I’m looking at purchasing a DeWalt battery chainsaw. Trying to find out if the battery and charger would be compatible with one of their circular saws.
You generally need to match the voltage. Looks like the chainsaws are all 60V so you’d want to match the circular saw based on that.
I own a 20V Dewalt chainsaw. I think they’re still available. Probably not as powerful as the 60V, but does what I need it to do. And yes, you need to match the voltage of your tools.
I LOVE my DeWalt chainsaw. 60 volts and so nice not to have to deal with gasoline.
The various voltages from the different vendors is a pain. In some ways it just seems like a way of deliberately obsoleting tools for little good reason.
I’m a dyed in the wool Makita fanboy. (Cut me and my blood drips in teal.) But I remain totally annoyed at them with their 18 volt, 36 volt (two 18 volt batteries) and now 40 volt systems. Why the heck is there a 40 volt system? Why isn’t it 36 volts? They could have produced a compatibility shim that allowed a single 36 volt battery to clip onto the 36 volt systems. But they didn’t. Grumble grumble.
All the vendors just want you to buy that first tool. Then you lock in.
Most tools will rip your arm off with only an 18 volt battery. A few might benefit from the improved efficiency of a 40 or 60 volt system. I already have a proper chain saw. There are still no battery powered ones that will match it. But for the average home gamer, a battery one is likely fine. The occasional use cutting branches or logs is no big deal. Same deal with the brush cutter. Big Sthil. Sthil make a battery powered cutter. It is hilariously useless. It would cost about twice its value to get the big battery pack to match the utility of the gas powered unit. But if you are just trimming your lawn, fine.
Like most things, YMMV. But don’t get upsold.
So do I, a big Stihl. The battery powered chainsaw was an experiment. I do tree work most weekends. Haven’t started up my Stihl since buying the battery powered DeWalt.
This- each of the manufacturer’s various lines are essentially defined by the battery voltage, at least in terms of compatibility and marketing.
So for example, take my 18v Milwaukee drill and impact driver. They’re both compatible with all the Milwaukee 18v batteries, both the regular and the other series- XC, High Output, and Forge. And vice-versa, in that my batteries work with any of the 18v tools.
So for DeWalt chainsaws, they’re either in the 20v MAX or the 60v MAX series, meaning that if you get a chainsaw in either battery category, they’re compatible with all the others in that battery category.
For your original question- yes, they make a DeWalt 60v MAX circular saw.
60V MAX* Brushless Cordless 7-1/4 in. Circular Saw with Electronic Brake Kit | DEWALT
DeWalt apparently makes “Flexvolt” batteries that can do either 20 or 60v, so maybe it doesn’t really matter so much.
FLEXVOLT Battery System | DEWALT
No kidding. My 18v Milwaukee impact driver typically cranks 3" construction screws 3/8" below flush in the blink of an eye into pressure treated lumber. (“BRRAAP!”) It’s actually a little bit annoying how powerful it is.
I have a number of Milwaukee tools that take the M18 FUEL 18V Lithium-Ion batteries, including a chainsaw. Have been very impressed with them so far. The only thing I don’t like is that the batteries are really expensive.
Another thing to keep in mind: you should not assume that higher voltage is necessarily better. On paper it would seem to be, since higher voltage = less current = greater efficiency, all else being equal. But higher voltage also means more cells in series. And as you stack more and more cells in series, ensuring each cell has the same charge during charging (“balance”) becomes more and more difficult.
Yeah, my old DeWalt 12v tools finally started acting funny after about 12 years and in the case of the drill, accidentally being broiled while working on the oven door.
So I did some research and paid attention to what the trade guys who have done some work on our house used (plumbers and floor installers), and the Milwaukee 18v tools were a pretty clear top choice. I ended up with the brushless drill/driver set because it was on some kind of holiday sale at the Ace Hardware near me.
I’ve been entirely pleased with them thus far. More oomph than the 12v DeWalt by quite a margin, they charge quickly, and they seem to be quite sturdy and tough. Of course I’m a homeowner, not a tradesman, so that may or may not actually be true.
For what it’s worth, most of the contractors I’ve come into contact with in the last few years used DeWalt cordless tools. The rest used Milwaukee brand. When questioned they said they loved them.
I cheaped out and bought a Skil 20V coreless impact driver and drill. So far I’ve liked them fine. The batteries hold a charge a long time and they do what I want them to do, but they’re relatively noisy.
(Incidentally, Skil also makes the Denali brand of 20V coreless tools and their batteries are interchangeable.)
I had, and still have, somewhere, a couple of Makita 9.6V drills, but their batteries were crap. I don’t know about their more recent offerings.
I recently moved from DeWalt 18v to 20v Max. I have two drills, an impact driver, a random orbit sander, an oscillating multitool, a leaf blower, and a small chainsaw. The 18v tools survived a decade of use, including drops from 10’ onto concrete. The 20v tools seem even more solidly made and the batteries are lighter and more compact. I even have ancient 12v drill still going although I need to use an battery.
The 20v chainsaw is useful for heavy pruning beyond the ability of my reciprocating saw. Not really made for felling trees, but feels a lot safer than a gas chain saw.
It’s the exact same. 18V vs ‘20V max’ is exactly the same damn thing. 18V is the working voltage and 20V (max) is the open circuit voltage that can be achieved with fully charged batteries. So that 40V system is actually 36 volts and yes could be met with 2x18 V batteries.
Paging @Bob_Blaylock for his input, as a professional electrician with a strong fondness for DeWalt tools.
I think pretty much all of DeWalt’s current battery-operated tools are based on the same basic line of 20V batteries. There is a variant, that they call “FlexVolt”, where the battery can output 60 volts or 20 volts, and a line of tools that run on 60 volts, and require those batteries. The “FlexVolt” batteries can also be used to power the standard 20V tools. I cannot say for certain that this is how it works, but my very good guess is that the “FlexVolt” have their cells arranged in three banks, and can configure themselves to connect those banks in series for 60-volt output; or in parallel for 20-volt output or for being charged on 20-volt chargers.
In any event, any modern 20V DeWalt power tool should run on any modern DeWalt battery, but a 60-volt tool will require the “FlexVolt” battery.