Imoum Cordless 6” Chainsaw Review [2024]

Cordless chainsaws have grown in popularity in recent years, since their first introduction into the marketplace. Historically, chainsaws have been rather large, clunky devices, mostly run by gasoline engines. The few electric chainsaws were corded and not very powerful. All this has changed, with the introduction of cordless, battery-powered chainsaws. 

I recently had the opportunity to test and use the Imoum Cordless 6” Chainsaw. In this article, I’ll share my experience and determine whether or not this product is worth purchasing.

What’s Included

The saw comes equipped with a carrying case, a compact charger for the batteries, safety glasses, a small bottle of chain and bar oil, with multiple tops, a spare chain, and a chain file. 

These are pretty standard inclusions in mini-chainsaw kits, although I was pleasantly surprised to see both the spare chain and the chain file, as most “failures” of chainsaws are actually failures of chains and most of those happen because people don’t sharpen their chains.

Pro Tip: Let me say here that it is actually very easy to sharpen a chainsaw if you know how. The average chainsaw can be sharpened in a few minutes, with nothing more than a chainsaw file of the right size and a permanent marker. 

The marker is to mark the tooth on the chain where sharpening begins (so that it can be identified later) and the rest is done by using the chainsaw file. Three passes over each tooth are generally sufficient, assuming that the chainsaw is being sharpened regularly.

Battery

The saw itself runs off of a 21-volt, 3 Ah lithium-ion battery and comes with two batteries. The 21 volts is significant, as most cordless power tools, except for a few extra heavy-duty ones, run off of 18 volts.

That extra 3 volts may not seem like much, but it provides one-sixth more power to the motor than an 18-volt battery will.

I’ve worked with cordless power tools since sometime in the 1980s when I bought my first cordless drill/driver. It was a professional tool and was of excellent quality. But by today’s standards, it wasn’t very powerful, running on about 7.2 volts.

With most of today’s tools running at 18 volts, it is clear that as battery voltage has increased in these tools, so has the amount of power, as measured in torque, increased significantly. I don’t have exact figures on the actual amount of torque; but after decades of using them, it is extremely obvious.

It would have been impossible to build this cordless chainsaw with the batteries used in those early days of cordless tools. They just didn’t provide enough voltage, to give the necessary power. The few cordless circular saws in existence had 3-1/2” blades and couldn’t cut a 3/4” sheet of plywood, only thinner stock.

Chain Oiler

As for the chainsaw itself, it has a built-in chain oiler, operated off of a squeeze bulb of the type that is used to prime a lawnmower carburetor.

The tool needs to be held straight down for sharpening, allowing the oil to drip over the chain and bar. A few seconds is all that’s needed to give a few squeezes to the bulb, oiling the chain and bar. Easy-peasy.

Safety Features

The saw has a decent safety for the trigger, which is ambidextrous, allowing left-handed people to use it as easily as right-handed ones can. There’s a spring-loaded safety bar over the top side of the chain, protecting the operator from getting cut by kickback.

While only made of plastic, it is stout enough to provide the necessary protection and is blocked from having any contact with the chain.

Chain Tension Adjustment

The other important control on the saw is the chain tension adjustment. There’s what looks like a knob on the left side of the saw, right about where the chain drive sprocket is located. This is, in fact, a nut, with a flip lever to lock it in place. It provides tension against the chain bar, holding it in place. 

To adjust chain tension, this nut is loosened by hand (it is only finger-tight) allowing a spring to push the chain bar outward, tightening the chain. This is considerably easier than the standard method of adjusting chain tension on most gasoline chainsaws.

Additionally, it's important to be aware of the chainsaw chain direction when adjusting the tension to ensure the chain runs smoothly and reduces the risk of kickback

Testing the Chainsaw

A little confession here. When I received the chainsaw, rather than wait for the opportunity to open it up in the workshop, before the camera, I took it with me to cut my family Christmas Tree.

While that wasn’t the heaviest test I gave it, I was impressed with how quickly the saw cut through that tree. I cut all the way through in less than 5 seconds; fast enough that we almost didn’t get a picture snapped.

Needless to say, the saw’s power is surprising. In the workshop, I cut through a:

Seasoned 4x4 in 8 seconds

2” Oak branch in 4 seconds

4” by 6” Mesquite branch in 15 seconds (mesquite is twice as hard as oak)

6” Oak branch, from the tree, in 27 seconds

Cutting the branch from the tree, which I did overhead, showed me how much easier this compact chainsaw is to work with than my larger, gasoline-powered saw.

I would never attempt using that saw overhead, due to the weight and risk of accident. But those problems didn’t even need to be considered with this compact saw.

Conclusion

I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by all aspects of this saw. I can genuinely say it exceeded my expectations. I’m afraid that my gasoline chainsaws will be relegated to being kept in reserve, in case there’s anything that’s just too big in diameter to cut with this one.

Overall, if you’re in the market for a reliable chainsaw that punches above its weight, the Imoum 6” cordless chainsaw is a solid choice.