New Stihl battery saw

[Old Line State]

Has anybody seen this saw / article?

 

[Old Line State]

Has anybody seen this saw / article?

Would help if I provided link.

https://www.protoolreviews.com/stih...lus_more_news_and_reviews&utm_term=2022-02-16

 

[oldfortyfive]

That bigger battery would be great in my Stihl mower.

 

[jacrider]

Battery and saw weigh 14.33lbs. A 261CM with fuel is likely under 12lbs. A bit heavier, but that's likely not the compelling reason to go with a battery saw.

 

[ericm979]

I wish they'd list the power. You can slap a 20" bar on an underpowered saw but it'll still be slow.

Also the saw + battery will likely cost over twice what the same power pro gas saw costs.

 

[pdqdl]

I've got an older less powerful Stihl battery saw. I would never pay the full price, as it was listing for about the same price (including battery & charger) as a 200T at the time. For 1/3rd that price, I thought I'd be ok on the deal.

It's fantastic for a quick cut made without dredging out a gasser, and it stores well in my trunk. I very favorably impressed one of the richest guys in town once, while I was trimming the public area in a bus turn-around that he was funding for the city. It's quiet, and effective.

Unfortunately, it's not effective for very long. You had better be planning just a very few cuts, or have a backup ready. As far as I am concerned, a good Silky handsaw would be the backup plan of choice if quiet operation is important. I can cut WAY more wood with a Silky in 1/2 hour than I can with my battery operated boat-anchor, on account of the Silky will still be cutting wood after 5 minutes have elapsed.

BTW: with 1/4" pitch chain, it makes very clean pruning cuts. It's also quite expensive to get a new chain built. That 1/4" chain is hard to find and quite pricey.

 

[The Shooters Apprentice]

Could you imagine the weight to carry enough battery’s for a 10 hour day cutting?

No thank you.

 

[pdqdl]

At several hundred dollars per battery, that ain't gonna happen.
The saw lists for $329.00 without battery or charger, and the link I found doesn't even list the battery for sale.
https://redbayacehardware.stihldealer.net/products/chain-saws/battery-saws/msa160cbq/
[EDIT] I finally found the batteries for sale. At $170, they are much cheaper than they used to be, but not cheap enough to consider using instead of two-cycle.
https://www.stihlusa.com/products/batteries-chargers/batteries/ap200/

 

[Franny K]

Unfortunately, it's not effective for very long. You had better be planning just a very few cuts, or have a backup ready. As far as I am concerned, a good Silky handsaw would be the backup plan of choice if quiet operation is important. I can cut WAY more wood with a Silky in 1/2 hour than I can with my battery operated boat-anchor, on account of the Silky will still be cutting wood after 5 minutes have elapsed.

https://www.stihlusa.com/products/batteries-chargers/batteries/ap200/

I am with you on the first sentence. About the 5 minute duration not so much. Using the 187wh from the second quote 5 minutes is 1/12 an hour 1 kw=1.34 hp your battery saw would be making 3.0 horsepower.
(0.187kwh) * (12/1hr)*1.34=3.006hp A horse for a horse power is a big horse that is like one horse for 15 minutes and you are going to challenge it with one arm just giving it a 1/4 handicap?

My husqvarna 536 with a new at the time 151wh battery lasted 800 seconds or 13 minutes cutting 5 inch diameter stuff pretty much as fast as one could cut similar to wood fence posts in six inch chuncks. Say 10 minutes continuous yields 1.2hp. I think I am doing the math right.

I wish they would be more honest with these things run time for this new 300 model Stihl of up to 44 minutes. My guess is that it takes a 500 watt charger about 44 minutes to charge it so it will only be able to make 0.67 hp in an application lasting that time.

As for the article it is kind of click bait. When is one of these things going to have a splined shaft for a conventional rim sprocket?

 

[pdqdl]

You haven't factored age of battery into your metrics. Even new, it wasn't good for more than 10 minutes, and that went down very quickly if you loaded the battery with bigger wood.

 

[HumBurner]

Battery and saw weigh 14.33lbs. A 261CM with fuel is likely under 12lbs. A bit heavier, but that's likely not the compelling reason to go with a battery saw.

14.33lbs DOESN'T include oil, lol.


So let's call it 14.5 lbs wet.



Article also states:

One is the MSA 300 O-C has three cutting modes so you can prioritize performance or runtime. That’s not something we see on other cordless models. An LED screen displays which mode you’re in along with power on/off, chain brake position, and a low oil alert.


The 540i already has two modes. Low and high speeds. Dumb article, seems fan-boyish and/or uninformed.



As far as batteries go, I've been surprised at the Husqy BLi300 batteries. Two charges will get me through most, if not all of a 9 hour work day, so long as I'm not bucking many rounds. I can get close to 30 minutes run time doing nothing but bucking rounds with a sharp chain.

I just wish they had gone a higher voltage for a little more mmmmph.

 

[Old Line State]

14.33lbs DOESN'T include oil, lol.


So let's call it 14.5 lbs wet.



Article also states:

One is the MSA 300 O-C has three cutting modes so you can prioritize performance or runtime. That’s not something we see on other cordless models. An LED screen displays which mode you’re in along with power on/off, chain brake position, and a low oil alert.


The 540i already has two modes. Low and high speeds. Dumb article, seems fan-boyish and/or uninformed.



As far as batteries go, I've been surprised at the Husqy BLi300 batteries. Two charges will get me through most, if not all of a 9 hour work day, so long as I'm not bucking many rounds. I can get close to 30 minutes run time doing nothing but bucking rounds with a sharp chain.

