Chainsaw Buying Guide (2027)

The bar is the capability ceiling. Eight and 10 inch bars belong to pruning and storm cleanup. Fourteen and 16 inch bars cover limbing and firewood bucking for most homeowners. Eighteen and 20 inch bars belong to felling and large rounds. A bar roughly 2 inches longer than the thickest log you cut gives clean, safe cuts. Buying longer than your wood needs costs weight and control; buying shorter costs the job itself, since a buried tip and a pinched bar are how small saws get hurt.

Battery saws start instantly, run quietly and need no fuel mixing, and they now cover pruning, limbing and moderate bucking convincingly. Gas saws bring pull starts, two-stroke mixing, noise and maintenance, and in return they cut all day on refills. The deciding question is session length: if your cutting fits in a battery session with one or two packs, battery is the better saw. If you cut for hours, fell trees or heat with wood, gas stamina still wins.

Most serious battery saws are sold bare, and the platform is where the money and lock-in live. Milwaukee M18, DEWALT 20V MAX and 60V FLEXVOLT, EGO 56V, Greenworks 80V, Makita LXT and RYOBI ONE+ packs do not interchange, and rated output assumes large packs. A flagship saw on a compact battery is a lesser tool. If you already own a platform, your shortlist writes itself. If you do not, choose the platform for the next ten tools, then buy its saw, or buy a complete kit like the EGO CS1611 or the BLACK+DECKER LCS1020.

Chainsaws are maintenance tools, and the chain is the consumable that decides performance. Check tension before every session and after the first few cuts on a new chain. Keep bar oil topped up, since a dry bar destroys chains quickly. Sharpen when the saw produces dust instead of chips or needs pushing through a cut. Match replacement chains by pitch, gauge and drive link count, not by brand alone, and rotate the bar occasionally for even rail wear. A sharp chain is faster and safer than a dull one at any power level.

Chain brakes, low-kickback bars and chains, lock-off triggers and hand guards vary across this guide, and they matter most for new owners. An inertia or hand-guard chain brake should be tested, not assumed. Kickback happens when the bar tip contacts wood or a cut pinches, so keep the tip clear and both hands on the saw. Gear is part of the purchase: chaps, eye protection, hearing protection, gloves and sturdy boots at minimum, plus a helmet for felling and overhead work. Never cut above shoulder height, and take a basic chainsaw safety course before felling anything larger than a small tree.

A bare-tool price is not a saw price until batteries and a charger join it. Compare kit saws and bare tools on total cost: tool plus the battery size behind the maker's claims plus a charger if you need one. The BLACK+DECKER LCS1020 and EGO CS1611 kits look expensive beside bare tools until the battery arithmetic is done, and the Milwaukee 2727-20 looks expensive until the HD12.0 pack is understood as part of its specification. Price the cutting system, not the box.