperform we're gonna test that power to cut hardwoods we're gonna test that too faster than gas we're gonna find out for sure whether or not this is true 16-inch chainsaw kit the kit includes one high output 12 amp hour battery m18 and m12 rapid charger one charge equals 150 cuts into a six by six seater the oregon bar oregon chain as well as a chainsaw are all made in china up to 20 faster cuts compared to standard gas competitor milwaukee rapid charger m18 12 amp hour battery the trigger safety switch is definitely in a better location than the dewalt just like the makita the milwaukee also has a chain guard as well as a metal bumper just like all the other brands tooth sprocket the two stud designed by milwaukee definitely seems a lot more durable than the design used by dewalt 6470 rpm oh the battery pair of chainsaws will be competing against this still ms-170 this chainsaw typically runs between 180 and 200. the steel has a 16 inch bar and has 15 inches of usable bar length 30.1 cc 1.7 horsepower engine to give the gas chainsaw a fair chance i'm going to install a new chain 15 800 rpm the sound meter is placed 30 inches directly over the chainsaw handle 90 decibels for the works definitely a lot quieter than a gasoline-powered saw wow 99 decibels for ryobi 99 decibels [Music] 98 decibels 93 decibels 105 decibels pretty loud gasoline-powered still came out on top at 15 800 ryobi second at 11 690 makita 10 dewalt 8156 milwaukee 6470 and the works at only 4 300. all the battery-powered chainsaws were a lot quieter than the two-stroke saw the works in milwaukee are the two quietest saws but also made the lowest rpm the makita ryobi and the duo were all very close to the same advertised chainsaw bart length doesn't exactly translate into usable bar length with a new chain the steel milwaukee had the most usable bar length dewalt wasn't far behind at 14 and three-quarter inches and makita at 14.5 inches the works in the ryobi both have 14 inch bars works has a usable bar length of 13 and a quarter inches and row will be 12 inches with the batteries in place the works weighs 10.6 pounds the ryobi weighs 11.4 pounds which is slightly heavier than the works the dewalt weighs 12.6 pounds the makita weighs 11.4 pounds the milwaukee is the heaviest yet at 14.4 pounds the steel gasoline-powered saw weighs 10.6 pounds the works and the gasoline powered still are the lightest at 10.6 pounds but the roby and the makita which have at least twice the battery capacity of the works weigh just under a pound more at 11.4 the dewatt weighs 12.6 and the milwaukee was by far the heaviest at 14.4 pounds to test the saws i'll be using steel platinum bar and chain lubricant in the first test we'll see how much time it takes for each one of these saws to cut through nine four by fours i tested the works two more times to see if we could beat 17.14 seconds but the second and third cuts were slightly slower at 18.5 and 17.9 seconds with the chain speed on the works it just took a lot of effort to get that saw to cut through the wood definitely need a lot more chain speed with a chainsaw than the worx is delivering the first cut with the ryubi took 14.4 seconds i was a little too aggressive on the second cut and it stalled out twice but still managed a 16.8 second time the third cut was the fastest at 14.1 seconds which is three seconds faster than it works wow the increased chain speed on the robe made a huge difference the road we took a lot less downward pressure and also there was a lot less vibration because it had a lot higher chain speed i applied a little bit too much downward force on the dewalt on the first cut and it stalled once but still managed the fastest cut yet at 12.2 seconds the second cut was even faster 10.9 the last was the fastest shed at 10.3 very impressive wow huge difference between the dewalt and the ryobian works it cuts really fast very little vibration i actually enjoyed using the wall it seems just as good as my gasoline chainsaw unfortunately i stalled the saw on the first cut which really slowed it down to a 15 second cut the second cut was the best of three at 13.4 seconds once again i stalled out the saw on a third cut but still managed a 14.4 second time the wall definitely seems a lot faster than makita but the makita seems like a more balanced saw i enjoy using the makita better and i give up a little bit of cut time but the dewalt is definitely a faster saw i styled the milwaukee on the first cut really slowing things down to 16.7 seconds the second cut was the fastest of the three at 13.7 the third cut took 13.9 seconds the milwaukee just doesn't have very good chain speed on the positive side it has an incredible amount of power with that lower gearing the marquee doesn't seem to cut as fast on the soft woods it'll be very interesting to see how it performs on some hardwood each of the first two cuts took 13.8 seconds each the third cut was slightly faster at 13.5 seconds wow the high chain speed of the steel is very evident very little vibration when i'm cutting the lithium power saws offer a tremendous amount of torque where the gasoline-powered chainsaw just offers a lot more chain speed so the dewalt was by far the fastest saw at 10.3 seconds the makita's second at 13.4 the gas-powered chainsaw third at 13.5 milwaukee fourth at 13.7 ryobi fifth at fourteen point one and work six at seventeen point one four chain speed has a huge impact on how fast the saws cut it also impacts how much input is required from the user a slower chain speed and you'll have to apply a lot more downward force to cut just as fast to measure the difference between the saws i'm going to add two and a half pounds of weight to the front of the saw and i'm only going to be holding the trigger and not applying any downward force and we'll see how much time it takes between the different brands with two and a half pounds of weight attached to the bar the works took 17.7 seconds to cut through just six four by fours a slow chain speed really hurt the works the roby totally crushed this test at only 9.9 seconds the high chain speed really helped the ryobi the dewalt did even better than the ryobi with a blistering 8.6 seconds the makita did a very respectable 10.3 second finish but dewalt was nearly two seconds faster the milwaukee's slow change speed really hurt the speed of the cut it was the slowest yet at 18.6 seconds the gasoline powered saw which has by far the fastest chain speed made the fastest cut yet at 8.3 seconds but dewalt wasn't too far behind at 8.6 seconds the