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infecto a day ago

You must not be using professional saws then. An electric version of a professional Husqvarna or Stihl (only as an example) with the battery weigh the same as a gas version with gas and oil in the tank.

I would argue it’s even more obvious that you have not used one or at least in a professional capacity as you are still looking at 90-100dB running an electric chainsaw.

Jedd 16 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> with the battery weigh the same as a gas version with gas and oil in the tank.

I still marvel that the liquid I call 'petrol', is called a gas in some parts of the world.

In one of the bigger models, say the Stihl 66x series, there's 825ml of petrol, and 825ml of oil (let's call that 1.5kg) that isn't there by the end of your half hour. Whether that's meaningful I guess comes down to fitness / strength.

As sibling commenter noted, electric chainsaws are hugely compelling for intermittent / infrequent use. Here in AU the pricing isn't compelling yet, though.

potato3732842 a day ago | parent | prev [-]

While my day job is not an arborist I deal in logs and tree felling for one of my side gigs.

The weight is comparable but the electric saw has less speed/power than the same weight gas saw the battery capacity for a given amount of work output costs you a lot of weight. A gatorade bottle of gas shoved in my pocket weighs a lot less than a 40v battery.

Don't get me wrong, electric saws are great, but I wouldn't want to bring one into a tree. The couple times I've had to climb a tree I've used an electric saw but it is because I value the other factors despite the performance hit.

The difference between gas and electric is being able to hear your buddy yell at you when you're running the saw. While this is not necessarily useful for felling a singular perfect tree in the middle of a field as you crank up the complexity and/or stupidity of the situation in which you are working it becomes more valuable. If an electric saw cracks 100db it's only just barely, gas is categorically louder and everyone who's used both one knows it.

I own a wide variety of mid size saws in both homeowner and "pro" at this point, pretty much all bought used. While power and features vary I mostly discriminate based on chain/bar condition and running condition, they all do the job well enough. I have one tiny saw and huge saw that I only own in "chinese clone of a real brand" quality so I can't compare to high end saws in those classes. Chainsaws are fairly maintenance intensive high strung power equipment and electric is just easier, even if it's heavier. Homeowners who only need to maintain their property and may only run a chainsaw 1-2x per yea would be well advised to get a 40+ volt electric saw of whatever brand makes the most sense in the context of their other tool needs.