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VDEG 4.1a- Everything You Need To Know For Your Backcountry BF Expedition


Kiwakwe

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On 3/29/2021 at 12:31 PM, BlackRockBigfoot said:

Lowe's has the 14 inch Ego chainsaw on sale right now.  I picked one up when we got home yesterday afternoon.  

 

My initial impressions are extremely positive.  I am probably going to pick up a 5ah battery for it this week.  This is exactly what I need in case I get blocked in by a downed tree on some old mountain road.

 

They are $219 right now with the battery and charger.  

Good deal! Thanks for the heads up.

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Cool, glad it worked out. I checked the home despot last time in to see their pricing, none in stock. I didn't ask cuz odds are they wouldn't know... I like the improved battery gauge, mine simply has a green or red/dead, no indication of percentage left- that's helpful.  One thing to always have with the battery operated saws is the appropriate chain file. It's typically pretty easy to keep the teeth out of the rocks/gravel for a road clearing but on occasion they meet and it doesn't take much to knock back the cut efficiency by 50%.

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  • 6 months later...

@BlackRockBigfoot  Have you been happy with the Ego chainsaw and had an opportunity to use it?  Does the charger have a USB port? I was thinking that if the battery discharged completely and still needed to cut more, in a pinch I could connect the charger to a NOCO battery port.  

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10 hours ago, wiiawiwb said:

@BlackRockBigfoot  Have you been happy with the Ego chainsaw and had an opportunity to use it?  Does the charger have a USB port? I was thinking that if the battery discharged completely and still needed to cut more, in a pinch I could connect the charger to a NOCO battery port.  

I have been extremely happy with it so far… I have used it around our property as well as using it to help take down a dead tree while out in the mountains.  
 

The charger does not have a USB port.  It has to be plugged into an outlet.  We carry a CAT jump box/tire pump/charger with us that we can plug the charger into in a pinch.  However, with the additional higher capacity battery…I can’t imagine running out of power when out.  Especially if you just needed to remove a tree or three that were blocking the road.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

I picked up a 10" Bauer chainsaw from Harbor Freight because they had a really good BOGO type deal on a tool, charger and 5 amp hour battery. That combined with a 20% off coupon and I ended up with a angle grinder, brad nailer, and chainsaw for really really cheap. I even got an extra 5 Ah battery in the deal. I was thinking the little chainsaw would be handy to have in the back country when there is a log down which has happened before. It seems pretty good, but I did notice that it seems to leak bar oil when not in use. So, I'll just have to keep a few extra small bottles with me in the new Jeep (if and when it ever arrives, sheesh, it's been 5 weeks and 4 days, but who's counting). But it's a heckuva lot quieter than a 2 stroke.

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1 hour ago, NorthWind said:

......(if and when it ever arrives, sheesh, it's been 5 weeks and 4 days,but who's counting).

 

i know what you mean ;)

Edited by hiflier
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On 11/18/2021 at 9:33 AM, NorthWind said:

I picked up a 10" Bauer chainsaw from Harbor Freight because they had a really good BOGO type deal on a tool, charger and 5 amp hour battery. That combined with a 20% off coupon and I ended up with a angle grinder, brad nailer, and chainsaw for really really cheap. I even got an extra 5 Ah battery in the deal. I was thinking the little chainsaw would be handy to have in the back country when there is a log down which has happened before. It seems pretty good, but I did notice that it seems to leak bar oil when not in use. So, I'll just have to keep a few extra small bottles with me in the new Jeep (if and when it ever arrives, sheesh, it's been 5 weeks and 4 days, but who's counting). But it's a heckuva lot quieter than a 2 stroke.

I don't know that I've ever dealt with a chainsaw that didn't leak bar oil. None of them electric though. Always carried them around in a tub. Recently picked up a dedicated chainsaw case that fit the Husky. Anyone have an electric that doesn't leak? @BlackRockBigfoot does the Ego leak while sitting?

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17 minutes ago, Kiwakwe said:

I don't know that I've ever dealt with a chainsaw that didn't leak bar oil. None of them electric though. Always carried them around in a tub. Recently picked up a dedicated chainsaw case that fit the Husky. Anyone have an electric that doesn't leak? @BlackRockBigfoot does the Ego leak while sitting?

Not that I have noticed.  I recently took it out of its home spot in my vehicle and didn’t notice any oil.  So far, my experience has been really positive with the Ego.  

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10 hours ago, BlackRockBigfoot said:

Not that I have noticed.  I recently took it out of its home spot in my vehicle and didn’t notice any oil.  So far, my experience has been really positive with the Ego.  

Good to hear. Thanks!

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I've been looking carefully at the Ego, Echo, and Dewalt electric chainsaws. As has been astutely mentioned, the cost of batteries are outrageous. Carrying an extra battery is not a workable solution for me as the cost when added to original cost of a chainsaw brings the total cost approaching $600. For example, the ECHO 16" costs $350 and an additional battery would be roughly $230 bringing the total to $580.  The 18" Ego would be about the same total cost as the Echo (perhaps a little higher), the 16" Ego about $550.  

 

The most imortant question to me is the run time when cutting through a tree.  I don't want to assume the tree will be small nor softwood.  There's a pretty good review on YouTube of various electric chainsaws that only lasted between 3 and 8 minutes when faced with an 11" hardwood tree.  They used that information to calculate the number of passes one could make through an 11" hardwood tree.  ECHO 16" could do 32 cuts.  I assume that the Ego 16" or 18" with the larger battery (5Ah) would post similar results to the ECHO.

 

Do you think it safe to assume these are going to be able to get through a 14" downed hardwood tree and remove it from a jeep trail without using straps and with only the one battery?

 

 

 

Edited by wiiawiwb
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I can't add any experential data on your hypothetical downed 14" hardwood but minimally, 5 cuts to remove (4) 2' long easily moved pieces which should give you passage. Probably doable with a relatively sharp chain and a full charge based on wild speculation.

 

In other news, VDEG is on sale, $60 here: https://www.exploringoverland.com/overland-tech-travel/

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  • 2 weeks later...

Spent some time today with a friend of mine. He has 5 chainsaws, all gas and all Stihl. I explained to him that I needed a chainsaw in the event of a fallen tree on a jeep trail in the hinterlands. He was adamant that I should get a gas chainsaw so run time isn't an issue.

 

My concern was two fold:

 

1) Will it reliably start in an emergency and

2) Is having gas in my vehicle a problem in summer.

 

He grabbed his Stihl 180C that has not been used since early April, so 8 months idle. It started on the 6th pull.  That allayed my concern about starting issues. As far as gas is concerned, I would bring Stihl's premixed Motomiox gas in their metal container with me when I planned on heading to a destination.

 

https://www.stihlusa.com/products/oils--lubricants-and-fuels/premixed-fuel/motomix/

 

Question:  Would temperature in the vehicle in summer be an issue with the gas in the trunk? No direct sunlight but on a 85F day it could be 90F+ in my car.

 

 

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