Battery Chainsaw

I sent an email to Ryobi....
===========
Hiya Super Dooper Team. Yesterday I returned a 18v chainsaw to Bunnings because the charger was faulty. I had used the Chainsaw for 8 months. Bunnings replaced the whole product including chainsaw. I'm just curious to know what will happen with that perfectly good chainsaw, does it get returned to Ryobi and do you throw it away because it's been used?
cheers
Steve
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Their reply
Hi Steve.
The RYOBI chainsaw will be returned to our warehouse.
regards
*name removed
Ryobi Customer Care
===========

yeah hey... don't give any information away :rolleyes:
 
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That is a good outcome to have the whole lot replaced. Nice work.
I just stepped deeper into the Ryobi One+ world with a new 18V Whipper Snipper. Might need to find that thread and give some feedback as it hasn't jammed on me yet....and its so easy to start! :ROFL:
 
Sounds great Steve. I'm thinking of following suit but already have an electric Stihl whipper snipper that really does a good job. Problem with it is fiddling around with the cord, but I suppose that's the same issue with any whipper snipper. The chainsaw looks like a great idea...
 
stevo said:
View attachment 1755

Battery Chainsaw? You're joking right?

Well... I bought one and it's awesome! I got the "Ryobi Cordless Chainsaw 18v"

Yes it looks like a toy, feels like a toy, and it will kill you slower than a petrol chainsaw, but it works very well for it's intended purpose.

If you want to cut big trees down or cut up lots of firewood then yes you buy a good solid petrol chainsaw.

So why would you buy something like this? It's light, one handed use, easy to use, no fuel, no starting issues, no noise, there's no extension cord!!!

The reason I bought it was because I used a neighbours electric corded chainsaw and was impressed and I went to buy one, but I saw the battery ones and thought yeah that looks different. If I want to cut some big trees I'd use a big chainsaw, but I never need to do that.

The work I do is more just standing at the top of a ladder with a Bush Saw trimming branches, so in reality I would just use a small lightweight option so I thought i'd take the gamble. I did have doubts, but after using I reckon it's awesome. It's like a very hardcore trimmer, but it's very impressive on what it can do.

I've been using it all week and have cut a few trees down, reduced stumps to ground level and cut a heap of bamboo. The battery lasts about an hour, which is more than enough for me, I'm pretty much over it by the time the battery runs out. You can buy more batteries and I was going to but i'm not going to now as I think an hour a session is enough. It takes one hour to charge and you can get back in to it, but I haven't found the need to do that yet.

This is part of the Ryobi One+ system, so you can use the same batteries with a lot of different power tools. I think the One+ system is good marketing from Ryobi as you sort of get hyped in to buying tools that take that specific battery.

I would recommend it more for any suburban backyard, it'll do anything you throw at it and wont upset the neighbours, it could also suit any seniors or people that can't or don't want to deal with a heavy chainsaw. No petrol motor and no extension cord!

Negatives? You do have to understand it has it's limitations and use it as that. It's light so sometimes you have to push it and can't rely on the weight of the chainsaw to cut. The blade/chain rotates slower than a petrol saw so can grab more.

View attachment 1757
Click to expand...
Super review and I love that the batteries are interchangeable in the Ryobi One+system. I have a couple other products from Ryobi and absolutely love them. Well done!
 
stevo said:
Update...

For some reason either the charger or battery had died and I couldn't tell which, but the battery wouldn't charge. I thought about buying another battery but there'd be no point if the charger was no good.

So I gathered up all the bits, chainsaw, battery and charger with receipt and went to Bunnings. The returns desk lady was doing five things at once and called the garden tool fella? He was only doing three things at once, the battery tested out ok but the charger didn't work properly, so he disappeared off to the garden tool area and brought back a whole new product. New chainsaw, battery and charger.

I'm pretty happy with that outcome :thumbsup:

The only shame is that, I'd assume they might send it back to Ryobi, and what would Ryobi do... throw the perfectly good working chainsaw in the bin because it's been used and they can't sell it?
Click to expand...
My son, who uses battery Ryobe power tools in his construction job told me not to store the batteries with a change for very long... like a month is max for his thinking.
 
I admit I am a chain saw fraidie cat. So my first thought was it doesn't seem to have a kick back cut off bar. Does it have some built in cut off if it kicks back? To explain my fear of chain saws. I worked at the Royal Adelaide Hospital for 40 plus years and over those years I have seen many examples of the chain saw massacre
 
The chainsaw doesn't have any cut off devices, though once you let the button go it stops straight away. I haven't experienced any kick back from it and I don't think it would.

