Milwaukee Chainsaw Review

14
Milwaukee Chainsaw Review

It’s amazing to think that there are chainsaws that are powered by a battery. Who would have thought that a high demand tool like this can be powered and be efficient enough to actually cut tree trucks? Not only cut large pieces of wood but do serious work. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that this has really become possible. While there are some great battery powered chainsaws on the market, let’s face it, there are also others on the market that probably shouldn’t be. So let’s see which category the Milwaukee falls into and dive into the Milwaukee Chainsaw Review.

Milwaukee Chainsaw Review Overview

I know there are multiple power tool manufacturers in the marketplace that have battery-powered OPE tools such as chainsaws, but when it comes to chainsaws, the only two I am a fan of is the Ego and the Makita.

When Milwaukee announced they were coming out with a chainsaw, I was excited because I know they have the capability of making a great saw and I know they have the battery to produce a chainsaw that runs for a long time. The question was how will it compete against the Makita and Ego.

Milwaukee Chainsaw Review Features

Milwaukee Chainsaw Review

This is the first Milwaukee cordless chainsaw and Milwaukee claims its faster than a 40CC saw in hardwoods. The saw is built around a brushless motor which provides efficiency and longer run times. The saw weighs in at 13.9 lbs and has an rpm of 6600.

Milwaukee Chainsaw Review

As you would expect, a chainsaw takes a lot of power to perform the task at hand.  Milwaukee designed this with their M18 battery platform and more specifically, the Milwaukee 12Ah battery which is their highest amp battery available.

Milwaukee Chainsaw Review

The 2727-21HD comes with the saw, battery, charger and bar oil.

Milwaukee Chainsaw Review

Milwaukee designed this with a 16″ Oregon bar which means you can do some serious cutting with this saw.

Milwaukee Chainsaw Review

The grip has a rubber overmold grip just likes their power tools.

Milwaukee Chainsaw Review

As with all power tools, this has a safety feature so you don’t accidentally pull the trigger.

Milwaukee Chainsaw Review

The handle is a full D-Handle that wraps from the top of the saw all the way down the left side, which gives you more grip options.

Milwaukee Chainsaw Review

As with other chainsaws, it has a bar lock for safety.

Milwaukee Chainsaw Review

The oil chamber features a see-through side so you can gauge how much oil is in the reservoir without having to take off the cap.

Milwaukee Chainsaw Review Performance

I have a wood burning stove so each year I am cutting a ton of wood. As I said earlier, I rely on my Ego and the Makita as those are my two favorite saws on the market. Well, I can add a third. I am loving the Milwaukee saw.

The saw is powerful and has awesome runtime with the 12Ah battery. This is truly a saw that can actually perform real work. I love how fast the saw turns on when I depress the trigger. I love how powerful the motor is when cutting through larger pieces of wood and I appreciate long runtimes of this saw.

For the homeowner, this is a winner. For the professional arborist, it is up to you. I think for an arborist this serves a couple of functions. This would be a great saw for ground clearing and an awesome saw for the guy who is working the chipper and needs to cut a branch before it goes into the chipper. I also think this is a great saw for the climber. Instead of having to climb, start the saw by pulling it then cut and repeat for each branch. Now just depress the trigger and your off and running. No more worrying about gas. Yes, you will have to keep a bunch of batteries with you, but at the same times, it has a real advantage.

Milwaukee Chainsaw Review Value

The Milwaukee chainsaw 2727-21HD retails for about $400 at The Home Depot. If your cutting one or two times a year, this might be a little high priced. However, for those of us who do a lot of cutting, the $400 price tags is a decent value as that also comes with a 12Ah battery.

Milwaukee Chainsaw Review Final Thoughts

For me, this is a winner. I love the power, the ease of use and the freedom to remove gas and spark plugs out of the equation. I love how this saw can have some real output and perform a ton of work, even on a single battery. Best of all, I love how fast the saw cycles up to full speed. This chainsaw is a great addition to any tool collection for users looking to ditch the gas and head over to cordless performance from Milwaukee.

14 COMMENTS

  1. Thanks for writing this up Eric. I definitely like the Milwaukee saw more than the flexvolt, but I’m already heavily invested in the DeWalt line… If only they would replace the bar attachments with two nuts like the Milwaukee. That’s really my main gripe. A torque limiting plastic turn knob nut? Only one? Come on DeWalt, take a lesson from Milwaukee here.

