Stihl Battery Chainsaw Review | I tried the Stihl MSA 70 C (Do I Like It)?

Stihl Battery Chainsaw Review // I finally had the opportunity to try out a battery powered Stihl chainsaw for the first time. I this video I share my thoughts on the Stihl MSA 70 C.

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Thanks for watching this Stihl battery chainsaw review video!

- Roland


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#chainsaw #stihlchainsaw #stihl

[cellerfeller]

I have the same saw - keep it on my Honda 1000 side by side to clear trails. I have junked 16" logs with it no problem. I liked it so much I bought the Stihl battery lawnmower ( love that too). I have 3 batteries - straight cutting one battery lasts about 15-20 minutes but you get a lot of work done. I have cleared hundreds of meters of atv trails with mine. It is important to get the right file and the mini file guide to sharpen. Refill the oil on the second battery and this little saw will wear you out before all your batteries are dead. Can't say enough good things about this saw and I am a retired Forest Ranger who started out cutting pulp and logs in Eastern Canada.

[joelsalikin]

I got one of these. If i did my homework i would have bought the msa 60 c for a hundred bucks less and got the ak30 battery as well. Then i would have an extra battery and same performance as the msa 70 c. They are the same saw with a different battery

[alphabob]

Thanks for taking the time to share this review!

[LowSkillFarmer]

Thanks for explaining this, may buy one next year for smaller jobs

[strongsadventures]

Roland when I replace all my 18v Dewalt stuff with 20v tools I got a small chain saw. Man that little thing was impressive. I have no doubt that this saw from Stihl will preform just as well as a gas powered one. Nice review buddy.

[crhu]

Upsides of electric saws:

1. Quiet. You can hear others, warn them, hear their acknowledgements, do t beed ear protection, and work without disturbing anyone

2. Instant on/off, far safer when the saw kicks back and allows you to trigger/untrigger more often.

3. Far simpler saw with few moving parts.

But keep in mind:

4. You cut faster and so can make mistakes faster. Plan the cut before you hit the trigger, of course, but realize you are not "wasting gas" with a saw idling. You can plan for an hour, that battery will still be where it was.

5. Quiet can be a disadvantage as noise is a warning to others. Someone with a trimmer working with you wont hear a thing with ear protection and/or his own running. He could walk up on you limbing a low branch and walk right into the saw blade. The saw could maybe have another warning like blinking red 'in use' LED facing away from the operator.

6. Good brand name battery saws are far more tempting theft targets. Don't leave them in back of a pickup. Theyre very clean and don't stink of gasoline, keep them in sealed boxes or passenger compartment.

[crhu]

Its a very GOOD saw with a very BAD battery. The high end AK30 is just 36V when most manufacturers are at a much more standard 48V. Its 180Wh at 1.3kg which is like 150-170 allowing for the so called dust and moisture proof case, wiring, heat sensor and BMS in it. There may also be proprietary lock in John Deer type crap to force you to only ever use their weak batteries & chargers.

The battery obeys no interchange standard i can find. This guarantees it will always be an inferior battery to brands that emable an aftermarket.

When working near a source of AC power, like a generator or battery dolly or EV or building, it would be ideal to have an adapter for the battery slot that ran directly off AC. This would offset the lousy battery a lot.

We will see if a compatible AK40 and AK50 come out with more like modern 700-800Wh/kg technology, which would cut the weight of the battery while extending cut time. The battery placement mid saw seems to acknowledge that this is where the weight will be changing most over the life of the saw. With its 5 year warranty i expect several of these lousy AK30 batteries will go to the recycler, and in a year or two it will just make sense to scrap every AK10 AK20 AK30 in existence for new tech.

A serious Chinese manufacturer could produce a $99 battery right now with 4x the Wh, zero fire risk, conpatible with more standard chargers you can get anywhere.

Stihl will of course never allow it, so expect to see this saw cloned and improved soon, using some proper China sponsored battery interface standard at 48-59V, becoming as standard as AA, AAA, D and 9V cells.

The saw itself is great but id advise to leave limbing for other weaker saws like handheld trimmers, which have cheap interchangeable battery packs or run direct off any nearby AC. Then youre not wasting your wildly expensive weak ass AK30 on this.

Oh, and lithium ion batteries should be stored at 60% and allowed to drip to 45% then recharged. Never store them at 100% that wears them out fast. If youre doing a quick job charge to 80% then store the battery run down to 60. The four lights in the charger dont help, five six or eight would be much better.