Which Chainsaw Brand Wins?
A head-to-head test of 12 chainsaw options with the measured results for each. See how they ranked and watch the full test video.
Kobalt
Price shown in test: $129 (saw only)
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Spec | Weight | No Load Sprocket RPM | Dyno Torque Test | Softwood Cut Time | Hardwood Cut Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Milwaukee M12 FUEL Hatchet 6-inch pruning saw$200 (tool only) | claims up to 120 cuts per charge, power to cut 3in hardwoods, auto oiler, brushless motor, best build construction of any saw tested (metal dowel and metal collar), onboard tool storage, tested with M12 4 amp hour battery, made in China | 4.8 lb, 89.9 decibels | close to 2600 RPM, slowest no-load RPM of the 8in-and-under saws | 22 lb of downward force to stall the chain, second best in the 8in-and-under category (behind HART) | about 7.0 seconds (4x4 non-pressure-treated) | 4.6 seconds, best of all 5 saws in the 8in-and-under category |
| 2HART 20V pruning chainsaw, 8in bar$80 (tool only, no battery/charger), sold by Walmart | comes assembled and ready to use, brushed motor, all-plastic construction, no automatic oiler, made in China | 27.1 lb (transcript as given); 90.4 decibels | over 2800 RPM | 28 lb of downward force to stall the chain, best (highest torque) of the 8in-and-under category, attributed to its low sprocket RPM | stalled on first attempt (saw pushed too fast); second attempt 6.9 seconds, best of all 5 small saws | stalled on first attempt after being pushed too hard; second attempt 8.2 seconds (transcript recap renders this as "8.1"), second best in category behind Milwaukee |
| 3Stihl GTA 26 (battery chainsaw)$180 (saw only, battery/charger extra) | 10.8V 2.1 amp hour battery with battery life indicator, ambidextrous safety switch, brushed motor, mostly plastic construction, 4in bar, no automatic oiler, made in Germany | 3.2 lb, 93.8 decibels | just over 6000 RPM, fastest of the 8in-and-under category by a wide margin | 4 lb of downward force to stall the chain (on back-to-back attempts), worst torque of the small-saw category, attributed to its very high chain speed | 12.8 seconds, almost twice as fast as the SHQDD and the Stihl PS 70 handsaw despite its compact size | 8.6 seconds, about half a second slower than HART |
| 4Stihl PS 70 hand saw (manual, not battery powered)$37 | 12.6 inch kerf blade, made in Japan, weighs just over half a pound; introduced as a baseline to test whether a manual hand saw can compete with battery chainsaws | not tested | not tested | not tested | 23.7 seconds (4x4 non-pressure-treated) | 11.65 seconds, faster than the SHQDD but a lot slower than HART, the Stihl GTA 26, and the Milwaukee |
| 5SHQDD 6 inch handheld cordless electric saw$47 | comes with two 2 amp hour 21V batteries and two chains, metal sprocket but plastic bar-mount collar (light duty), ambidextrous safety switch, no automatic oiler, made in China | 2.7 lb, lightest saw in the video, 99 decibels | over 4300 RPM | bogged down at 6 lb, stalled at 7 lb on two separate attempts (consistent result), worst torque of the 8in-and-under category besides the Stihl GTA 26 | 23.8 seconds, one-tenth of a second slower than the Stihl PS 70 handsaw | 15.1 seconds, worst (slowest) of all 5 saws in the 8in-and-under category |
| 6Kobalt 12in bar chainsaw$129 (saw only) | average build construction (metal stud and dowel, automatic oiling), 24V Max brushless motor, made in China | 8.9 lb, heaviest of the 10-12in category at the time it was tested, 100.4 decibels | over 7000 RPM, second fastest in the 10-12in category (behind Makita) | 21 lb of downward force to stall the chain, described as impressive given its very high chain speed | 3.3 seconds first pass / 3.5 seconds second pass (non-pressure-treated), by far the fastest of the 10-12in category; 2.3 seconds with 10 lb added weight on pressure-treated lumber, again fastest | 6.4 seconds, by far the fastest of the 10-12in category |
| 7DeWalt chainsaw, 12in bar$200 (tool only) | high efficiency brushless motor, tool-free chain tensioning, low kickback, mostly plastic press block with metal stud and dowel, automatic oiler, made in Mexico | 8.9 lb (same as Kobalt), 97 decibels | 3841 RPM, faster than average, third fastest in the 10-12in category | 15 lb of downward force to stall the chain | 6.5 seconds (non-pressure-treated); 3.5 seconds with 10 lb added weight on pressure-treated lumber, second fastest | 8.0 seconds, second fastest of the 10-12in category (behind Kobalt), described as having a great combination of chain speed and torque |
| 8Makita 10in bar chainsaw (compact)$200 (same price as DeWalt) | brushless motor, very good build construction (metal press block, stud, and dowel), separate power switch plus safety switch on top of the handle, adjustable automatic oiling, made in China | 6.8 lb, about 2 lb less than DeWalt, 104 decibels, the loudest saw tested | over 13,000 RPM, fastest of all 13 products tested, almost twice the Kobalt's speed | 6 lb of downward force to stall the chain, weakest torque of the 10-12in category, attributed to its very high chain speed | 4.6 seconds (non-pressure-treated), second fastest of the 10-12in category; with 10 lb added weight the saw shut off twice on the first attempt but still completed in 6.1 seconds, then completed a repeat cut (with less weight held back) in 3.6 seconds | 9.9 seconds on the first attempt (saw pushed too hard and stopped); 8.8 seconds on the second, completed attempt, described as still not making enough torque to perform ideally in hardwood |
