EGO Power+ CS1201 12" Compact Chainsaw Kit vs EGO Power+ CS1401 14" 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
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
EGO Power+ CS1401 14" Chainsaw Kit
- Long owner track record — multi-year reports of the saw simply working with no starting ritual
- Reversible bar and narrow-kerf sprocket nose stretch bar life on a saw that gets intermittent use
- Tool-free chain tensioning, and replacement 14" bars and chains are cheap and widely stocked
- Shallow bucking spikes that owners say skate on wet bark instead of digging in
- Noticeably short on power in hardwood past roughly 8" — it is a limbing saw by capability, not just by bar length
- 2.5Ah kit pack is the smallest in EGO's chainsaw range; EGO's own claim is 100 cuts in 4x4 pine
- Pre-dates the metal spikes and twist-dial tensioner on EGO's newer saws, yet costs about what the newer 16" kit does
- Scattered owner reports of dead-on-arrival units, so check it cuts before the return window closes