When Milwaukee first announced its entry into the OPE market, we had two questions – where’s the chainsaw and will we get a mower? The Milwaukee M18 Fuel Chainsaw is here and boasting some impressive power. The product team tells us they’re exceeding 40cc gas performance out of it.
Feature Set
- 16-inch bar
- Kitted with RedLithium High Output 12.0 Ah battery (216 watt-hours)
- Brushless motor
- Metal bucking spikes
- Variable speed trigger
- Automatic oiler
- Dual stud bar retention
- Onboard scrench storage
A major talking point for the Milwaukee M18 Fuel Chainsaw is the power source – a High Output 12.0 Ah battery. This pack has 216 watt-hours in it, which is the equivalent of two 6.0 Ah packs or three 4.0 amp hour packs.
In internal testing, Milwaukee tells us they get 150 cuts in 6 x 6 cedar. Of course, every species is different and you never get a perfectly consistent branch to cut, but that still gives us an idea of how much cutting you can get.
OPE Review Field Testing
Tim Johnson from our OPE Reviews site did some runtime testing and got 100 cuts in 6-inch oak with 2 bars left on the battery. Perhaps more impressively, he put it head to head against Husqvarna’s popular 460 Rancher to see how it compares in cutting speed to our baseline saw. Spoiler alert: Milwaukee was faster.
Pricing
With a 12.0 High Output battery, the Milwaukee M18 Fuel Chainsaw runs $399. Here’s how a few other competitors stack up:
- Makita 18V X2 XCU04PT: $409 (180 watt-hour kit)
- DeWalt 40V Max DCCS690X1: $399.99 (216 watt-hour kit)
- EGO 56V CS1604: $279 (280 watt-hour kit)
Clearly, Milwaukee’s pricing is right in line with the other major power tool manufacturers. EGO comes in quite a bit less, but there’s a caveat: according to EGO, it’s technically a homeowner model. We’ll have to wait and see what the EGO commercial pricing and performance look like before it’s in direct competition with these other models.
Milwaukee M18 Fuel Chainsaw Specifications
- Model: Milwaukee 2727-21HD
- Power Source: Milwaukee M18 RedLithium battery
- Bar Size: 16″
- Speed: 6600 RPM
- Chain Gauge: 0.043″
- Chain Pitch: 3/8″
- Weight: 13.9 pounds with battery
- Warranty: 3 years
- Price: $449 (kit with 12.0 Ah battery)
Don’t buy one. They have a design error and Milwaukee won’t admit it. The bar bolts have a small hex head inside set into a small plastic hex as backup and the plastic hex fails allowing the bar bolts too spin. I bought one and within the first hour when removing the nut the bolt started spinning. How many times over the years have we saw a plastic hex or spline fail?? A lot. Milwaukee denied warranty claiming user error. At first Milwaukee refused to even return my saw. Once I got it back this is what I found. Wasted… Read more »
Hey Kenny: Good job on your endurance sports pursuits. I’m a longtime road cyclist, who aspires to try a TRI. (couldn’t resist !) I am a huge firewood & chainsaw enthusiast, and have been enjoying two similar Chainsaws, the 80v Kobalt 16″ and the similar Snapper 60v 16″ saw. Our Kobalt has several 2ah batteries, and I have a 4ah + 2.5ah for the Snapper. Both saws are very strong, around 40cc saw performance and best thing is: quiet operation, no fumes and no worries on engine tuning / performance. As long as you’re near an 120v outlet, or have… Read more »
The battery description is decent, appreciate that two 6ah packs and 3 4ah packs, but how many 2ah packs is it?
How does it stack up against the Echo 58V? Trying to decide between the Echo and Milwaukee! I already have the 58V string trimmer and 4ah battery, but the rest of my tools are M18.
Kirk Bird – 40cc they say , you would know