Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Fantastic tool. I had the most expensive and beloved Stihl Arborist climbing saw (MS 200T) for 5 years. When it ran, it was great. That was about 25% of the time. Most days I just fought with trying to get it to run at all, using best gas, etc. only to find out finally that they had put a carbuerator on it that simply was flawed, which ended up scoring the piston, losing pressure, hours of research, and they never notified their customers, nor did their dealer notify me on the many trips I made there about it. I don't climb anymore (and only ever did for my personal usage) so got this Makita. Wow was I surprised. The chain is a low kickback, that stays sharp much longer than full chisel designs and I cut 12-14" pines into pieces 15 inch lengths for about 6 hours the first Saturday, and it didn't even need sharpening, continuing throughout to send shreaded chips out, rather than the more dusty material all chains do when they become dull. If you have plenty of experience with Kickback - here's another great surprise.The Oregon chain 91VXL056G professional. You simply won't believe how aggressive this saw becomes, and it's a semi chisel chain design that stays sharp through a lot of lumber. (Only good for cross cuts, not planking) But you do need to go to youtube and study Kickback first, because you aren't going to get any kickback experience with the chain that comes with the saw. (Quite adequate for most work and safer.) Kickback can leave you bleeding to death, or knock you out of a tree, or off a ladder, so take this advice VERY seriously, and never put your head in the line of Kickback to "see better, or push the saw." But if you've STUDIED, are smart, and careful - with a lot of big trees to whittle down, this saw will do it and make you happy in every way. It's light, strong, and gas free. You can also run with a generator. Be smart with extension cords. They have to be REALLY GOOD ONES. (preferably #10 wire for 100ft and #12 for 50 ft but #10 is always better.) Interior design has a problem with oiling. The hole in the bar that fits right over the hole where the oil comes out gets clogged within cuttinging dust in minutes, so chain runs dry. (This is BAD.) You can help this problem a LOT by simply putting a piece of tape over the whole in the bar that allows the dust IN to the oil hole. (The oil can still run up through the slot in the bar to the chain.) The factory should only drill out ONE SIDE of the bar to fix this problem. Makita technical phone help is good, as is their turnaround (2 days) on fixing. The tube inside the oiler came off of mine, and oil was pouring out of bottom when running. I'd tried to make sure the oiler wasn't clogged by forcing compressed air in before I understood what the problem was and probably blew it off it's seat from backpressure. They paid for shipping anyway, and even gave me a new bar due to wear from running the chain too dry. Nothing is perfect, but this is a beautiful tool you'll come to love and depend on. It starts every time. If you push it too hard as chain is dulling - it shuts itself off, but restarts within seconds with the next pull of the trigger, and it's overall build quality is wonderful. Do yourself a big favor - skip the damn gas saws if you possibly can. The cord is no problem at all unless you're high in a tree. And if you use the more aggressive chains, remember when you're cutting a big horizontal log on the ground - when you release that last little bit and the cut end drops - it often falls back against the other side of the cut - which PINCHES the chain and shoves the saw back HARD against you.This can come as a very big surprise and easily knock you over, or send you down a ravine, or worse. When "Limbing" a fallen tree on the ground, cuttting with the TIP can send the saw back towards your face very rapidly so use this convenien Tip cutting with special attention and visibility. DON'T let the TIP touch a branch further INSIDE, or hit it quickly as another "bar" cut quickly passes through the limb. And NEVER have your head in the PATH of a vertical Kickback so you can SEE inside the cut as the saw works. YOU DON'T NEED TO SEE INSIDE THE CUT! Keep your head out of the way. Stay off of ladders if at all possible, or hand cut saws with extension poles for that. Enjoy, but be smart. These thing can kill you, and having been a paramedic in college - eveyone whose hurt always wants to tell you ... "I was just ...