As humans, our natural instinct is to fear change and resist anything new. So, when chatting with arborists about the new EGO Cordless Battery Top Handle Chainsaw (CSX3000), I received mixed opinions. But after getting it in their hands for the day, it was a different conversation altogether.
Yannick Guezou from Tree Frog Tree Specialists has been an arborist for a long time and has seen many changes during his time. He climbs every now and then these days but has done an excellent job training up and teaching his climber Jasper, since he was a complete novice. Jasper has been with Yannick through his time at TAFE, and the pair work very well together around the Northern Beaches.
Chatting with Yannick initially, I got the feeling that he was so used to petrol chainsaws he might resist the new technology. Still, after the Tree Frog team had completed a job in Manly Vale, his comments were music to my ears, and the lack of noise from the EGO while cutting was music to his.
Yannick shared, “For more than 30 years, I’ve had petrol chainsaws screaming in my ears. The fact that that is now gone is just amazing. The EGO saw’s weight is impressive, and it’s a small and compact size making it excellent for climbing. As we saw today, you can now cut substantial barrels and thick branches with a battery-powered chainsaw with ease – it is just amazing.”
ARC Lithium 56V rechargeable batteries
To power the EGO Cordless Top Handle Chainsaw (CSX3000), we were provided with two batteries, one being larger in size and capacity at 5Ah, plus a more compact and lighter 2.5Ah.
After chatting with Yannick it was clear that he felt the 5Ah, was more suited to ground cutting duties, while the lighter and smaller 2.5Ah was better suited to the climbing duties.
Watching Jasper both climb and cut on a large gum, slicing through impressively sized thick branches, I was impressed with both his natural climbing style and ability as well as the EGO’s performance. This chainsaw isn’t lacking in power, and the ARC Lithium batteries obviously had a lot of power to drive the brushless motor operating the EGO saw.
These ARC batteries place the cells in an innovative arc shape which keeps the battery producing a lot of power and temps low. An easy-to-see, while in use, LED gauge displays remaining battery power, and a power management system prevents over-discharging and extends battery life. A unique Keep Cool Cell technology prevents overheating.
When chatting with Jasper about his experience with the EGO, he was impressed with the results. Jasper said, “It’s pretty light, making it great for when you have to reach out and position the saw. Its ergonomics make it easy to get into the perfect position. Having the battery mounted on your lower back with the harness felt a little different at first. Having the weight of the battery that you are not used to is different at first, but you get used to it pretty quickly, and before you know it, you forget it’s even there.”
Jasper continued, “Having not used an electric saw like this before, I was worried about power and battery duration on jobs, but after actually using the saw, I no longer have any reservations at all. I was impressed with the size of some of the sections we got through, and it had no problem ripping through it. In relation to the batteries, I liked the smaller 2.5Ah for climbing. I would run with two or three of these batteries and just rotate them as required when needed and charge while not in use. Apparently, you will get over 200 cuts per charge – which is awesome, and the battery is fully charged in 40 mins, so your battery will be fully recharged before you have even come close to draining the replacement, when you’re climbing. The power lead is built into the safety strap, which didn’t get caught or hung up. It’s quite an interesting design, as the stiffness of the strap is excellent as it doesn’t get caught up on branches as easily as a standard lanyard would.”
Using with battery holster
The holster which houses and secures the battery is designed to be fitted to the back of the operator’s belt – the idea being that the harness stays fitted, and you just swap out the batteries as needed. The two safety straps go behind and under the belt, then lock in to secure the harness to the belt – a simple and secure system. From there, it is easy to swap out batteries when climbing to get a new fresh battery when needed.
The wrap up
In wrapping up this impressive little performer, it really has exceeded everyone’s expectations. Its power, lightweight and runtime seems to be the huge benefits, along with the fact it is extremely quiet as you would hope from a battery-powered high power tool.
The main area EGO has left to fine-tune is just simply adding some shoulder straps or similar to reduce a little more weight of the waist-mounted harness. But again, once using the system for an hour and getting used to the new set up this wasn’t a big issue at all.
The EGO Cordless Top Handle Chainsaw (CSX3000) is well worth a closer inspection to make up your mind, but as I always say, if the technology and performance are there, why wouldn’t you check it out and give it a go.