saw that requires the least amount of user effort is the gasoline powered saw but the dewalt was a very close second ryobi third makita fourth works fifth and milwaukee sixth one thing for sure this honey locust tree is a lot harder than the four 4x4s we just cut so let's see if the high torque slower chain speed saws like milwaukee can perform better on this test wow that honey locust really put the saw to the test definitely not an easy job for the works brand it really seemed to struggle compared to some of the other saws the works requires a lot more user input in order to make good progress through the wood the hardwood is really putting the saws to the test i stalled out the ryobi once but it still managed a 29 second time on the first pass i did install up the saw in the second pass and it did even better at 24.1 seconds nine seconds faster than the works wow i really like the rovia a lot better than the works it requires a lot less user input just the chain speed alone makes a huge difference on the smoothness of the cut and definitely the speed did well cut to the honey logos like a hot knife through butter on the first pass at 17 seconds it did even better in a second pass at 15.5 the dewalt has a perfect mix of torque and chain speed making this look way too easy the makita has a lot of change speed but definitely not as much torque as the dewalt i stalled out the makita twice in the first cut which really slowed it down to 23.9 seconds it did much better in a second cut at 21.4 seconds moving into the second position behind dewalt to take advantage of the high torque low chain speed you've got to really use the bumper spikes and work the saw i was a little too aggressive on the first cut installed the saw twice causing a 22.9 second finish things went a lot better in a second pass with a 19.7 second finish and the milwaukee moves into the second position four seconds behind the wall the high chain speed of the gas powered saw means there's very little effort required you pretty much just let the weight of the saw do all the work 21.9 second finish on the first cut hey it did slightly better in a second cut at 21.1 so the dewalt finished first at 15.3 seconds milwaukee's second at 19.7 the gas powered saw 21.1 makita 21.4 and ryobi 24.1 after making all those cuts the dewalt is still on three bars wow the works is nearly used up at one bar throbby is down to two bars one of the makita batteries is at four bars the other one three bars three bars for the milwaukee i just finished recharging all of the batteries and then the next task we're going to compare the total run time for each of the brands for safety reasons i have the 2x4 running through the handles of each of these chainsaws to keep them from getting tangled up during the test obviously there's a huge difference in runtime between a no-load condition and actually using the saw to cut through wood however a no-load comparison will give us some great information on how each saw compares after only 10 minutes all the saws except the works had used up the chain oil so to keep the chain and the bar from becoming too hot i just applied oil manually every minute or so and the worx was the first one to run out of juice at 20 minutes the ryobi wasn't too far behind at 22 minutes and 27 seconds and the first set of makita batteries gave up at 31 minutes so the 4 battery kit would allow for a total of 62 minutes of run time and the dewalt lasted 37 minutes and 12 seconds and the milwaukee really stood out lasting 63 minutes and four seconds very impressive since the makita came with an extra set of batteries the total run time would be around 62 minutes very close to the same as the milwaukee the dewalt lasted just over 37 minutes the road will be 22.5 and the works 20. now that we know the no load run time let's see how long it takes to charge the batteries and the works which has a 2 amp hour battery was the first to finish at just one hour the makita which has 5 amp hour batteries finished 13 seconds later and the milwaukee which is a 12 amp hour battery was a third to finish at 129 minutes and the dewalt took a little over 10 minutes longer than the milwaukee at 139 minutes and 23 seconds and the ryobi was the last to finish at 157 minutes and 34 seconds so the works in the makita both needed very close to 60 minutes the milwaukee was third at 129 dewalt fourth at 139 and ryobi fifth at 157 obviously applying a load to the saws will drain the batteries much faster than the no load test so under the most optimal conditions the makita and milwaukee offer the best work to recharge time ratio of one to two in other words for every minute of no load use they need two minutes to recharge the works has approximately one to three the walt one to four and ryobi one to seven please let me know if you want to see another chainsaw showdown along with which brands you want to see tested and we'll see if any of them can keep up with the dwap dewalt really crushed it in this showdown really impressed with the cutting speed if you don't want to spend a 350 on the dewalt and you're looking for a really light duty saw for occasional use the roby does a great job my personal favorite though is the makita it just seems like the best all-around saw great build construction very light and very balanced all the videos in this channel including this one are viewer recommended if you have a video idea i hope you take time to leave a comment thanks so much for watching please take care and look forward to next time

Channel: Project Farm

Views: 2,744,339

Rating: 4.9228511 out of 5

Keywords: Seafoam, project farm, Cordless, electric, lithium, battery powered chainsaw, Milwaukee, DeWalt, Makita, Ryobi, worx, stihl Ryobi 40v chainsaw, lithium chainsaw, dewalt 60v chainsaw, dewalt lithium chainsaw, makita 36v chainsaw, worx chainsaw, worx 40v chainsaw, Milwaukee 18v chainsaw, cordless electric chainsaw, gasoline vs battery chainsaw, dewalt vs Milwaukee battery chainsaw, lithium battery chainsaw comparison, stihl ms170, gasoline vs electric chainsaw

Id: _aBZt8m1XkQ

Length: 19min 49sec (1189 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 25 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Racer_Rick]

Project Farm posted this a week after my purchase. He confirmed my thoughts. He does excellent tests.

[u/Wonton-22]

If you paid $450 on a new gas saw, it would absolutely crush every one of these electric saws. No doubt.

[u/Lehk]

Is the real answer still none compared to the cheapest gas saws?

[u/[deleted]]

None.