EasyCut 12

I'm in the USA and I bought this from amazon.co.uk, because it's not available in the USA. Oddly, due to international BS, USA buyers can't buy the battery by itself, and you can't buy the tool by itself, but for now you can buy this whole kit until someone decides to make things difficult again. Also you CAN buy nanoblades from the UK version of Amazon, so I got an extra to just to try the different tooth styles and lengths. I also bought the US charger from amazon.com (US version) which fits the UK battery without modification... The bundle I bought included the charger and one battery that's intended for US tools, but it took 5 minutes to modify it for this UK tool by removing a little material. They went out of their way to make sure the US batteries wouldn't be compatible with UK tools. The fix is easy, but slightly ugly. Just a little dremel work.So I now have: The tool, the case, a UK charger (worthless to me) a US charger, two batteries (one acquired by modifying a US battery for this British tool) one "50mm basic wood nanoblade" and one "60mm speed wood nanoblade".Total cost $228.39 US (That includes everything: Shipping, California sales tax, currency exchange etc. and again that's with a spare nanoblade and spare battery.) Total time from order to receipt: 12 days.Is it worth it? From a practical standpoint, maybe not. DO I REGRET MY PURCHASE? HELL NO! It's so cool! As soon as I turned it on, my beard became a little more coarse and my left nut descended to be even with the right.It feels solid, shaped well for its use, and it's FUN!Realistic applications where this may be the best tool:- Pruning (that's a pretty big one)- Anytime you're not worried about making "ugly" cuts and you want to avoid the hassle of moving the material to a workbench or vice. For example, cutting away plastic parts of a wrecked car to get to the useful parts, or trimming the edge of an old gate without taking it off the hinges- Detail work for any chainsaw sculpture (ice or wood), while still being able to say: "It's 100% chainsaw work"- Plunge cuts (starting a cut in the middle of the material without having to start with a drill)- And of course, impressing friends and annoying enemies!Don't get me wrong, this will make a very clean cut through plywood, especially with a guide, but unless you want to do plunge cuts, there are probably better tools for that.Could be used in a lot of situations where a sawzall might otherwise be used but without the kickback of a reciprocating saw... That's actually what sold me on this.As you'd expect, it's not as powerful as a bigger tool would be, but that's not where this shines anyway.It's definitely NOT good with cutting curves. That's a drawback versus sabre saws which is unavoidable, BUT Bosch could probably improve this if the teeth were "bent" further apart (by a greater margin) than the "butterknife" that supports the chain. (That is, the kerf width of the cut.)As far as I found so far, you can only get "basic wood" and "speed wood" blades, in 50mm or 60mm lengths. Maybe there are other blades available, or coming soon, and if so I'll buy them. But I now have one of each and in both I'd like a wider kerf width, even if it means a slower cut.

As mentioned jig saw in the 12v Pro Range broke down and I needed some intricate cutting doing, one of these (Nano's) filled the gap......it's good and cuts neatly....use within it's capabilities and it's a a neat tool. The 12v batteries for the Home & Garden range and the Professional are slightly different and not interchangeable. Blades are expensive (£30) so be careful and check for nails! Overall pleased with it - but use it carefully.

So I have been looking for a handheld "pistol" shaped pruner/cutter to use as a saw for small branches (around 10-30mm width), and this device from Bosch seemed to fit the bill - not that there were any other contenders. Most of the saw type devices made by other manufacturers are extremely large and unwieldy - I was hopeful that this device would fit the bill.As with all Bosch tools I have come across, their packaging is great - as you can see in the pictures it came with a durable green case (Green denotes home use tools, while their blue cases denote professional use). The chain came with it's own little guard although it's worth noting that once you've used the chain it's unlikely you will get this guard to fit again unless you clean the teeth of the chain ultra clean. The fitted chain is a 65mm which is the largest one they do (they also do a 50mm one), and in use the device cut through all the branches (including some thicker than the actual blade at around 9 to 10cm thick !) that I required it to without any problems, but there were some caveats as listed below.I have now owned this unit for some time, and am now in a position to update my original review which was quite critical in how the device fits in the palm of your hand and how it feels in ongoing usage, however my initial impressions were very unfair as I thought both safeties had to be depressed in order for the unit to work. In reality (and I suspect if I had read the manual !) I would have found out that both safeties only have to be depressed when initially starting the device - after which the only "safety" that has to be depressed is the trigger - which makes the device much nicer to use.Some other usage notes I have made - the teeth of the chainsaw seem very small, and they are quick to fill up with debris during use, to the point where the chain now looks to have a rim of wood round it interspersed with the teeth of the chainsaw ! I suspect this won't be much of an issue if you are using this device in a workshop on dry wood, however if you are in the garden and working on wood that has moisture in it, it is something to keep in the back of your mind - you certainly notice the difference in sharpness when using a new chainsaw blade !Unfortunately the EasyCut 12 doesn't come with a brush to clean it out which would have been very useful as I have noted is that quite a lot of the debris during use gets thrown into the holding mechanism for the blade - the areas that need particular attention in brushing out are above and below the blade itself and also in the circular recess which is used to house the spindle for the blade in the cover - these areas should be brushed out regularly with a stiff brush to maintain good operation and unnecessary wear and tear on the device.I would have also liked to see a slightly longer blade - maybe 80-90mm which would have made this device more useful for me.Having said all this, I've changed my review from a 3 to a 4 star - it's a nice little unit