DeWalt 20V Max XR 12" Chainsaw Kit vs EGO Power+ CS1201 12" Compact Chainsaw Kit
Tinted cells mark the better figure on that row alone: more engine, longer bar, lighter, cheaper. A lighter weight is only a win on the same basis.
What owners like and complain about
DeWalt 20V Max XR 12" Chainsaw Kit
- Cheapest way into a name-brand battery saw if you already own 20V Max packs — bare tool often dips under $150
- 9 lbs with battery and compact enough for one-hand-assisted limbing (with care)
- Tool-free tensioning knob makes chain adjustments genuinely painless
- Quiet enough for neighborhood use and campground-legal where gas saws draw glares
- Low-kickback 12" Oregon bar/chain suits nervous first-time chainsaw owners
- 3-year warranty with DeWalt's huge service network behind it
- Chronic bar-oil leakage — the oil cap seal is the single most repeated gripe in years of retailer reviews
- 20V motor bogs in hardwood much past 8" — this is a limbing saw, not a bucking saw
- Sustained cutting flattens the 5.0Ah pack in 15-20 minutes of trigger time
- No chain brake lever — it relies on a low-kickback chain instead, which serious users consider a real omission
- Newer DCCS621/DCCS623 models are lighter, leaving the 620 feeling dated at full price
EGO Power+ CS1201 12" Compact Chainsaw Kit
- Lightest saw EGO sells at 8.4 lb with the 2.5Ah pack — genuinely usable overhead or at arm's length
- Cuts far above its size class; TechGearLab measured a 4x4 in 8.1 seconds and 32 nine-inch pine discs in six minutes
- Tool-free chain tensioning and tool-free chain changes, no scrench hunting
- Shares the same 56V ARC packs as EGO mowers, blowers, and trimmers
- 5-year tool / 3-year battery warranty, matching the best terms in the battery-saw class
- About six minutes of continuous cutting on the included 2.5Ah pack — a second battery is effectively required for anything beyond cleanup
- EGO caps it at 5.0Ah packs and smaller, so you cannot buy your way to long runtime
- 81 dBA with a high-pitched whine under load; quieter compact saws exist
- Flush oil filler traps sawdust — clean the deck before every refill or debris goes into the reservoir
- 12" bar and modest oiler put a hard ceiling near 10" wood