Best Gas Chainsaws of 2026

Twenty-four inches of bar is more saw than most yards need, and that is meant as a compliment: the 460 Rancher is built for trunks the 20-inch saws can only nibble from two sides. If your firewood comes off 20-inch-plus hardwood, or you are dropping trees instead of cleaning up after them, this is the saw that stops the job being a workaround. If you are limbing and cutting small stuff, it is 13 pounds you do not need to carry.

Sixty-point-three cubic centimeters and 3.6 hp make it the strongest saw here short of the 68-cc NEO-TEC, and the power arrives smoothly rather than all at once, which matters when you are holding a long bar in a bucking cut. It starts on the first or second pull hot or cold, and the LowVib handles keep vibration from becoming arm fatigue by the end of a tank. The 2.6-ounce bottle of 50:1 mix in the box is a detail we appreciated: the saw can be fueled and run the day it arrives.

A 24-inch bar drinks fuel and bar oil faster than a 20, and 13.2 pounds is enough to remind you at the end of a long limbing session. This size only disappoints when it is bought for small work; if most of your cutting is under 16 inches, the 450 is the better and cheaper buy. For the trunks it was built for, it does not flinch.

A 12-inch top-handle saw is a different tool from everything else here, and after a session with one the bigger saws feel like overkill for pruning. The handle sits over the engine, so the saw hangs from your hand at a natural angle when you are reaching into a shrub or working above shoulder height, and 25.4 cc is enough to take a four-inch limb without pulling you off balance. This is the saw we keep for the orchard and the fence line, and the one we leave in the shed when there is a trunk to buck.

The engine is a 1.2-hp two-stroke with a 12-inch bar and a cutting capacity that tops out around 10 inches, which is honest for its size. It starts in about three pulls from cold and runs clean once warm, and the wrap-around handle gives you a second grip for steadying it against a branch. The fuel tank is small at 0.24 quarts, so a long session means a refuel; keep the can close.

Durability is the question mark. The plastic handle is the part that gives, and a dropped saw is a cracked saw; the chain can also come off when it is run loose. Check the tension before every session, keep the bar oil topped up, and this little saw earns its keep. It is also the cheapest way into gas power here, which for a homeowner with hedgerows and small trees may be all the saw they need.

The first thing to know about the NEO-TEC is the fuel mix: 25:1, spelled out on the saw as 1 L to 40 ml or 1 US gallon to 151.4 ml. That is twice the oil of the 50:1 saws most people run, so it needs its own can and its own habit; topping it up from the Husqvarna's mix runs it lean. Mixed properly, the 68-cc engine rewards the trouble.

Behind the fuel cap is the biggest engine in this set: 68 cc, 4.5 hp and a 13,000-rpm ceiling, driving a 22- or a 24-inch bar. It is built for hardwood and long runs, and the anti-vibration mounts and quick-stop brake are there for the same reason. The kit is unusually complete — both bars and chains, bar oil, engine oil, a mixing container, a scabbard and tools — so the saw is ready the day it lands.

Twenty-four pounds is the number that decides whether this saw is for you. That is roughly double the weight of the 450 Rancher, and it turns a two-hour job into one we take in stages. It also makes the saw steadier in a big bucking cut, which is the trade: you carry more and fight it less.

If your cutting is big hardwood and you want the most displacement for the money, this is the pick. It is also the newest name here, with the least long-term history behind it, so buy it expecting to do your own tuning and your own research on parts. If your wood is mixed and your sessions are short, the weight will wear you out before the engine does.

Sixty-two cubic centimeters and a 20-inch bar for a fraction of what the Ranchers cost is the whole pitch, and it holds up: this is the most cutting you can buy in this set for the money. The 4.2-hp engine has a full-crank bottom end and a dual-port exhaust, and it pulls the 20-inch bar through hardwood without the bogging whine you brace for from a budget saw. If the budget decides the purchase and the work is real — firewood, storm cleanup, a few trees a year — this is where we point people.

