Most and Least Reliable Chainsaw Brands

“Problems with chainsaws are pretty pervasive, and members reported everything from difficulty starting the tools to bar oil leaks to cutting chains popping off,” says Simon Slater, CR’s associate director for survey research. “Adding predicted reliability scores to our chainsaw ratings really arms consumers with a critical piece of information, so they can make a more informed choice.”

The results of our survey inform our predicted reliability and owner satisfaction ratings for each brand and chainsaw type—gasoline chainsaws, corded-electric chainsaws, and battery-powered chainsaws. And those ratings factor into each model’s Overall Score, along with performance ratings based on our exhaustive chainsaw tests.

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the winners and losers from our survey, across the various categories of chainsaws. The results cover a variety of brands, including Craftsman, DeWalt, Ego, Echo, Jonsered, Husqvarna, Makita, and Stihl. If a brand receives an unfavorable reliability rating of Fair or Poor in a given chainsaw category, its models in that category are not eligible to be recommended by CR—no matter how well they cut in our performance tests.