Customer Reviews

Remington RM1630A 16-inch 11.5 Amp Electric Chain Saw

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This saw has been the bane of my existence since I purchased the blasted piece of garbage six months ago. I will admit, I was originally in the market for a craftsman electric chainsaw; I used one that had been a wedding gift to my parents over 30 years ago with good effect before. Long story short: I bought this one instead. Uff da. Huge error. What can't go wrong? A list of things that have:
The chain adjustment and gear housing is shoddy and cheap;
the oil leaks out completely whenever you park it for more than six hours;
the chain that comes with this saw is useless due to its cheap construction, a replacement (decent) chain was $18 at Rural King;
both old and new chains were constantly jumping off the gear drive, necessitating constant tear-down for even the smallest jobs;
it is NOISY and LOUD fer chrissakes.
I could go on. Anyway; this saw is NOT GOOD and a BIG FAT WASTE OF CASH. I URGE YOU: DO NOT PURCHASE THIS SAW FOR YOUR and your family's SAKES.
Would I say I had a lemon? No - some of these problems are hinted at in other reviews (at Lowe's, I think) when I did research AFTER making the purchase. Mistake mistake mistake! I am slowly building a small kitty up to purchase a decent, gas-powered chain saw, which I should have done in the first place, but we moved to this land in the woods and the only cleared spot - the garden - was being strangled by walnuts (not friendly to your average garden veggie).
I hope this has dissuaded you from purchasing this saw. I loathe it.

This new and improved version of Remington's 16 inch saw isn't so improved. I had the previous version which finally died. Man did that thing take abuse. If you have a 16 inch saw you can cut down a 32 inch tree...right? OK, I never did that big but I did a lot more with that saw than was ever intended. I replaced the old with the new version, and it has changes which aren't improvements or much of an improvement. They reduced the size of the pivot spike on the bottom of the saw that you use to lever the saw during the cut. Thus, the saw doesn't grip quite as good as the old saw. The new guard protects more, but gathers more wood chips too. I was able to run the saw and shake it a bit and they flew right out. I would have rather had the old guard. I felt it protected adequately while allowing you to get at the chain more readily. The big attempt at improvement was the change in lube mechanism. The old lube mechanism was kind of cheesey and didn't function well, thus I was always over heating the chain. The new lube mechanism has a big bulb you can pump on the top for putting oil to the chain....but.... it doesn't work any better. The problem is that the bulb doesn't pull air in once pumped. Its a displacement device that tries to compress the air in the container to force oil out onto the chain. And when the oil does flow, then it must pull air back in through the nozzle, not via a one way valve in the bulb, which would have been a better design. To get it to work, you have to keep the reservoir completely full, and then it only works so well. I expect to sharpen this blade the same way I did with the old one, I use a cheap diamond bit from Harbor Freight in my dremel and do it a tooth at a time. It doesn't take too long. For the $60 I paid for this saw, I'd still recommend it (presuming the new model lasts just as long), but the changes made to it just haven't improved the performance to rate this 5 stars.

This saw works like a champ and cuts thru small trees almost as well as a gas model. I like it.

Whats more,it does not drool cutting oil out of the reservoir, after use while in storage.

This saw is easy to control and i am pleased!

I used the chainsaw for half a day and it worked great. Enough power for branches and small trees. Then it quit. I opened it up and one of the wire going to the brushes was disconnected. Could not find an easy way to reconnect as it seems it was just stuck in a hole before. Tried my best to reattach, including soldering, but it quit again after a couple of hours, most likely same problem. It's not easy to take it apart and at the age of 72 I have cut a good 40 cords of beetle infested Ponderosas in my life (which kept me warm for 14 years), with a 36" gas chainsaw that I took apart a number of time, but it took me about 3 hours to get to this connection. Also when you store the saw, you are supposed to drain the oil or it makes a mess in your garage. It's much easier to fill cleanly than to drain cleanly!

The saw cuts OK, but finding a second chain has been ridiculous. Once the original chain got dull, I tried to buy a new one. Priced at $32.95!!!! Over half the price of the tool!!! Cannot buy anywhere but on line. Chips in the housing is also a pain - you have to dig them out regularly or disassemble the shield to get them out. I do not recommend this saw for anyone other than a person who can only handle a light weight saw for small jobs.

It cuts, but if the wood is not completely dry, the wood chips compact in the drive housing. It has to be disassembled after each cut and the chips cleaned out. Not a very good design.