The first thing that stood out to me about this 18V chainsaw was its 30cm Oregon bar and chain – a sign of top quality. It has also been designed with a brushless motor, which makes any machine significantly more efficient. Other than that, the rest of its design features were pretty standard, but there were definitely no flaws either. Health benefits – in addition to saving yourself from the noise that a petrol chainsaw makes, a cordless chainsaw also won’t subject you to exhaust fumes This machine is also a great size. Its 30cm bar makes it very versatile, while the body itself is relatively compact. It’s easy to get a firm grip on the handles, and the minimal vibration makes things more comfortable. As we found when we reviewed six of the top cordless chainsaw models available, battery runtime greatly varies between models, even if you’re using the same sized battery. The difference can be pretty significant – a 5aH battery could give you 15 minutes of runtime with one model, yet 45 minutes with another.

Considering this big oversight, I would have to say that this chainsaw is a little pricey. You could spend a similar amount of money and bag yourself a chainsaw that’s fitted with all of the right safety features while also having a larger motor and longer bar. However, it wouldn’t be easy to find another chainsaw that’s this lightweight – most are significantly heavier. If low weight is a high priority, then this battery powered chainsaw would be considered good value. Although they may be smaller and lighter than their petrol alternatives, cordless chainsaws still have the potential to cause just as much damage should an accident occur. As a result, you need to take safety very seriously. I was very happy with how this machine performed. It neatly sliced through both large branches and small trunks, with the maximum diameter it could handle being roughly 50cm (when you cut from both sides). They’re very lightweight when compared to petrol chainsaws – this not only makes them easier to move around to different parts of your garden, but also gives you more manoeuvrability if you need to take your chainsaw up a ladder or a treeRyobi products are always very distinctive with their green and grey colour palette, and, visually, this one fits perfectly into their ONE+ garden tool range. Just about all of the best battery powered chainsaws need to be assembled in the same way. This isn’t complicated – it’s only the bar and chain that need to be attached. Ryobi has designed this machine to make that whole process tool-less, including when it comes to adjusting the chain tension at the end. As a result, assembly only took 10 minutes and was a very easy task. The length of a chainsaw’s cutting bar will determine the size of wood that you can use the machine on. Although cordless chainsaws usually have a shorter bar than petrol chainsaws, there’s still a fair bit of variation to choose from, usually between 15-30cm. I was impressed with its charging time – it only took about an hour, which is on par with the Makita batteries that I also tested. All of the other cordless chainsaw batteries I used took much longer to charge.

Cordless chainsaws have many benefits, but there’s some restrictions to bear in mind as well. For one, cordless models tend to be pricier than the conventional alternatives. I was already impressed after examining this machine’s design, but became even more so once I started to actually use the chainsaw. It performed brilliantly – I can’t fault it at all. From small branches to tree trunks with a diameter of around 65cm , this chainsaw sliced through it all without once stalling or requiring any force. I even had a professional tree surgeon test out the six chainsaws that I was reviewing, and, having always had a low opinion of battery powered chainsaws, he was even more impressed than I was at how it performed, to the point where he now wants to buy his own Makita! Ryobi recommends using at least a 4.0aH battery with this 18V chainsaw. While it’ll work with smaller ONE+ batteries, your runtime wouldn’t be long enough to make it worth your while. So, since I had a fair bit of wood to get through, I went slightly larger with a 5.0aH battery.

Ryobi’s power tools are usually very capable and reliable (I recently reviewed the brand’s cordless strimmer and leaf blower and thought exactly that), so I was excited to be testing out their ONE+ Cordless Brushless 30cm Chainsaw. Storm Arwen had toppled several large trees around my farm, so not only did I have their big trunks to slice up into logs, but I also had a huge blanket of branches that needed to be cut up for firewood. Incidentally, Ryobi states that this battery powered chainsaw has been designed for cutting logs and firewood, so this was the perfect chance to put this machine through its paces. Thankfully, this is no longer the case. The cordless chainsaws of today are now more powerful and efficient than ever. In some cases, their performance even rivals that of the best petrol chainsaws. This chainsaw has also been designed with a brushless motor. This basically means that the motor creates minimal friction when it’s running, resulting in higher power and a longer runtime for the battery.