Professional Tool Reviews for Pros
When you’re cutting down small trees, especially at height, you want a reliable chainsaw that’s going to get the job done quickly and efficiently. Milwaukee’s M18 Fuel lineup includes a top handle chainsaw, which boasts competitive and pro-grade performance. We give you our take on how this tool will benefit lawncare professionals so you understand what to expect.
Editor’s Note: Check out our best battery chainsaw article for our top picks.
Milwaukee Tool actually includes two sizes of top handle chainsaw in the M18 Fuel lineup. You’ll have the option between a 12-inch and a 14-inch model, both of which Milwaukee claim cut faster than 35cc gas chainsaws. They have the power to cut hardwoods without the headaches that come with gas power, like fumes, maintenance, and cost.
The primary outdoor power tool here is the 14-inch model top handle chainsaw. Milwaukee touts that as the optimal tool for arborists looking for a quiet and powerful solution for climbing and limbing. Some applications make sense for the smaller saw, however. The first thing that comes to mind is the lineman. When you simply want a smaller saw for cutting back branches that get in the way of powerlines, 12-inches does the job.
I don’t know about you, but I want the weight of that saw as small as possible if I’m up in a bucket near power lines. If you need something more than a 12-inch bar, you don’t need to be dealing with that branch!
The Milwaukee M18 Fuel Top Handle Chainsaw features the expected electronics that let it reach full throttle quickly. How quickly? We pulled the trigger and it got to full speed in less than a second. Thanks to this technology, you can expect it to be easy to control and reduce downtime.
While Milwaukee told us that these chainsaws maintain their speed without bogging down, we had to test for ourselves. After watching others make several cuts using this saw with an XC 8.0 battery pack, we took our turn. On what we estimated was an 8- to 9-inch diameter log, we made nearly a dozen cuts—pushing the saw as we would a gas tool.
The Milwaukee M18 FUEL top handle chainsaw is STRONG. I can stall a gas saw—and I could have stalled this one by applying an unreasonable amount of pressure to the chain as it cut. With that said, it didn’t stall on any of those cuts, and I had a crowd of people around me staring. I wasn’t about to baby the tool with an audience!
So what about speed? Well, this chainsaw operates at around 15 meters per second (that’s around 49 feet per second). That’s not as fast as many gas-powered top handle chainsaws—which is where most of the complaining comes from online (we know who you are!) What Milwaukee does, however—like most battery-powered saws we’ve seen and used—is drop the speed and give you torque. That means you don’t really see the chain speed drop very much as you go through the cut. It’s very confident.
After making these cuts and wondering at the efficiency of the tool, I took a look at the battery. I still had three bars out of four. Having not been the first person to use this tool, I can see why Milwaukee would claim up to 150 cuts per charge in 4×4 cedar with an M18 Redlithium high output XC8.0 battery. We were working the tool a lot harder than you would on 4×4 cedar.
The only niggle we had with this chainsaw was the small, thin trigger. I often had to adjust my grip to get the Milwaukee 2826 top-handle up to full speed. With time, I figured it out, but I always like tools to intuitively work as I expect. We plan to do more testing when we get this tool in for a full review.
The 12-inch model retails for $339 as a bare tool. The 14-inch model comes as a kit for $479. We will update this article as more information becomes available about these chainsaws ahead of their January 2023 release.
When he's not playing with the latest power tool, Clint DeBoer enjoys life as a husband, father, and avid reader—especially the Bible. He loves Jesus, has a degree in recording engineering, and has been involved in multimedia and/or online publishing in one form or another since 1992.
Clint’s career has covered nearly the entire realm of audio and video production. After graduating at the top of his class with an Associates Degree in Recording Engineering, he began working for the famed Soundelux studios in 1994, one of the largest post-production companies specializing in audio for feature films & television. Working on a myriad of feature films, Clint honed his skills as a dialogue editor, foley editor, and sound designer. Years later, he moved into the expanding area of video editing, where he served as the company’s senior AVID video editor for three years.
Working for such clients as Universal Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Paramount Home Entertainment, NASA, Universal Studios, Planet Hollywood, SEGA, NASCAR, and others, Clint DeBoer dealt extensively with client management as well as film & video editing, color correction, and digital video & MPEG compression. He also carries several THX certifications (Technician I and II, THX Video), and is ISF Level II Certified.
After founding the CD Media, Inc. publishing company in 1996, he went on to help start or grow several successful online publications, including Audioholics (as Editor-in-Chief for 12 years), Audiogurus, and AV Gadgets. In 2008, Clint founded Pro Tool Reviews followed by the landscape and outdoor power equipment-focused OPE Reviews in 2017. He also heads up the Pro Tool Innovation Awards, an annual awards program honoring innovative tools and accessories across the trades.
Crediting God and his excellent staff for the success of what is now the largest power tool review publication in the industry, Clint DeBoer hopes to see continued growth for the company as it rapidly expands its reach. Pro Tool Reviews critically reviews hundreds of hand tools, power tools, and accessories each year to help inform users about the best and newest products in the industry. Reaching everyone from the construction industry professional and tradesman to the serious DIYer, Pro Tool Reviews helps tool consumers shop better, work smarter, and stay aware of what tools and products can help put them at the top of their game.
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The complaint about slower chain speed is the chatter it causes on small branches. It is valid, in my experience. That’s not a knock on this saw, I just would prefer a higher chain speed on a top handle saw.
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Professional Tool Reviews for Pros