When Milwaukee first announced its entry into the OPE market, we had two questions – where’s the chainsaw and will we get a mower? The Milwaukee M18 Fuel Chainsaw is here and boasting some impressive power. The product team tells us they’re exceeding 40cc gas performance out of it.
Feature Set
- 16-inch bar
- Kitted with RedLithium High Output 12.0 Ah battery (216 watt-hours)
- Brushless motor
- Metal bucking spikes
- Variable speed trigger
- Automatic oiler
- Dual stud bar retention
- Onboard scrench storage
A major talking point for the Milwaukee M18 Fuel Chainsaw is the power source – a High Output 12.0 Ah battery. This pack has 216 watt-hours in it, which is the equivalent of two 6.0 Ah packs or three 4.0 amp hour packs.
In internal testing, Milwaukee tells us they get 150 cuts in 6 x 6 cedar. Of course, every species is different and you never get a perfectly consistent branch to cut, but that still gives us an idea of how much cutting you can get.
OPE Review Field Testing
Tim Johnson from our OPE Reviews site did some runtime testing and got 100 cuts in 6-inch oak with 2 bars left on the battery. Perhaps more impressively, he put it head to head against Husqvarna’s popular 460 Rancher to see how it compares in cutting speed to our baseline saw. Spoiler alert: Milwaukee was faster.
Pricing
With a 12.0 High Output battery, the Milwaukee M18 Fuel Chainsaw runs $399. Here’s how a few other competitors stack up:
- Makita 18V X2 XCU04PT: $409 (180 watt-hour kit)
- DeWalt 40V Max DCCS690X1: $399.99 (216 watt-hour kit)
- EGO 56V CS1604: $279 (280 watt-hour kit)
Clearly, Milwaukee’s pricing is right in line with the other major power tool manufacturers. EGO comes in quite a bit less, but there’s a caveat: according to EGO, it’s technically a homeowner model. We’ll have to wait and see what the EGO commercial pricing and performance look like before it’s in direct competition with these other models.
Milwaukee M18 Fuel Chainsaw Specifications
- Model: Milwaukee 2727-21HD
- Power Source: Milwaukee M18 RedLithium battery
- Bar Size: 16″
- Speed: 6600 RPM
- Chain Gauge: 0.043″
- Chain Pitch: 3/8″
- Weight: 13.9 pounds with battery
- Warranty: 3 years
- Price: $449 (kit with 12.0 Ah battery)