Starting is the pleasant surprise. It fires in three or four pulls from cold and usually one when it is warm, which is not something we take for granted at this end of the price range. The low-kickback chain left clean cuts from the first tank, and the safety switch and quick-stop brake are the same layout the brand saws use.

What you accept is plastic. The body panels and the bar adjuster are the parts to be gentle with, and the manual is close to useless, so plan on a two-stroke starting video instead. Seat the bar adjuster in its groove before you tighten the nuts, or the chain will run loose and throw. Treat it like a tool rather than a toy and it will do a season's work.

Two bars ship in the box, 18 inches and 22, and the swap takes a scrench and about a minute. That sounds like a sales gimmick until you have spent a morning alternating between a fence line of limbs and a trunk you actually need to buck: the short bar is lighter and easier to control in the small stuff, and the long one saves you from re-cutting from both sides. One powerhead covering both is why this saw earns a place.

The 62-cc engine is rated at 3.5 hp, a little under the SUPMIXTOOLS on paper, and the difference in the cut is smaller than the numbers suggest. What we noticed more was the vibration control: three spring mounts between engine and handles soak up a real amount of shake, and the transparent fuel tank lets you check the level without shaking the saw. Fourteen pounds is average for the class, and it balances well with the 18-inch bar mounted.

Where this one makes sense is as the only saw in the shed: limb with the 18, buck with the 22, and skip the second purchase. Keep the 22-inch bar for clean trunks, because a 62-cc saw buried that deep in dry oak wants a light hand and a sharp chain. The chain tensioner is plastic and is the part to watch; check tension after the first few cuts with a new chain, then at every fill-up.

A Stihl badge sets an expectation, and the MS 162 is where a lot of people test it: a simple, compact saw with a 16-inch bar and 1.2 kW on the label. What that buys is a compact saw for small trees, storm limbs and cutting firewood to length. What it does not buy is a professional saw, and with the Husqvarna 450 a step up in power and bar length for the money, the badge does more of the work here than the specification does.

On its own terms it is capable. The 16-inch bar takes 12-inch oak without complaint, and the layout is conventional in the way that makes a saw easy to hand to someone else. Cold starting is where it asks for patience: there is no primer bulb, so it is choke out, a few pulls, choke in, and a saw that either catches or sulks. Ours wanted the full ritual every time it sat overnight.

Where it makes sense is as a light second saw, or a first saw for a small lot with a short list of jobs. Against the 450 it is the cheaper way into a brand name, but it gives up displacement, bar length and a good deal of smoothness. If you cut more than a few times a year, the extra money for the Rancher is easier to justify than the savings here.

The gamble with any saw in this bracket is that it runs beautifully in the driveway and quits an hour into the job. That is the question to hold in your head with the WTHW: on paper it is the best-equipped budget saw here, with 58 cc, two bars and a fuel tank listed as 30 percent larger than the usual class size, and when it runs it runs well. The risk is a saw that stops and will not restart.

The quick-switch system swaps the 20-inch felling bar for the 18-inch limbing bar in seconds with the included scrench, and the chain speed is given as 91 feet per second, which is brisk for the class. Dual-spring anti-vibration and a centrifugal air filter are the same ideas the name brands use. Fourteen and a half pounds is on the heavy side of average, though we found it balanced fine with the 18 mounted.

The detail that changes your routine is fuel. This saw wants a richer mix than the rest — 1:20 through break-in, then 1:25 — against the 50:1 most saws here run, so it needs a dedicated can and a measuring cup. It also uses gas quickly, which the bigger tank partly offsets.

For a buyer who wants two bar lengths and a big engine on a tight budget and does not mind mixing fuel to its own recipe, it is a lot of saw for the money. For everyone else, the extra spent on a Rancher buys a saw you do not have to think about. Leave the 18-inch bar mounted for most yard work; the 20 is for trunks.