| 9Craftsman 10in bar chainsaw$149 (battery, charger, and saw included; comes with a 2 amp hour battery but tested with a 4 amp hour battery for fairness) | 20V system, automatic oiling, plastic press block with a steel stud and dowel, brushed motor, made in China | 6.6 lb, 90.7 decibels | 2563 RPM, about the same as Ryobi, tied for slowest in the 10-12in category along with Ryobi | 35 lb of downward force to stall the chain, third best in the 10-12in category | 6.1 seconds (non-pressure-treated, tied for third with Bauer); 4.7 seconds with 10 lb added weight on pressure-treated lumber | 8.5 seconds, third fastest in the 10-12in category, helped by about 20 percent faster sprocket speed than Bauer and Black and Decker |
| 10Bauer 10in bar chainsaw$80 (tool only), sold at Harbor Freight | automatic chain oiling, low kickback 10in bar and chain, single safety switch on the left side, 20V system, tested with a 5 amp hour battery, made in China | 7.1 lb, 95.1 decibels | almost 2100 RPM, slowest no-load sprocket speed of all 13 products in the video | 27 lb of downward force to stall the chain, performed about the same as HART | 6.1 seconds (non-pressure-treated); 4.3 seconds with 10 lb added weight on pressure-treated lumber | stalled twice on the first attempt but finished in 9.9 seconds; stalled again about halfway through the second attempt but also finished in 9.9 seconds, described as quick to recover with little delay |
| 11Ryobi ONE+ 18V, 10in bar chainsaw$119 | push-button oiler, onboard tool storage, brushed motor, all-plastic construction described as less durable than some other brands, tested with a 4 amp hour high-performance battery, made in China | 7.3 lb, 94.2 decibels | just over 2500 RPM, close to the same speed as the Milwaukee (a different category saw), tied for slowest in the 10-12in category along with Craftsman | 45 lb of downward force to stall the chain, second best in the 10-12in category, described as 'a torque monster' | 6.7 seconds (non-pressure-treated), about half a second slower than Bauer; 5.3 seconds with 10 lb added weight on pressure-treated lumber | 17.3 seconds, worst (slowest) of all saws in the 10-12in category, over 7 seconds slower than Bauer, with a lot of handle vibration despite the high-output battery |
| 12DeWalt reciprocating saw (cordless, not a chainsaw)$175 | tested with a Milwaukee ax blade and a 4 amp hour battery | just over 9 lb, heaviest tool in the video, 96.1 decibels | not tested | 52 lb of downward force to stall/stop, not directly compared against the chainsaw torque recap since it is a different tool type | 8.9 seconds (non-pressure-treated), slowest of the 10-12in group on this test; not included in the pressure-treated weighted retest since that retest was chainsaws only | finished in last place among all saws tested on the hardwood test (explicit statement in the transcript); no specific time given for this result |
How it was tested
- chainsaw dyno test (downward force in lb to stall the chain, i.e. torque)
- no-load sprocket RPM
- 4x4 non-pressure-treated softwood cutting speed (seconds)
- 4x4 pressure-treated softwood cutting speed with 10 lb of added weight (seconds; 10-12in bar saws only)
- roughly 3-4in diameter Osage Orange hardwood cutting speed (seconds)
- weight and sound level (decibels) comparison
- build construction and quality comparison
“For saws in the 10 to 12 inch category the Cobalt dominated the showdown with an average finish at first place in the time cutting events... I really like the Cobalt, it cuts extremely fast and when you consider the price it's a great value.”
Data notes and caveats
This video splits 13 products into two size classes for a fair apples-to-apples comparison: five 8in-and-under pruning saws/handsaws (Stihl PS 70 hand saw, SHQDD, HART, Stihl GTA 26, Milwaukee M12 FUEL Hatchet) and eight 10-12in bar tools (Bauer, Ryobi ONE+, Kobalt, Black and Decker, Craftsman, DeWalt chainsaw, Makita, DeWalt reciprocating saw). The closing narration gives per-category favorites rather than one blanket winner: Milwaukee and the Stihl GTA 26 for light-duty/occasional use in the small category, and Kobalt (praised as fastest and best value), with Makita and DeWalt also called 'very good saws', in the large category. Per spec, winner/runnerUp are left null and the category-level verdicts are preserved here and in each product's own notes; Kobalt is set as budgetPick since it has an explicit verbatim value-framing quote. Two brand names are recurring auto-caption mangles resolved via the description and made-in-country/spec details: 'steel' resolves to Stihl (both the GTA 26 chainsaw and the separately-tested PS 70 hand saw, distinguished by context), and 'Cobalt' resolves to Kobalt. HART's stated weight (27.1 lb) is very likely a garbled transcript number given every other small-category saw weighs under 5 lb, and the closing summary's relative comparison ('30 percent more than the Milwaukee [4.8 lb] and more than twice the Stihl GTA 26 [3.2 lb] and SHQDD [2.7 lb]') implies a true value in roughly the 6-6.5 lb range; kept as reported rather than corrected since the two references only bound a range, not an exact value. Two short recap phrases are garbled and were resolved by context rather than guessed at randomly: 'the larger and heavier heart finished in second at 8.1 still 8.6' is read as 'HART second at 8.2 [seconds], Stihl 8.6', and 'the key to 3.6' is read as 'Makita 3.6 [seconds]'.