Selion electric chainsaw test.

[Jonesie]

We sell them. They aren't the quickest sellers, but they are good in the right application. The build quality is good. It's not for everyone, but the one's we have sold like it.

 

No fuel cost, very low overheads I think it's 14p to charge, very low maintenance so no down time.

[Taupotreeman]

I'd argue there'd be plenty of down time faffing around changing battery packs etc. I can see for stuff like re pollarding some of the London Planes around Auckland's streets, kiwi fruit orchards and other orchards, Olive groves and places where you need to be quiet, they'd be fine but when the salesman is telling you that they are just as good as your current climbing saw but with less cost? For the initial outlay plus spare battery pack we worked out we could buy 2 MS200's, a 3120, a blower and still have change. Trying to cut anything at guidebar size on this thing was pretty much a no go unless you had time to wait. If you needed a cut to "pop" then you wouldn't want to rely on this saw either. The idea is fantastic but the power, battery life and price all need to change.

[Jonesie]

By down time I mean not in the repair workshop for 2 weeks and a bill to go with it.

 

In a different application, strimming and hedgecutting around noise sensitive areas is where we think it's at. We are getting a full working day out of the battery over here. But this is strimming and hedge cutting, it may be lower for the saw.

I still this it's very expensive, but hopefully this will drop in the future. Some people over here can get grant's for going green so this helps with the outlay.

[Pedroski]

We've used the strimmer and the hedgecutters. Hedgecutting did give a full working day. BUT, climbing ladders to do tops of hedges etc is awful with the lead attaching hedgecutter to battery pack - I'd go as far as saying it can be dangerous. And I'd imagine in trees with the chainsaw it could also be dangerous. There's just too much to get snagged and stuck.

 

Also not happy with the amount of plastic - the stupid plastic ratchet for altering hedgecutter angle just won't last. The strimmer, though, is a bit of a joke, as is the blower. And the prices are prohibitive. There's a firm not a million miles from me who bought the Pellenc stuff to help them get a contract working around some schools.... but they go in and work with their petrol stuff when the school is shut - much better idea.

 

As for "no downtime"..... well, there is plenty of potential for downtime with battery packs and electronic circuitry. The dealer told us that the battery packs contain a control unit that shuts down if faults detected or it overheats, and the manufacturer can then read the fault codes. Now, we all know what vehicles can be like when ECUs cock up or something goes wrong...

 

Regardless, we almost bought a couple of battery packs and hedgecutters (long and standard) a few months ago at something like £4k, then the company selling them told us that the price didn't include VAT! As it is, we can get a couple of hedgecutters for a third of that, leaving £3k for fuel. That's something like 1800 litres of mix, or 5400 Sithl tank fulls of fuel, split between two hedgecutters. To make it worthwhile even considering the Pellenc, then the prices have got to come down drastically or there has to be a particular job in mind that requires the use of more inconvenient but quieter equipment. Or you need to get hold of one of the green grants, which is possibly what Pellenc are hoping people do so that they can keep their price nice and high.

[atree]

4k!! hahaha

[Ty Korrigan]

I believe that here in France the M.S.A a government body that looks after the social security for land based workers (farmers to gardeners)

Gives grants for electric saws BUT...with conditions attached such as a healthy dossier to complete on H+S plus you must attend various courses on the subject.

Could itself be a high price to pay for a shiny toy...

Ty

[DrewB]

I trialled one about 3 months ago an gotta say I thought it was total and utter crap. Backpack was too heavy, cord too easy to cut, battery didn't last long enough etc. the new Stihl battery saw however was actually really good.

[Taupotreeman]

I actually did a couple of vids; one of the selion and then one of the 192t just to see how they compared. I can't be faffed putting em both on here as they are pretty boring but needless to say the 192t was almost twice as fast and the 200t or 201t would be faster again. In addition to that fact both of the latter are easily capable of powering a bigger bar and chain than the 12 inch on the electric. Pedroski makes a valid point. The climber didn't like the stiffness of the cord or the fact it was more of a hinderance than a normal chainsaw lanyard, the off button is on the backpack and if the inertia brake kicks in you have to turn the unit off and on to get the saw going. To start it you have to double click the trigger and then wait. And wait. If you drop the saw while you are up the tree the velcro cable holders all peel apart and the power cord is also over the show. In short, Drew summed it up quite nicely.