Hi all,

Here's a review on a little 18v ozito chainsaw I got recently.

Whilst I like to carry a saw with me when leaving the van at home and doing more remote type travels, I wasn't sure if this would appeal to as many on here.

If you still take a saw along when vanning, this might be something that is of interest to you.

I've been hearing lots of discussion about electric/cordless chainsaws,mainly on the 4wd forums visit , so I started doing a bit of poking about.

Since I already had (paid for myself) an ozito power x change pruner kit (mini saw and hedge trimmer on pole) I thought I'd have a look at their chainsaw skin to work with the same 18v battery.
As you may or may not know, I have a youtube channel I like to put stuff on and had done some reviews on the kit mentioned above.
Since I was pretty happy with it, I thought I'd get in touch with Ozito and ask if they'd like to supply me with one for a review.
To my surprise they got in touch pretty quick and sent me one out.
If they said no, I was going to buy one anyway since they're only 120 bucks at bunnings with a 5 year warranty.
If you prefer a video review you can see it here



Since I know some prefer a written review, I'll add some detail below.

Now I'd heard that these are a rebranded Einhell product which seems to get good wraps.
Word on the street is the red power x change Ozito stuff is a step up from their grey branded items at bunnings.
I can't speak to those 2 points, but I do have a heap of their grey tools and haven't had any probs anyway.

The saw is only a 18v, so you can't expect the power out of one that comes from a 36v 2 battery variant.
What I was really interested in was, where it sat between my silky big boy hand saw




and my little 14 inch echo petrol chainsaw




These make up my usual equipment for camping, depending on location and fire wood or track clearing needs.
I had a mate along as we were having a quick over nighter and thought it would be a good chance to test out the saw.

Specs wise it has a 10 inch bar which is easily removable (no tools) to make a smaller package for sticking in the car.



But the bar does look tiny compared to even the small bar of the echo

It's still a saw though in its own right and has requires bar oil and has a safety break mechanism.

Good stuff
lighter than a petrol saw but still heavier than expected
quieter than a petty
no petrol required
all but tool-less. a small screw driver is required for chain tightening
seems to have good battery life(4ah) probably wouldn't use a 1.5ah . plenty for a couple of nights camping (within reason) not tested to flat but I have exhausted the battery using the other tools and it lasted a good amount of time
break is quick
when you stop cutting the saw stops. so is not using fuel or power. it didn't try and vibrate away when put down
Simple to store and pack ( no petty required in the vehicle)
Bunnings after sales back up. This is a biggie in my mind

Not so good
When put down, someone (kids) may pick it up and however unlikely press the trigger. You need to either put the break on or pull the battery to be safe
Majority of the saw is plastic save for the obvious bits
not as much power as a petrol saw ( but you didn't expect it to....did you ? )
small bar but you know this going in.

As the saw body is all plastic (still feels robust) it is very easy to forget it's not a toy and could still do you harm if not handled correctly and safely.
From a power perspective, we both found this perfect for camp duties where you just don't need a big saw.
If you want big timber and in a hurry, this isn't for you.
If you lean on the saw during a cut it will bog down, so you realise pretty quickly, slow and steady wins the race.
Just back off the pressure a little and it will get there .

I did a test with both saws for speed, trying to make it as fair as possible picking wood that was near their bar length.
The pics below tells the story there

Still during our camp test, it still went through some decent sized timber




So overall, this will probably get duties from this point on for camp fire wood or just chucking in the car where I 'might' need a saw.
I found when I was considering taking a saw just in case, I often wouldn't because of the hassle with storing fuel.
No such probs here, so it will get thrown in more often now, when I otherwise might not have taken one.
The silky big boy will still be there for back up.

Since it can't be charged via 12v I will grab another battery and a 300w inverter to keep it charged from the 120ah aux battery in the back of the Paj.

So if for the $120 bucks if you already have some of the other tools in the line, its a no brainer I reckon and I would have been happy to spend the bucks on it.

If you need to buy the battery, skin and charger you're up for around 200 if not on sale.
That makes the choice a little harder but not knowing what else is in the market, you will have to make your own judgement there.

Other than Ozito shooting this out to me, I've got no affiliation with them.

cheers Brett

Gday...

I had given much thought to one of these as well over recent months.

The one thing I have not been able to confirm is how much does it draw when recharging and how long does it take to recharge.

I would be using a 300W inverter drawing from my 120Ah battery in the van.

Are you able to say how much it drew from the 12v battery Ahr or watts to recharge ... and how long did it take to recharge after a 'good' use?

cheers - John

Brett. Thanks. Excellent real world review. 

Have been thinking of getting my son one for Xmas.

What you didn't say, unless I missed it, was how long one charge of the bigger battery, lasts.  Did you get to find out?

Also just a heads up re a possible issue.   I have a 56v Ego which is bloody brilliant but I found that a 300w inverter could not charge the battery (may be OK with 18v though).   All my 'expert' mates had varying theories and I ended up ringing Ego who said 300W was too small. Bought a 600W unit and now all good.  I usually recharge whilst driving and it's done in a very short time. 

