Since the Milwaukee Pipeline Event back in 2022, we couldn’t wait to get our hands on this new Milwaukee Top Handle Chainsaw. The Milwaukee 2826 M18 FUEL 14-inch Top Handle Chainsaw has more power than we’ve ever seen in a top handle saw. Most top-handle chainsaws, especially 2-stroke gas saws, require you to ramp up the RPM to gain horsepower, but they have very little torque. This Milwaukee 2826 Top Handle has a ton of torque and it’s extremely fast with 7,700 RPM and 50 feet per minute.
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Finally we get a top handle saw from Milwaukee This the Milwaukee 2826 you can get it in various different Kits with a single battery with dual Batteries by itself 12 inch bar 14 inch Bar here's the thing we use this saw Probably a year ago when we were in Milwaukee at the last pipeline event we Were very impressed with the saw and We've been waiting to actually get it in Our hands and here we have it now you Probably won't see this saw on the Shelves for another month I think like June 28th is the set ship date for these 14 inch top handle saws let's dig into The details and features I think you're Going to be impressed as we are and then We'll come back and talk about the Performance we'll talk about pricing Warranty and what we think of it this is The long-awaited Milwaukee 28-26 and it's the M18 fuel top handle Chainsaw you can get this in a 12 inch Or in a 14 inch and basically the only Difference is the bar and chain on the Tool now obviously with the fuel Designation we know we get a brushless Motor and if you get the kit you're Going to get the kit either kitted with An 8 Amp Hour battery or if you get the Kit with two batteries you'll get the Eight amp hour and the 12 amp hour along With a dual rapid charger also so highly
Recommend you getting that two battery Kit if it's something that's going to Fit your budget which we'll talk about Here in a few moments now on the top Handle design we have a battery in the Rear of the saw and obviously we have a Top handle here where you can basically Handle the saw with one hand when needed And then you have a large D-style auxiliary handle here for Placement of your other hand whether You're cutting at a horizontal or at a Vertical level very easy to grab a hold With that second handle but many times You may be maneuvering the saw with one Hand We have a translucent oil tank here so We can see and keep track of our bar and Chain oil that's going to be there I Think it's five and a half ounces or Something like that and then we have a Scabbard or a blade cover here let's Pull that off we get that large 14 inch Bar and chain which is going to give us About oh right at 14 inches from the Front of the saw from the Bucking spikes We're probably going to be closer to 13 And a half inches or so yeah so about 13 And a half inches of cutting capacity With this saw on the 14 inch bar we get An 043 by 3 8 or 0325 chain and this is A 59 tooth and it's a low Kickback or Low kerf chain as well most of your Battery powered soils are especially
When they get into the smaller sizes Then we have a look here on the top Handle of the saw we see a trigger That's locked out and then we see a Little lever right here and that's Basically our throttle lockout or our Trigger lockout so we can't press the Trigger unless this is depressed and Rather than a big large button up there It's just kind of a fold forward spring Loaded mechanism so once we push that Down then we can engage the trigger but Unless we have a battery in there Obviously that's not going to happen Also we get an electronic and mechanical Brake here's what I mean by that put a Battery in now the brake is off so I'm Just going to bump it okay so we know It's active as long as we press this Forward pull the trigger it's going to Move the blade If I push this forward and I try to Engage it you see it's not even trying To jump that tells me there's an Electronic cut out that's telling the Motor do not start the motor at all it's Not even trying to move you don't hear Any humming or anything And it's also physically engaging that Break or physically engaging that clutch Bell as well and keeping that chain nice And locked and tight and I'll show you That break here in a moment where we Actually take the cover off and show you
So again I like to see that that we have Not only a mechanical brake but also an Electric brake for these cordless saws Now before we take that cover off you Can see here on the back that we have Plenty of room even with the eight amp Hour in there which is going to be your 21 700 cells so your larger battery Cells with more capacity and better Performance and even the 12 amp hour Battery built the same cells we still Have plenty of room here Even with the 12 amp hour in there On the bottom of the saw we get an Onboard scratch so we pull that out I Like it because it stays nice and firm You slide it over that and then you lock It into place it's tucked up out of the Way however if we need it we can pull it Out and use it and that's going to Handle not only taking off the bar nut But also adjusting the tension on the Chain as well and even assist in opening The bar oil reservoir This should be just a 13 millimeter nut You see we get a single stud for Retaining the bar which is not a big Deal and a top handle saw once we get Into larger saws I like to see a dual Stud but it should do absolutely fine I'm just glad to see we don't have some Type of you know automated large you Know finger tight thumb screws something Like that that's retaining this we get a
