After the big storm (Helene) raged through the southeast, there has been plenty of tree work going on. I might go more into that later.

I recently got my hands on a Dewalt DCCS620 chainsaw. This is from their Max XR series, with the 20V batteries.

I borrowed it from a friend for a weekend, and mixed its use in with a few other saws. I thought I would list a few of my thoughts and findings here, and give it a proper reviews.

Specs

This is one of the smaller chainsaws out there, with only a 12 inch bar. Not as small as some of the loppers (which are pretty popular these days for some homeowners), but maybe one step above.

Dewalt’s 20 volt battery series are designed to be fairly light duty, lighter weight, and lighter on the wallet. They are a step down from the 60 volt product.

It’s listed at 7 pounds, but I believe that weight is without its battery. Weight increases to 9 pounds with the battery.

It has a 550 watt brushless motor.

They claim it can make 90 cuts through a 4×4 pressure treated post on one charge.

It has a tool-free chain tensioning system.

It has fairly soft, grippy, overmolded handles.

I noticed it comes with a 3 year “limited” warranty from Dewalt, which I think is pretty standard for their products.

Review

The first thing I noticed about the saw is of course its size.

It’s very small, and very light. That can be a good thing if you’re trying to get small/easy jobs done. No sense in putting any more strain on your back than you have to.

The battery clicks into place securely. I do think you need to be a bit careful with this saw, as the battery is on the bottom and positioned in the very back. That means it doesn’t have a ton of protection, so just make sure you don’t toss it into your truck bed or drop it on some rocks!

The Dewalt enjoys the benefits of pretty much all battery saws. Plenty of torque, quieter, no fumes, you don’t have to carry fuel and slosh it all over the place trying to refill it. And of course intermittent cutting means you can squeeze the trigger and cut, set it down to do what you need, grab it and go again, all without having to restart it or leave it idling and wasting fuel.

I wouldn’t say it has an abundance of power, but given its size it does great.

I cut off and on with it for a couple of hours at one point. Its battery life is adequate. Of course cutting larger stuff, closer to its 12″ diameter max, puts much more stress on the motor and burns the battery up faster.

I was using this during two fairly cool days. I had no issues with it overheating or shutting down due to overuse. Some battery saws have that issue, but because of the cooler temps in my area I can’t really speak to that with the Dewalt.

It has good balance, and no obvious kickback problems.

As small and light as it is, I wouldn’t have any concerns slinging it across my back, climbing a tree, and using it 1-handed to limb something 40 feet off the ground.

Some users have complained about the saw leaking bar oil. I did notice some of that going on in the bed of my truck the second morning when I arrived at the job site.

When I talked to the owner, he said it was a common problem. Some people have addressed it by adding an o-ring to the oil cap. I checked the owner’s manual (you can download it HERE), and interestingly enough Dewalt recommends users always empty the oil tank when finished cutting. Haha, can you imagine what a messy hassle that would be?

Dewalt has sold thousands of these saws, especially through Amazon where it’s as simple as clicking the button and it shows up on the porch a couple of days later.

There is a reason they are so popular. They are not huge, heavy, feature-laden saws. They are small, dependable, and fairly inexpensive.

I think for a lot of homeowners who cut wood infrequently and don’t want or need a bigger saw, this 12 inch 20 volt saw from Dewalt hits the sweet spot.

Here’s the Dewalt DCCS620 on Amazon.