  2. “The Milwaukee chainsaw 2727-21HD retails for about $400 at The Home Depot. If your, (you’re), cutting one or two times a year, this might be a little high priced.”

    I respectfully disagree with that statement. Many years ago I used my credits I earned with the GM Service Masters award program to “buy” a gas chainsaw for use around the house. The cost of the gas I have to buy and keep that goes bad even when using a fuel stabilizer, the fuel stabilizer, the maintenance, service and carburetors I’ve had to rebuild because it isn’t constantly in use really adds up. So other than the buying bar oil, $400 to not have any of the other expenses that are involved with a gas chainsaw doesn’t seem all too bad if you’re already on the Milwaukee platform.

    • I think what the author meant by “might be a little high priced” is compared to other battery powered chainsaws. I completely agree with what you are saying about total price compared to a gas saw, but the once or twice a year user can buy a decent battery powered saw for half the price.

      It’s a great saw but for the occasional user, it may be overkill (unless they are already invested in the M18 platform, then it may be worth it).

  3. The best thing about it is that I can climb a ladder without a running chainsaw!! It also runs just fine on my 4.0 and 5.0 batteries.

  4. I am a frequent chainsaw user and own both an Echo 310 for smaller work and a Husky 61 for larger stuff. I purchased the Milwaukee saw when it first became available in Canada. First let me say that this battery powered saw out works the little Echo 310 hands down. Being fairly light it has an advantage over the Husky as it is less tiring to use on larger tasks like firewood harvesting although there are times when the Husky with its 20 inch bar has an advantage. The only negative I have with the Milwaukee is the amount of chain oil it feeds. Chain oil consumption is higher than it needs to be and there is no adjustment to decrease the flow.

  5. Milwaukee chainsaw battery powered
    No Cary case like buying a car with no tires. Good chainsaw. Oil everywhere
    Help us Milwaukee thank u

  6. I just charged my battery and plugged it in. So excited to use it but when I pulled the trigger… NOTHING! am i missing something?battery works on my other tools, trigger feels fine, safety bar seems fine in both positions and NOTHING! Did I just get a bad one???

  7. Don’t buy one. I had one and it failed miserably. There needs to be a recall or discontinue selling these until they can fix the bar bolt design error. The 2 bar bolts have a small hex inside backed up by small plastic hex pockets that will fail. I bought one at HD and within the first battery charge had to change the chain no less that 20 times. The last time when I tried to back off the nut, the bolt started spinning on one of the bolts. I tried the other one and it came off fine but still the saw was rendered useless. I turned it in for warranty and Milwaukee denied it claiming user error! What, I buy a saw for $350 and get 30 minutes use and it structurally fails. Milwaukee then refused to return my saw till I raised hell. No more Milwaukee for me. We have a tool room with hundreds of their tools but it’s slowly going from red to turquoise Makita now. I can show you pics of the cheesy design.

  8. I’ve been through 2 of them so far. The first one, I got maybe 3 hours of total accumulated runtime out of it. Battery life was awful, it kept quitting in use, then a few minutes later, would resume on the same battery. Some sort of overtemp sensor failing would be my guess. Eventually it just quit altogether. I returned to the store, who sent it back to Milwaukee under warranty. According to the dealer, Milwaukee said it was junk, and sent me a new one. The new one does not turn on at all. So now it’s back to the dealer for saw #3. I’d prefer a refund, but that probably won’t happen, so I’m stuck with this thing.

    I also suspect that I may encounter the durability problems mentioned by others, especially regarding plastic parts, if I can get one that gets past the electrical problems.

    When it was working, it was especially handy for keeping trails cleared. With a gas saw, I’d have to drive a short ways, get out, start the gas saw, cut, shut it off, get back in, repeat. With electric, I could just get out and saw, without the constant starting and stopping. The saw seems to be particularly well suited to repetitive cutting jobs like that. If it would only work…….

    It also avoids all the bad gas/damage from alcohol gas issues, carb rebuilds, etc. If it would only work…….

Leave a Reply to James F Fleck Cancel reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here