[ponyakr]

I really HATE it when I buy something that will not work as advertised & will not do the job it's supposed to do.

I suppose most all of us have bought such an item.

Well, I wanna give a good report about something that DOES work. In fact, it far exceeded my expectations.

In the last few years, we've had tornadoes & storms come thru here which really blew a lot of trees down. Some of 'em were really big trees.

Not only did some of these block the dirt road which we call our driveway, but there have been LOTS of trees blocking the many horse riding trails TJ has used since the early 1970's.

And some of these trees were big, many 18" or more. A few were old & much bigger. Well, I didn't have a chain saw. And I wasn't about to buy a gas saw, & have to mix oil & gas & yank on that sucker all the time, trying to crank it.

So, I noticed that there are battery powered pole saws & chain saws. We bought a 40 volt Kobalt pole saw & 12" chain saw. The pole saw is great for reaching overhead small limbs. And the 12" chain saw is good for bigger limbs & small trees, up to maybe 6" or so.

But, the recent hurricane blew some big trees across lots of her trails. The one closest to our house was probably at least 15", & maybe 60' long. My CK 27 Kioti tractor would not budge it.

I knew our little 12" chain saw was no match for it. So, we cut up the top of it & cleared a new trail around the lower portion of it. Quite a bit of labor. We drained the 40 volt batts in the pole saw & the chain saw, late yesterday. Had to charge 'em back up, so we could use 'em today.

Well, last night I got to thinkin. With all the trees down, we need a bigger chain saw, with more power. But, I'm still not gonna buy a gas saw. So, I did what i always do when I need info. I Googled it.

Found that there are lots of more powerful batt powered chain saws. Hey, some of the strongest, big name brands, that get the best reviews, are $500 or more. We didn't wanna pay that much.

I watched several YouTube videos about batt powered chain saws. Saw some good videos of the Kobalt brand 80 volt 18" saw. The guys would just buzz thru big trees, some about the size we need to cut. I figured if the 80 volt Kobalt worked for those guys, it oughta work for us.

So, we decided to try one. Checked our local Lowes stores. Online inventory showed one in stock, about 25 miles from us, for just over $300, plus tax. But, the Lowes about 50 miles from us showed the exact same saw, in stock, for around $262, plus tax.

Before driving 50 miles, I decided to call the store & see if the saw was actually in stock. Well, after wasting 3 long distance calls, I couldn't get anybody to answer the phone in that dept. Finally just asked the lady at the front desk to check her computer inventory. She said it showed that they actually had 2 of those saws in stock.

So, we loaded up & made the 50 mile drive. But, the only saw they actually had in stock was the display model, which they would not sell. Finally got somebody to check their computer inventory. It also showed 2 units in stock. She said that didn't really mean anything. Said they had probably been stolen. Said people walk out with all kinds of stuff, including gas generators.

Well, we decided to drive to the Lowes in the other city, which showed to have one in stock. Told the lady what we'd been told about people stealing stuff. She agreed. Said many of 'em were pros, who hit lots of stores in different cities. Said they knew exactly how to do it without getting caught.

Well, anyhow, to our surprise, the saw that showed up on the internet search WAS in stock. But, it took a while to find it. It was in a box way up on the very top shelf. Had to get a guy with the big ladder platform to climb up & ID it.

This model has a 5 Ah batt, & is advertised to make about twice as many cuts per charge as the same saw which comes with a 2 Ah batt. I looked up the batts separately. I think the 5 Ah batt was around $250, if you can believe it. The weaker batt was less than $150. In some of the reviews, I'd read that instead of buying a spare batt, you'd be better off buying another saw, and getting the batt & charger in the deal.

Well, we bought the saw, got it home, charged the batt, & tore into one of the trees that was across the trail. To my surprise, it was just like the guys on the videos said. Like cutting thru butter, as the saying goes.

Regretting all the time & labor we've spent because of NOT having this saw. Now, we can just make either 1 or two quick cuts, & push either the 2 halves, or a center chunk of the tree off the trail, with the Kioti, then move on to the next one.

This is not the most expensive saw, not the most powerful, not for the pro, but for what we need, it's GREAT ! We are considering buying another one. If TJ & I both had one of these we could clear the tree off a trail, quick.

In case anybody is interested, the model number is KCS 4080-06.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-80-V...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

The model number for the same saw, with the cheaper batt is KCS 180B-06. Our closest Lowes had 3 of these in stock. They were priced a tad over $200.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-80-V...ttery/50408238

But we decided on the higher priced model, to get the better batt. This batt will probably cut longer than I want to use it, on a full charge.

Again, I really love it when tools do exactly what they are supposed to do !