True bar and nut or or nut and stud That's retaining the bar and the chain As well as the tension Now let's go ahead and take this chain And bar off of here And right away I see we have a Seven tooth sprocket and a bell there And if you'll look right in here you see That metal band that's going around the Bell of this clutch That is your mechanical chain brake so You'll see it's off right now and if I Push this forward you'll see this band Tighten up on that Bell So you see it clipped in there and now It's literally wrapped around that with Tons of tension and so it's not going to Mechanically move As well as the electronic cut out is Making sure that the motor doesn't move Either You see I pull this up and you'll see The slack On that band open up and then I can move That Bell as I mentioned we get a seven Tooth sprocket that's going to come into Play in just one second when we kind of Validate some things also you'll see Here on this bar we have a hole here and A hole here well That comes in handy because this is the PIN right here that sets the tension on The bar and chain and that would be the Bottom hole and the top hole will be
This here which is actually where your Bar and chain oil is coming out and Lubricating the bar and chain so Basically that oil is going to come out Into this hole right here and get drug Around in the groove of this bar by the Chain going round and round after Several uses what you'll want to do is Take the bar off and flip the bar over And then of course you want to turn the Chain around correctly as well so it's Facing the right direction but these Bars are made to be able to work on Either side so the tensioning hole is Going to then be the oiling hole and Vice versa That will keep you from wearing out your Bar prematurely and they will wear out So be sure that you flip that from time To time and I would say on a regular Interval basis depending on how much you Use it also like to see these guides Right here which are acting almost like As ramps and they're real slick almost Like a Teflon or something that's Guiding that chain back into the bar Where it's supposed to be so if there's Some slack in here it's going to keep That in the track and keep it from Jumping off so once we have our bar back On make sure that that bar is over that Tensioning stud This should just slide right back on and By the way we also get an aluminum chain
Guard right here so that's basically Going to handle anything if that chain Does come off that's going to guard this From just kind of eating through the saw And coming back onto you Now let's actually back that back off a Little bit And let's set the tension to this chain Obviously that is way too loose and by The way A good rule of thumb is to take A nickel and put it under the tooth of The blade in the middle of the bar and Tension it where it holds that nickel But it's not too tight But I'll be honest Just pull it up and put some decent Tension on it not as much as you can and You should see a small Gap there If not then almost touching And that should be good tension Now I will say probably the first time You I will say probably the first time you Use it it will stretch kind of right Away so a little bit tighter is probably Not going to hurt because like I said as Soon as you use this it's going to Stretch that chain on the first few cuts And then it kind of settle in and you Can re-tension that now I want to thank Milwaukee for this because I always like To know RPM and also like to know chain Speed I really like to know chain speed But many of the cordless manufacturers I
Think they may run from it a little bit Or they don't want to take the time to Actually figure it out or they just Don't disclose it period but right here You open the page five in the manual Here and it tells us the RPM which is 7700 which is pretty fast it's really Fast and then chain speed is 2953 feet Per minute or 15 meters per second now I'd like to know feet per second but That's really easy right we just take 29.53 divided by 60 would give us Seconds rather than minutes but if we Want to kind of validate that maybe They're telling the truth however I Think we've got to take them at their Word for some of this but if we take 7 700 We know that's revolutions per minute Okay well if we know there's seven teeth On the sprocket then we can measure how Far seven teeth is which is basically Every other gap so We have There's one tooth two teeth three T Fourteenth five T six teeth seven teeth Right there So one two three four five six seven So we can say 4.58 inches so if we know That 4.58 inches per Revolution You can take 4.58 Times 7700 equals 35 000 266.
And that's going to be inches Per minute So if we take that divided by 12 equals 29 38.83 and that would be feet Per minute Milwaukee says 29.53 I got 29.38 I'm going to take that as an okay And then if we take that a little Further and we divided by 60 that gives Us 49 feet per second and that again Backs into their calculation of 15 Meters per second so kudos to Milwaukee For including that Now I will say if there's a drawback to This saw it's going to be weight because Typically on your top handle saws and The gas models typically you know They're 30 cc saws 35cc saws and they're Pretty light So this Is going to weigh in a little over 11 Pounds with the 8 Amp Hour battery so It's not exactly a really light saw at The same time it's going to provide tons More torque than those small gas powered Saws and with your 12 amp hour battery On there You're adding about a pound so now You're going to 12 pounds four ounces Now the first thing we want to do here Is get some Barn chain oil in here And as we mentioned you can see the Translucent tank there and easily see The level of your oil
Now the first thing we want to do before We make a cut is we've got oil in the Tank but we don't have it primed onto The bar into the chain and so we want to Run this thing at least a few seconds And they're saying 30 seconds but I'll Show you what you can do so I'm going to Take the Chain break off So after running a few seconds we can Check to see if we have any residual of Oil so I can definitely see up in my Guard where we have oil on the Chain now So we've got our eight amp hour battery In and just to give you an idea 10 and a Quarter inches ten and a half 10 and 3 8 10 and three quarter so we're going to Call this a 10 inch plus log 10 and a Half inch log so every part of this log Is bigger than 10 inches as a diameter All the way across Hahaha Okay I was thinking that we might see Something different than what we used When we were at Milwaukee but that Power's there just like I encountered There wanted to make sure that on their Manufactured saw something that's not Just an engineering sample that we're Actually getting that same amount of Power it's pretty crazy what this little Top handle is doing We reviewed a top handle recently that Had a 12 inch bar and chain on it and You really could not even cut that much
