Is this what it has came down to? Solar-powered chainsaws?
What do you mean "come down to"? You LIKE being dependent on some energy cartels, with no way to have any REAL fuel competition? In chemical makeup or price? That is supposed to be a better way? I have lived all over the country, I have yet to see anything more than a pittance difference in cost, gas station to gas station, for retail amounts of fuel by the gallon. That's not competition, that is cartel price fixing. Just enough few cents difference they can *claim* so called "free market" competition. And as for saws, they are just now getting out of the dinosaur age. At least they are starting to address fuel consumption and emissions and efficiency of burn, with the controlled carbs. Heck, we don't even have fuel injection yet on saws! If carbs were all that great, how come there aren't any new vehicles being sold here that come with carbs? Why not? Plenty of vehicle manufacturers out there, funny not a one of them uses carbs any more.
Some old stuff is OK, some is just..old stuff.
I enjoy my solar and my only regret is not doing way more back when I was making more money, when I could have and it was cheaper. And there are thousands of folks out there now who are energy independent, they have their juice paid off, up and running and working just fine. For some, it works quite well.
There is no one size fits all energy answer, nor is there any one size fits all cutting answer. I am enjoying my top of the line current bleeding edge battery saw as well. It's just like I enjoy my battery drills, but I also have plug in drills. I have gas saws and enjoy them and use them, but as soon as upgraded and more powerful electrics come out, I am on that like white on rice. Electric got torque, right there, all the time, the full RPM range. Electric has instant on/off. Electric doesn't have leaky seals, plugged filters, rotten fuel lines, malfunctioning vents, you don't have to "mod" it to get full horsepower or torque, and etc. Sure, it is still in the infancy of that particular type of design, so what, everything else was too. Early adopters get the benefits..similar to how myself and thousands of others were early adopters of computers, so now we can all enjoy what we have today, which is pretty darn amazing if you are old enough to remember when there weren't all that many computers at all on the whole planet.
In the meantime, as more advanced technology gets developed, I use what I have, the appropriate tool for the job, with the tools I own.