This is a nice capable saw, but maybe just a tad quirky. I own/have owned six other chainsaws. Three gas (Stihl, Husqvarna and Echo), one chorded electric (pole saw) and two battery powered (Snapper, Echo DCS 2500T). I have cut a lot of firewood and timber over the past thirty-five years.
The DCS-5000 with the 18 inch bar is capable, effective, and fairly easy to handle. It looks a little unwieldy in a picture perhaps because of its low profile, but it is not. I have a second battery and a Rapid charger and hope I can use this saw along with my new Echo DCS-2500T to decarbonize my life a little more. Hopefully I can get rid of some or all of my gas chainsaws.
The quirky stuff as compared to other saws.
Compared to my new Echo DCS-2500T. The DCS-5000 does not have an on/off button. You put the battery in and it's ready to go. If the kick back safety bar is activated, the saw doesn't respond. With the DCS-2500T, you turn the saw on by pushing a button and a light comes on. Activate the kick back safety and the light flashes. Set the saw aside for a bit and then saw shuts off. I know when the 2500T is on, off or has it's chain brake activated. The 5000 has no indicator light. I don't know when it is on or if it sleeps. I consider this a safety hazard, but a quirk I can probably get used to provided I use it enough. I know when a gas saw is on, and don't need an indicator light. Electric motors provide instant torque. The trigger on the 2500-T is a little more responsive than on a gas saw but in a good, natural feeling way. The trigger on this saw is not. It has a significant delay from when the trigger is depressed. To me, it feels unnatural and less predictable. Also the saw is more difficult to operate aT variable speed compared to every other saw I've owned. One reviewer commented that it was either on full or off and wished it had variable speed capabilities. That is not the case, but nearly. I think I'll get used to it. Finally the 2500-T just cuts and cuts. Occasionally if I push it, it stops cutting just like a gas saw "bogs down". The 5000 however has an annoying habit of "bogging down" quite easily. When it does that I don't have an indicator light to tell me what's going on. The saw just stops. I haven't yet figured out the best way to make the saw start cutting again. The manual says that the saw has entered into "protection mode" and to "release the trigger switch and start the machine again". It seems to take a lot time before I can cut again. If I remove and replace the battery, it starts up faster. I have to remind myself to let the saw do the work. When I let the weight of the saw do the work, it cuts straight, smoothly, quickly. This is great when cutting straight downward, but at a slight angle it seems to "bog down" more easily (annoying but not frustrating). The old Snapper electric (made by Husqvarna) is a long, heavy, unwieldy beast but its trigger operates more naturally than the 5000 not quite as nicely as the 2500T and it doesn't "bog down" like the 5000. I have not felled a tree with the 5000 yet. If it bogs down on my back cut approaching the "Timberrrr" moment, I won't keep it, that would be too dangerous. I will return it to Echo as a defective saw at that point. I think it will be fine since I haven't heard of that issue from others yet. If Echo put the electronics of their 2500-T into the 5000, it could be an amazing bigger saw.
The smaller 2500-T may be my favorite saw ever. I bought it for limbing, for overhead pruning and for negotiating through a tangled mess of branches like the top end of a downed Mulberry tree. It's just not big enough for felling larger trees or bucking bigger logs. I'm not sure if I'll be able to edit this later and report back.
Saw Suppliers provided fantastic customer service. They responded quickly to a question, delivered the saw fast, included a complimentary extra chain and made good on a mistake they made in their online equipment listing. They have become my online "go to" store for tools.