Capacity because it just couldn't handle It it had some speed but had no power This one This is impressive And you see I'm using my bucking Spike So I can use that bucking Spike there That metal bucking Spike and actually Get into that log and use that for Leverage Foreign Again very impressive Okay I leaned on that really hard and Got the blade to stop pull the trigger Again But with just a fair amount of pressure It just keeps going So again leaning onto it hard I can stop It pull the trigger again And this is 10 inch Florida Oak tons of Moisture in it Foreign I'll tell you something a top handle Really does not like typically in a Cordless model is the ability to plunge Cut That's pretty crazy I'm going to put in My 12 amp hour just to see if we notice Any performance difference Really feels about the same we do a Plunge cut once more Now normally when working with a top Handle cordless chainsaw I'm needing to Go down to a smaller Branch to kind of Show what would typically be being cut
But this one actually handles the 10 Inch 12 inch logs no problem at all even Though at this probably six inch level It'll zip through this with no problem All right Well this is Bar None the most powerful Top handle chainsaw we've ever tested Now I haven't tested every single top Handle on the market but I can tell you Every gas top handle as well as every Cordless top handle that we've tested This M18 model number 2826 tops it and Really buy a good amount I mean this Thing just has a ton of power for the Size it is with that don't treat this Like a toy don't treat it like an Amateur tool either it is a professional Tool it's got the power it's got all the Ergonomics it's got the battery behind It it's got everything to be a very Powerful and high performing saw so Treat it that way even though you can Hold it with one hand I wouldn't Recommend you doing it unless you're a Professional make sure you've got that Secondary hand on there and use that Chain break when you turn this thing off Or when you let go of the trigger put That Chain Break back on because this Thing could quickly it comes up to speed Just almost immediately within a second We've got full top speed on the Chain Which is awesome at the same time be Sure that you're treating it accordingly
This thing ripped through that 10 inch Oak like no problem at all as I Mentioned usually we have to kind of Step down to really test these top Handles especially in the cordless side Because they really don't have the power To chew through those larger logs but This thing I could see as a 14 inch bar That arborist could be up in a tree Taking care of 12 and 14 inch trees Without a problem it really cuts through Even the plunge Cuts were very Impressive even going lengthways into The end of the log now we were able to Get it to cut out when we really leaned On it not surprised by that at all at The same time it's got tons of guts on The low end where on a Gasol you're Really having to get the RPMs up to use The speed to cut through it you get all The torque of an electric motor on the Bottom end of this so you can really Start right into that log without a Problem at all now at the same time as I Mentioned if you're really lean on it You can get it to stop but you let off The trigger grab it again and go now we Did have the eight amp hour kind of go Into a cut out where it overheated the Battery we had to let it cool off and Then it was absolutely fine but that's a Cool thing about Electronics where in a Gas motor it doesn't have all those Diagnostics in an electric motor in a
Cordless motor and the software they Have built into it it can actually read Those things like the temperature of the Battery the temperature of the motor the Motor the motor draw things like that And say okay we're going to shut the Tool down make sure we don't damage Anything and once we get back to that Cooler temp we'll start it back up and You'll be absolutely fine we did not run Into that with a 12 amp hour battery you Saw me make cut after cut after cut After cut Never Letting off the trigger It never even showed the sign of wanting To stop and we didn't notice really a Power difference between the 8 and 12 Amp hour and we didn't expect to but Just clarifying with you that we did not See a power difference jumping to the 12 From the eight still tons of Power with Either one now let's talk about pricing You can buy this bare tool for 349 Dollars and you get a three year Warranty now that three year warranty is Going to carry throughout not only with The tool but also with the batteries now If you step up to the 2826-21 where you get a single eight amp Hour battery you're looking at 499 Dollars now if you step up to the dash 22 kit that's going to give you two Batteries which is going to give you the 8 Amp Hour as well as the 12 amp hour Battery that's going to run you 699
Dollars is also going to come with a Dual rapid charger so you're set Stepping up to a dual rapid charger as Well as both the 8 and 12 amp hour Battery with the kit and that is 699 Dollars not a small price at the same Time still a great deal if you're Looking for a top handle saw and you're Looking to go core cordless and you're Wanting the biggest beast on the market Now again you are going to pay for Weight when it comes to comparing this To a two-stroke saw at the same time You're getting that bottom end torque That a two-stroke saw is not going to Give you we'll have a link in the Description to each of those also keep Track of us on Instagram Facebook Twitter and even Tick Tock hey if you Don't mind when you hit that like And Subscribe button if you haven't done so Already and by all means if you hated Our video well then give us a thumbs Down but would you let us know in the Comments why have a great day and keep Smiling