A year or so ago I bought a Stihl MSA220C saw with an AP300S battery and charger, at that time it was Stihl's biggest and best battery chainsaw. Since then they have brought out a bigger model. All up it cost me AUD 1,300. For that price I could have bought four MS170s, the petrol saw which I feel is about equal in power/ cutting ability to the battery saw.
The saw gave me about 15 minutes of cutting with the type of firewood I use. Yes it was very convenient to just put in a battery and pull the trigger and cut, and not having it sitting burbling away while picking up and stacking pieces of wood between cuts was also good, as was not having to pull on the starter cord to get it running again. However my MS170 cut about 4 times the amount of firewood per tank of fuel.
One thing not mentioned so far on this thread is that if using the saw beginning with a fully charged battery and cutting continuously until the battery drains to flat then it cannot be charged until it cools down which can take around half an hour and once cooled down it takes about 40 minutes to get fully charged again.
A petrol saw can be refilled in seconds and be back cutting without delay.
So, to get the same amount of firewood cut within the same time frame I would need to have at least three batteries on hand and they cost AUD 300 each.
I managed to sell the saw, charger and battery to a friend who only does a little cutting.
Yes, there is a place for battery saws but the present cost of the batteries means they are for those with plenty of money.
