My new toy is

[lowell holmes]

a 12" Dewalt cordless battery powered chain saw. It is really handy for trimming plants and sticks in the yard.
The difference between a man and a boy is the price of his toys. It cost less than $200.

[Frederick Skelly]

Sounds good. Have you tried it on a small tree yet, maybe 4" diameter?

[lowell holmes]

It has an 12" long bar and will easily handle a 4" trunk.

[Jim Koepke]

My first chain saw was a small electric model, though it had a cord. It was purchased used for $20.

My biggest mistake was selling it.

Now my gas chainsaw has a 20" bar. It would be nice at times to have the small one for cutting firewood and other small tasks.

jtk

[Roger Feeley]

I'm on my second corded electric. I considered cordless but I really don't want to get into another type of battery. I settled on DeWalt for tools and Ryobi One for outside stuff. I didn't like the Ryobi cordless so I bought a corded something. It's fine and much more reliable than gas for the 5 times a year that I use it.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Past week, fell and cut up three dead hard woods, using a mid eighties Sears electric. Trees were about 14" at base, so it maxed out the 16" bar. Used log splitter that we built in mid eighties to split them into fire wood. Because of the stringiness, a maul was out of the question. Stacked some of the wood by the road with a FREE sign on it. Left a note saying there was more down the driveway. Almost all is now gone. One person was nice enough to leave a thank you note!

[Alan Rutherford]

I bought a bunch of 40-volt Ryobi stuff with the first stimulus payment and if it ain't perfect, it ain't bad. The 14" chainsaw will never be the little workhorse the Stihl MS 180 it's my alternative to is, but it gets the job done. It has cut up downed logs so thick the bar wouldn't quite reach through the log. Downed a number of trees up to 12" or so. Last week it removed the top 20 feet of an oak that had fallen right across the driveway, about 8" in diameter. I find I'm more willing to abuse it by cutting into the dirt for example and that's been an advantage.

Pro: All it needs is a charged battery and some oil. Pull the trigger and it runs - I'm not always setting it down running or restarting it. No carburetor or spark plug issues. Not so noisy.
Con: It uses a LOT of oil. I have to tighten the chain nearly every time I use it. I hope that will be fixed with a new chain and doesn't mean the adjustment slips. It's not quite as powerful as an equivalent-weight gas chainsaw.

If I were starting over today, I'd get the battery chainsaw, skip the small Stihl and get a bigger one for when I needed it (or borrow the neighbor's).