DeWalt Chainsaws

DeWalt's biggest saw — a 20" bar, up to 3,100W (DeWalt claims 50.2cc-gas-equivalent peak power), and a real 3/8"/.050 chain — aimed squarely at the EGO CS2005 and Milwaukee's M18 flagship. In testing it's legitimately fast, ripping through 16"+ hardwood, and the included hard carry case is a touch nobody else offers at this price. But this is the most polarizing saw in the group: the Ace Hardware aggregate sits at just 3.5 stars, with owners citing batteries that sag or shut down under sustained bucking, mixed durability, and the sheer 17.2 lb heft with the FlexVolt pack aboard. The kit's 4.0Ah (60V) battery is really a 12.0Ah 20V FlexVolt pack, which is great if you own other FlexVolt tools and expensive dead weight if you don't. Buy it if you're FlexVolt-committed and cut intermittently; look at EGO or gas if you're bucking cords every weekend.

DeWalt's little 12-incher is the chainsaw for people who own DeWalt drills — a 9 lb (with battery) camp-and-cleanup saw that runs on the same 20V Max packs as the rest of the yellow fleet. ToolGuyd's reviewer famously came in skeptical and left converted: for limbs, small trees, and construction demo cuts it's genuinely handy, with a claimed 90 cuts in 4x4 PT lumber from the included 5.0Ah pack. The recurring complaint in dated Home Depot reviews is the oil system: the cap shipped without a proper O-ring seal for years and the saw weeps bar oil when stored flat — some owners report leaks onto the trigger electronics — so it lives best hung up with the tank near-empty. It's no firewood saw: sustained cutting drains the 5.0Ah pack quickly and the 20V motor bogs in hardwood past ~8". As a grab-it-weekly property saw on a platform you already own, though, it's cheap, quiet, and always ready.