Chainsaw buying guide UK
Updated: 22 October 2026
You are standing in the garden with a storm branch across the lawn, and amazon.co.uk is showing £35 minis beside a £110 petrol saw. None of that tells you whether a six-inch bar is enough, or whether your outdoor socket is close enough. The [chainsaw comparison](/hub/forestry-tools/chainsaw) ranks twelve amazon.co.uk models. This page narrows bar length and power source before you open that table. Peter F. used those listings. This is not a laboratory cut. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
You are standing in the garden with a storm branch across the lawn, and amazon.co.uk is showing £35 minis beside a £110 petrol saw.
You are standing in the garden with a storm branch across the lawn, and amazon.co.uk is showing £35 minis beside a £110 petrol saw. None of that tells you whether a six-inch bar is enough, or whether your outdoor socket is close enough. The chainsaw comparison ranks twelve amazon.co.uk models. This page narrows bar length and power source before you open that table. Peter F. used those listings. This is not a laboratory cut. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Bar | Power | Cable or batteries | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  Seesii Seesii CH850 | 8 inch | Battery | 2× 4.0 Ah | 9.5 | about £69.98 | View offer |
| Best value |  Hyundai Hyundai HYC2400E | 16 inch | Corded 2,400 W | 12 m cable | 9.0 | about £88.98 | View offer |
 Hyundai Hyundai HYC6200X | 20 inch | Petrol 62 cc | No cable | 8.8 | about £109.89 | View offer |
On this page
Start with the job, not the star rating
HSE leaflet INDG317 tells employers to choose the shortest rear-handled guide bar that still completes the work. For a UK householder cutting their own hedge or garden timber from the ground, the same idea applies even when employment rules do not: match the tool to a typical year, not to the biggest bar on promotion. Pruning reachable branches is a different job from bucking rounds for a stove.
In this set, six-inch battery minis dominate about £34 to £70. Corded 230 V saws sit around £60 to £90 with fourteen- or sixteen-inch bars. The sole petrol entry carries a twenty-inch bar at about £109.89. If the work is only light pruning, you should not pay for petrol maintenance. If you need repeated cuts through thick rounds, a six-inch mini is the wrong shape of tool even when the header shows 9,284 reviews.
Bar length without oversizing
Choose a bar a little longer than the wood you want to cut in one pass. The useful cut is slightly less than the bar, because the nose is the kickback zone. A six-inch mini can trim soft branches and small limbs when both feet stay on the ground. It is not a stand-in for a fourteen-inch corded saw on thirty-centimetre rounds.
The corded Hyundai pair shows the spread. One listing is 1,600 W with a fourteen-inch bar and a three-metre cable. The sibling is 2,400 W with a sixteen-inch Oregon bar and a twelve-metre lead. A twenty-inch petrol bar is heavy and loud for occasional hedge work, and it is the only option in this table when you need reach away from mains. Measure a few typical stems or rounds and write the number down. If most of your wood is above six inches, you are looking at corded or petrol rows, not at entry minis with 2,000 mAh packs.
Petrol, corded 230 V or battery mini
Petrol fits when there is no reliable outdoor power and you accept fuel mixing, noise and full chainsaw PPE. The Hyundai HYC6200X is that row: 62 cc, a twenty-inch bar, two chains and a mix bottle. UK reviewers often describe a 40:1 mix because the listing prints no ratio. Do not copy a 50:1 figure from another brand’s engine.
Corded 230 V suits a pile within reach of a BS 1363 socket. Keep the cable behind you and use an RCD where appropriate. Lead length matters as much as watts: three metres on the smaller Hyundai, twelve metres on the 2,400 W sibling. Battery minis fit intermittent pruning. Two batteries beat one, but 2,000 mAh packs drain quickly on hard wood. Several kits ship an empty oil bottle. Bar oil is not two-stroke mix. The GARTOL row is tool-only for Makita 18 V packs. The trade-offs are on petrol versus cordless.
Listing red flags on amazon.co.uk
Review volume matters more than five stars from a handful of buyers. The Sukumo twelve-inch row shows 5.0 from four ratings. That is not comparable with 1,335 scores on the petrol Hyundai or 1,037 on the corded 2,400 W model. Seesii’s six-inch and eight-inch listings share a 4.5 from 9,284 header. Treat that as one repeated line.
The Hyundai HYC1600E listing prints 2,400 W bullets and a sixteen-inch bar that contradict the title and spec block: 1,600 W, fourteen inches and a three-metre cable. Follow the title. A title that says battery not included means the headline price is not a ready-to-cut price. A safety lock pressed with the trigger is not a chain brake. Kit gloves are not leg protection to BS EN 381-5. Named roles are on the best chainsaw page.
Common questions
What bar length do I need for garden pruning only?
For soft brash and reachable branches with both feet on the ground, six to eight inches is often enough if the stem fits the bar. When limbs are thicker than the bar, move to a fourteen-inch corded saw beside a socket, or use loppers, instead of forcing a mini from both sides.
Is a six-inch mini enough for firewood?
Not for a sustained winter pile of stove rounds. Minis overheat and stall in UK reviews when owners treat them like log saws. Corded fourteen- to sixteen-inch models, or the petrol twenty-inch row, match firewood better if the lead, the fuel and the PPE are acceptable.
Do I need petrol if I have an outdoor socket?
If the pile sits within a safe cable run, and you can retension and oil during the session, corded 230 V is simpler than mixing two-stroke fuel. Petrol wins when power is absent, or when you need the twenty-inch reach in this table without dragging an extension lead across wet grass.
What is the difference between a safety lock and a chain brake?
A lock stops the trigger from firing by accident. A chain brake stops the chain quickly after kickback or a slip when the front guard is pushed forward. Many mini listings name a lock and guards. Fewer name a brake to a standard. Read the bullets literally.
How many reviews are enough on amazon.co.uk?
Hundreds of UK ratings give a sense of recurring faults. The corded and petrol rows here run into the thousands. A single-digit or low double-digit count behind a high average is a warning. A star line shared across related listings should not be counted twice.
Can I use the gloves from a mini chainsaw box?
HSE lists gloves to BS EN 381-7 where cut protection is required, plus leg protection to BS EN 381-5 for ground work with a chainsaw. Fabric gloves in a mini kit are better than bare hands for splinters. They are not a full PPE set for serious bucking.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK sources from the research digest, last checked on 22 October 2026.
- HSE: Chainsaw operators (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- HSE: Chainsaw PPE (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- HSE: Training and competence (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- AFAG805: occasional users (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- BS EN ISO 11681-1:2022 portable chain-saw safety (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- EN 62841-4-1:2020 electric chain saws (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- When you do not need a felling licence (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- OPSS product safety report 2609-0234 (retrieved 22 October 2026)