Cordless chainsaw vs petrol
Updated: 22 October 2026
You already own a petrol saw for logs, or you are choosing a first saw and keep seeing £40 battery kits next to £400 dealer saws. The [cordless chainsaw comparison](/hub/forestry-tools/cordless-chainsaw) holds twelve battery kits from about £27 to £163. This page compares power sources, not those rows one by one. By the end you should know whether battery, petrol or a corded mains saw fits the wood you actually cut each year. Peter F. used Which?, HSE and the stored amazon.co.uk figures. There is no laboratory cut on this page. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
You already own a petrol saw for logs, or you are choosing a first saw and keep seeing £40 battery kits next to £400 dealer saws.
You already own a petrol saw for logs, or you are choosing a first saw and keep seeing £40 battery kits next to £400 dealer saws. The cordless chainsaw comparison holds twelve battery kits from about £27 to £163. This page compares power sources, not those rows one by one. By the end you should know whether battery, petrol or a corded mains saw fits the wood you actually cut each year. Peter F. used Which?, HSE and the stored amazon.co.uk figures. There is no laboratory cut on this page. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Guide bar | Batteries | Oiling | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  Seesii Seesii 6 inch CH700R | 6 inch | 2 x 4.0 Ah | Manual, empty bottle | 9.2 | about £49.99 | View offer |
| Best value |  Angseen Angseen 6 inch kit | 6 inch | 2 x 2.0 Ah | Manual oil bottle | 9.0 | about £33.99 | View offer |
 VOERJIA VOERJIA 16 inch | 16 inch | 2 x 36 V | Auto, 170 ml | 8.8 | about £162.99 | View offer |
On this page
What you are actually cutting
Battery saws in this folder suit short, nearby garden work: hedge brash, apple prunings, and soft limbs you can reach from the ground. Petrol still wins a long day of large hardwood, repeated bucking, and work far from a charger. Which? found petrol generally cut large logs faster in their tests, while their top cordless and petrol models split honours depending on the model. Farmers Weekly’s high-spec electric versus petrol piece notes that premium battery saws can match petrol on a given cut, but petrol still suits a full day of large timber. That is not a six-inch mini at £40.
Match the tool to volume and bar length. A monthly tidy-up of small branches does not need two-stroke mix and a cold-start ritual. A winter’s firewood stack from oak rounds does not need a 2000 mAh mini, even if the title says 3900 W. If you stay on battery after this check, the best page assigns kits. If you move to petrol, this comparison table is no longer the catalogue.
Starting, noise and looking after it
A battery saw starts with a charged pack and a lock release. There is no choke, no pull cord and no fuel mix. Petrol domestic saws typically use a fifty-to-one two-stroke mix. Stihl UK and Husqvarna UK warn against storing homemade mix for long periods. Stihl cites around thirty days. You still carry bar oil on a battery saw: automatic tanks on NovorikX, the Supstable twelve-inch and VOERJIA, and manual bulbs on Seesii and the Supstable six-inch. Petrol adds plug checks, filter cleaning and exhaust noise your neighbours will hear on a terrace.
Which? quoted an average run time near twelve minutes on the cordless saws they tested, with prices from about £169 to £830. Seller claims in this set, such as eighty minutes on Seesii’s bullet, are not that test. A second battery is only as good as healthy cells. Reviews here include packs that die in minutes. Petrol’s runtime is a tank and a jerrycan, with a refill in seconds if you mix correctly.
Noise figures for these ASINs are not in the stored files, so this page does not invent decibel numbers. Battery saws are quieter than petrol at the same job, but they are not silent. Minis can still whine loudly in reviews.
The corded option
Mains electric saws sit between battery and petrol for power at the socket, with a trailing lead. Electrical Safety First advises outdoor cable use with the reel fully unwound, a residual-current device, dry conditions, and the cable routed so you will not cut it. UK mains are 230 V with a BS 1363 plug. B&Q’s buying guide treats corded, cordless and petrol as three families.
A corded saw makes sense when the log pile is always beside an outdoor socket and you accept the lead. Battery makes sense when you roam the garden. Petrol makes sense when there is no socket and the wood is large. This folder is cordless only. If a trailing cable fits, look at the electric chainsaw comparison, outside these twelve ASINs.
Where the twelve listings sit
Every kit here sits below Which?’s tested cordless price band starting around £169, except where the Bosch pole and the VOERJIA sixteen-inch row overlap the bottom of that range. You are buying value-tier kits, with mixed brake wording and huge review counts on some minis, not a Which? top scorer.
If battery still fits the volume, move to best cordless chainsaw for a UK garden: Seesii for six-inch garden depth, Angseen for best value on a mini, Supstable S3 or NovorikX for twelve-inch rear-handled work, the Bosch pole for ground-reach overhead cuts, and VOERJIA for the largest bar in the table. Bar length after you have chosen battery is on the cordless chainsaw buying guide. If the job is a day of large timber, keep the petrol saw or buy petrol. A mini will disappoint even if it costs less than a tank of fuel.
Petrol owners sometimes add a battery mini for quick brash near the house. That is a sensible two-tool split, not a replacement strategy.
Common questions
Is a cordless saw as strong as petrol?
For large logs and long run times, usually no in Which? and trade tests. For light garden cuts, a battery kit can be enough if the bar fits the wood.
How long does a battery saw actually run?
Which? averaged about twelve minutes on the cordless models they tested. Seller bullets in this set cite longer figures. Treat those as claims until you have used your own packs.
What extra work does a petrol saw need?
Fuel mix, storage limits on that mix, more servicing, louder running, and often more weight, traded for tank refills and a large bar.
When is a corded saw the better idea?
When the work stays beside a protected outdoor socket and you accept a lead. Electrical Safety First’s guidance covers residual-current devices and how to route the cable.
Are the saws in this comparison in Which?’s price band?
Mostly below it. Which? tested from about £169 upward. Many rows here are £27–£90 minis and mid kits.
Will a 6 inch mini replace my petrol saw for logs?
No for serious rounds and long sessions. Yes for occasional small branches if you accept the bar length and the oiling chores.
Do I still need bar oil on a battery saw?
Yes. Whether the oiler is automatic or manual, the chain needs bar oil, not two-stroke mix.
Is a cordless saw quieter in a terrace garden?
Generally quieter than petrol, though not silent. This set does not publish comparable noise tests, so there is no decibel figure to quote.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK sources first, then the amazon.co.uk listings compared on this page. Shelf prices were taken from the category files, not a live re-check on 19 October 2026.
- HSE, Working with chainsaws (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- HSE, INDG317 (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- HSE, Chainsaw PPE (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- HSE, PUWER training (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- GOV.UK, When a felling licence is needed (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- Forestry Act 1967 section 9 (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- GOV.UK, Tree preservation orders (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- Which?, petrol and electric chainsaws (retrieved 19 October 2026)