Once again thanks.  It's great to see an interesting post about something other than the usual mundane ones.

Great review, I have been wanting to buy a small chain saw, I was leaning towards a electric one but now I may buy myself a battery one, thank you for that review.

Last year while visiting my son in Austria I was given the job of cutting the logs of fire wood into the reqire size, then spitting them and storing for winter use. It had been a while say thirty years since I had the need to cut fire wood, that was with a petrol chain saw that muked up. Well this time I was using a Makita electric chain saw after 2 months of spare time work building the wood heap to last about 3 years I was sold, it worked a treat cutting into 300 to 350 dia logs.

Now needing a new battery powered drill it looks like a battery powered chain saw will join my other tools in travelling kit.

Good review Brett, thanks for that.

I'll stick with my petrol saws but the battery ones clearly have their place. Although I wonder what their battery life is? A saw would be hard on batteries, any idea how many discharge cycles the battery is specified for?

Hi Lizard,
I can't advise as yet mate. I went looking on the website for info but nothing to be found. I did see the fast charger does a 4ah in 80 minutes with the standard charger at 160mins.
On checking out the other saws before looking at this one, others had said their 300w had been sufficient but obviously it will be charger dependant. I'll suss out the back of the one I have and look for some info.
I'll let you know if I find anything that might answer your question.
The slow charger would obviously have less draw but the fast one is 10 bucks more.

Moose, thanks for the heads up, as per above, that seemed to be the suggested wattage for an 18v. I'll be checking it out before hand though.
All of my gear is 12v in the van, so an inverter will be a grudge purchase so the less money I spend on it the better .

I did consider a cheaper modified unit but others had also said they had issues there. So pure sine it will be. of course this could come in handy for other things too.

I'll keep your advice in my head when getting one though.

Re the battery, I didn't get a chance to full test it. I have used it on the pruner saw and trimmer for a full yards worth of work . I have a big yard with lots of trees and got a couple hours of solid work out of it.

The saw would be much more power hungry though, but I can't say I'm afraid.

If your son is just looking for camp duties, it's perfect. Any heavier and I'd say look to the 36v stuff or a petty.

If I could only have one, it would still be petrol...... for now. Plus I haven't handle a higher voltage unit for comparison. 

I'm glad the review was useful. As per my OP I wasn't sure if anyone would be interested or not.  

You're right too of course, there is only so much time you can spend in Solar :)

Radar.

Welcome.

The milwaukee stuff is getting some pretty huge wraps online for their battery chainsaws. I kept seeing them pop up again and again. Bigger bucks there though.

I've not yet used an electric saw (240v) by your post I'm gathering they go ok.

With regards to a battery drill, I must admit, I fought that one for a long time, but I've had a few now and I'm always happy with what they can do and not having to drag the cord around is a real bonus.

I still keep a powered one though for drilling metal and the like. Plus, you can't forget to charge them

Mike,

as per my comment to Moose re the battery.

No idea on the cycles but I went to check the site . No info there either but I did notice where I said in the video I thought the batteries had a 1 or 2 year warranty, I was wrong.  It's a 3 year replacement warranty.

I wonder if that covers it just being used til it wont hold charge anymore? 

That's massive for a battery that is getting used pretty hard.

Horses for courses and all that. I'm not selling my petrol saw anytime soon .

Barrie,  what size is that battery. If I had to guess, I'd say 2 days worth of small to medium fire wood would be a reasonable ask but again, I'm yet to confirm that.

This was never going to be a professional saw either by price, brand or design. But I'm happy with what it can do.

How do you find the ozpig? I do like the look of those

cheers Brett

Gday...

thanks denmonkey ... that is exactly what I have found.

Nothing on the product or its packaging, on the Ozito webpage for either the chainsaw, or any of the appliances, that use that battery ie how much it draws for the recharge (Amps/watts) for the fast or slow charger.

I use my bowsaw 95% of the time so rarely use my petrol one as I only need small stuff for my choofer (elbow grease is cheap. ) ... if I need a campfire I jest drag logs to the site and slowly poke em through as they burn.

Cheers - John

Gday...

Thanks TerryT ... one is still on my list of "praps" ... that at least gives me some idea.

cheers - John

Hylife wrote:

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Just staple your receipt to the instruction manual and keep those stored with all your other manuals.

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I now scan all receipts worth keeping - much easier to find the soft copy on my computer than the paper one. Additionally some inks/paper fade very badly after a year or so.

Hylife wrote:

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Replacement chains with proper chrome teeth can be ordered on ebay for approx. $12 delivered.

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  That's good info mate, thanks for the insight.

Landy, that's probably their biggest strong point right there. Bunnings is just so easy to get warranty back up.

I think they realise how much money can be made by looking after their customers in such situations. Nice to see.

MikeL, have you used the saw again yet, and how's she holding up ?

Ozito got in touch and are sending out the bigger brother of this one for me and it should arrive tomorrow with another item. Will share once tested.

This ones a dual battery  36V with a 14 inch bar . So the same size as the echo, so will be a fairer test.

Keen to test it out.

I'm still liking the little one though for simplicity and portability.

cheers Brett