I'm pretty cautious around power tools because I know things can go bad in a big way very quickly, but I'd say it's the perfect chainsaw for the chainsaw fraidie cat
 
If it turns off as soon as your finger is off the button that would work as a pretty good kick back cut off. I can't imagine anyone keeping their finger on the button when the chainsaw is cutting off their leg
 
Marisa said:
My son, who uses battery Ryobe power tools in his construction job told me not to store the batteries with a change for very long... like a month is max for his thinking.
Click to expand...
Why? Does it help the battery to last or something? Also do you just run the tool to drain the battery before putting it away? I'm asking because we have some battery powered tools
 
That advice must have come from a battery salesman. The quickest way to kill a battery is to let it go completely flat and leave it that way - the internal electrodes oxidise (rust) and the battery capacity will be drastically reduced. The more you do it (or the longer you leave it flat), the less power the battery will be able to hold, until it can barely last for a few seconds after a full charge.

This is the reason why most battery powered backup power systems will cut off when there is still plenty of juice in the batteries. They want to ensure the batteries never go completely flat, so that they last for many years.

Batteries naturally discharge on their own if they are sitting on a shelf, which is why many rechargeable batteries you buy in a shop tell you to recharge them before you first use them. This is also why it's a good idea to fully charge your batteries before putting them away, because this will give you the longest time before they go flat on their own. Not such a big deal for something you use regularly, but it will extend the life of things you only use occasionally.

Of course it's also possible to overcharge batteries, which can be just as bad (this tends to produce gases which can make the batteries swell up and also kill them.) So it's always a bit of a balancing act. If you've ever wondered why your phone or other battery seems to recharge up to 95% fairly quickly but seems to take forever to get that last little bit to 100%, that's because the recharging method changes to a slower method in order to get maximum charge into the battery without overcharging it and killing it.

The best way to ensure long battery life is to never let them go completely flat, and recharge them after any substantial use. If they've been sitting unused for a few months, recharge them again to make sure they never go completely flat.

I think some people are afraid of the so-called "memory effect" when you charge a battery that isn't completely flat (which is where all the advice comes from to drain batteries), however this has been proven to only happen in certain unlikely scenarios. In fact, one of the very few recorded cases of the memory effect was in a NASA satellite that orbited the Earth every 45 minutes, getting 45 minutes of daylight followed by 45 minutes of darkness. Because the batteries were discharged then recharged at precisely 45 minute intervals, after a few months the batteries would only last for 45 minutes before going flat, even though they were designed to last much longer.

So as long as you aren't planning to power a satellite, you don't need to worry about recharging a battery that's not flat! And don't let your batteries go flat (or stay flat for very long) if you want them to last a long time!
 
Well I found it was time to get myself a chainsaw.
I weighed up a few things like how often I'll really need it and the size of timber I'll need to chop and ended up going with the Riobi One+ unit. Thanks @stevo for your review, without it I might not have had the courage to go the battery way.
I gave it a test run today and it really is a good little unit. I probably only did about 20mins or work but it was still cutting just at well at the end of the session as at the start.
What I love about it is how light it is. I haven't used many chainsaws in my life but this one has got to be the lightest I've used.
Overall it seems like it should do me just for some odd jobs around the yard and chopping up some dead trees for the fire pit, when I get around to making one that is.

:twothumbsup: Two thumbs up from me!

Cheers.
 
Cool hopefully it does what you need it to!

I was at the top of the ladder the other day, holding on with one hand and wielding the saw in the other hand chopping branches off above my head, around 10cm thick. I'm still happy with mine.

PS. don't forget, all the oil runs out when in storage, so I leave mine on a old towel, and only put a little bit of oil every now and then. I don't think the oil is super important to keep up to it, not like a petrol one might be.
 
Good advice @stevo
I found one YouTube vid where the guy doesn't even use the oil reservoir and just keeps a little oil can next to him and every so often gives the bar a squirt.

Buy the way @stevo, I think you just described going against every warning label in the chainsaw manual in one swoop :rolleyes:. (using on ladder, one handed, chopping above head. Probably just need to have a few rumbo's before hand to tick off all the boxes :sawwood:) Haha
 
Great review Stevo.

I don’t have anything to cut down at the moment but I can just see what I can do with a chainsaw. I only have one big tree on my property and a few young fruit trees.

What I would like to know about is an affordable cordless drill. Any suggestion?
 
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