I just wish they had gone a higher voltage for a little more mmmmph.

 

[jacrider]

14.33lbs DOESN'T include oil, lol.


So let's call it 14.5 lbs wet.

Agreed. I think a 261CM is 11.3lbs empty so I estimated 12lbs with gas to compare to the 14.33 for the battery saw. Both weights would exclude bar oil.

But yes, it will be heavier.

 

[industrialsized]

Owning what I consider to be a lot of battery saws and using ones I don't own for multiple days I will say they have a place but they do not replace the 2 strokes they complement them.

the weight seems like a lot until you consider this would likely be competing with 60cc class saws not 50's and that weight is with a b/c so it might not be so bad.

I will most likely be ordering one simply because my girlfriend likes to carve indoors and my dealer or any dealer wont be offering demo time on these.

 

[ericm979]

Could you imagine the weight to carry enough battery’s for a 10 hour day cutting?

Last year there was a tree crew here cutting the power line ROW. It's a super steep climb from my place where they parked (with my permission). ROW crews usually avoid working on it because it's so difficult.

These guys packed in each day for the full day- no trips back to the truck. They used Stihl battery saws. They had backpacks which I assume held extra batteries in addition to food and water. They weren't loafing like some do, I could hear them dropping stuff all day.

Now they wern't dropping many big trees. They still need to use gas saws for that. But most ROW clearing is smaller stuff and the battery saws seemed to do ok for that.

 

[SweetMK]

My electric came with a rapid charger, and 12AH battery,, for $349 delivered.

Doing "normal" cutting (not 16" oak, or seasoned locust) such as 8" or less branches, etc,,
I would doubt that 10 normal men could carry the wood this saw will cut on one battery charge.
Possibly WAY more,, I use it as intended,, clearing down branches,, etc,, that saw will easily fill the 4X8 trailer 3 feet high with brush.
No recharge,, just use as needed.

The Milwaukee system has 4 "lights" as battery condition,, only once did I get the battery below 2 lights.

ONE TIME,, I tried it on 14" white oak,, I did drain the battery in either 5 or 6 blocks.
I consider that to be a LOT of electric cutting.

 

[Cricket]

My electric came with a rapid charger, and 12AH battery,, for $349 delivered.

Doing "normal" cutting (not 16" oak, or seasoned locust) such as 8" or less branches, etc,,
I would doubt that 10 normal men could carry the wood this saw will cut on one battery charge.
Possibly WAY more,, I use it as intended,, clearing down branches,, etc,, that saw will easily fill the 4X8 trailer 3 feet high with brush.
No recharge,, just use as needed.

The Milwaukee system has 4 "lights" as battery condition,, only once did I get the battery below 2 lights.

ONE TIME,, I tried it on 14" white oak,, I did drain the battery in either 5 or 6 blocks.
I consider that to be a LOT of electric cutting.

That's mostly how I use mine. Most years, I don't buy any wood - did this year, for various reasons - $100 worth of dead ash - but I manage that by picking up weird down stuff, doing cleanup nobody else wants to do, etc. So there's lots of tromping around, maneuvering things when I can't shanghai any muscle into helping, that sort of thing.

It's absolutely amazing how much easier it is doing that sort of thing when I don't have to restart a gas saw every few minutes. I'll go with gas if I get to just buck up a bunch of logs already set up and ready to go - but for "scrounge free wood in weird places" work, I'm sold.

Also I suspect it's going to be great for wiping out large swathes of elderberries.

 

[SweetMK]

That's mostly how I use mine. Most years, I don't buy any wood - did this year, for various reasons - $100 worth of dead ash
but I manage that by picking up weird down stuff, doing cleanup nobody else wants to do, etc.

The "picking up weird downed stuff" is what I had that trailer setup for the day I took that pic.
The pole saw in the pic is a Black & Decker,, the pole saw can last long enough to fill that trailer.
I thought the little battery would be dead in three cuts,, but, normally the little pole saw outlasts me.

I think the pole saw lasts because it is pulling a tiny chain??
If there is not much wood being removed, there is less energy being used.

The pole saw did stop one time,, before I gave out.
I was walking the edge of a field, simply dropping branches, to be picked up later.
After a while, the saw stopped,, I assumed that the battery was depleted.
Possibly, the battery overheated? IIRC, overuse of the battery can cause it to stop.
Whatever the cause, it was perfect after a re-charge.

I only did that once.

 

[Cricket]

The "picking up weird downed stuff" is what I had that trailer setup for the day I took that pic.
The pole saw in the pic is a Black & Decker,, the pole saw can last long enough to fill that trailer.
I thought the little battery would be dead in three cuts,, but, normally the little pole saw outlasts me.

I think the pole saw lasts because it is pulling a tiny chain??
If there is not much wood being removed, there is less energy being used.

The pole saw did stop one time,, before I gave out.
I was walking the edge of a field, simply dropping branches, to be picked up later.
After a while, the saw stopped,, I assumed that the battery was depleted.
Possibly, the battery overheated? IIRC, overuse of the battery can cause it to stop.
Whatever the cause, it was perfect after a re-charge.

I only did that once.

Yep. Horses for courses. I don't plan on felling anything huge with mine (though I avoid doing that much anyway), and it's not the be all and end all of saws - but for what it does well - its no hassle start, and relative quiet, suits me quite well. Especially since it's looking like I'm going to have to get back to clearing out my workshop in the basement (waiting on a pre-fab shed) and getting back to fixing them myself, because not having any luck with anyone else doing it lately. One less saw with a recalcitrant carburetor won't hurt my feelings.