Milwaukee Fuel Sawzall 2720-22 reviewed

[Brian M. II]

First of all I want to thank the guys at TIA and Milwaukee for this great giveaway. I really appreciate it.

 

For this review I cut up some trees and pallets for my wife for some projects we are doing. The temperature when cutting was around 27 degrees. Batteries usually work better when it is warmer so I add that in.

 

I used the 2720 fuel sawzall.

Used 2 XC Red Lithium 4.0 Ah batteries from Milwaukee; 1 fully charged which had been drained 1-2 times before. The other battery had 2 battery status lights (33-54 percent via manual).

I used a C3 Craftsman reciprocating saw.

I used 1 19.2 NiCad craftsman battery, which I believe was overcharged. Crappy charger and batteries I have had for I believe 1-2 year and already dying (not much use), hence why I am switching to Milwaukee.

I used one 9” nail embedded blade by Diablo for all tests. This was a used blade by my wife the day before on pallets. I believe she cut 1 pallet the same way I did and then one a different way.

 

How I cut pallets. I pick a side of the pallet, groundside or load side to start on. I then cut all the locations down an entire outside stringer on my chosen side. I then move to the other outside stringer on the same side and do the same. I then cut the center stringer off. I then flip the pallet and work on the other side (ground or load). I cut between the stringer and the slabs as I call them so I hit mostly nail. If the boards are nailed down well, which most are you hit wood most of the way from either pallet or stringer. At times I will be into the stringer enough that I cut the nail off in the stringer and can then pull board off. Usually this is the center stringer, which is the hardest one to cut apart.

 

The first step I did was cut two birch trees up and then a Maple. These are young trees. This drained the battery from 2 lights to 1 light, I still had power when finished doing this and I did not expect that to happen. These trees have been sitting for 2 nights.

The first White Birch had 6 cuts done to it. The diameters (all in inches) that I cut are: 3 ½, 3, 2 ¾, 2 ¼, 1 ¾, and 1 ¼.

The second White Birch had 5 cuts. The diameters (all in inches) that I cut are: 2, 1 ¾, 1 ½, 1, and ¾.

The Maple tree had 3 cuts. The diameters (all in inches) that I cut are: 2 ¼, 1 ¾, and 1 ½.

 

The second step I did was work on the pallets. I used the same blade but started with the fully charged battery. My pallets all had 3 stringers and ranged in number of slabs. I am assuming each pallet had 2 nails connecting slab to stringer as most of mine had 2 nails some had 3 and some had 1.

 

Side note, my brother in law has a kobalt battery powered reciprocating saw he can’t cut a full pallet, I think he said he can do about half of one. Sorry I don’t know model or anything. I believe 18 volt if that helps. He bought it 2 years ago.

 

Ok back to the testing.

 

I started out on one pallet expecting to get a good portion done.

I finished the first pallet in around 5 minutes. This pallet had 11 slabs cut off which ends up being about 66 nails. For the math work out 11 slabs times 3 stringers is 33 nailed locations. I assumed 2 nails a location for 66 nails.  To me this was awesome.

 

I used to use my dad’s DeWalt corded reciprocating saw with a DeWalt demolition blade and would spend around 10 minutes a pallet.

 

Since I finished the first pallet, I moved on to pallet number 2. I now had 3 status lights showing up (55-77 percent). This pallet took me about 8 minutes to finish. This pallet had 13 slabs for 78 nails cut. Expecting to only get most of 1 pallet done I was amazed I had finished 2 pallets. I now had 1 light showing up (10-32). Something to note, the blade came out while cutting. I could have hit the lever but I truly doubt it as it has a nice heavy spring to lift up on to change out the blades.

 

Since I still had 1 battery status light showing up I went on to pallet 3. The battery lasted another 2 minutes. It cut 14.5 cuts or 29 nails. It lasted for 4 2/3 slabs.  I thought this was pretty good.

 

Since I still had pallet to go I grabbed the other battery, which had 1 status light on. This battery lasted 1 minute for 11 cuts or 22 nails. The way I cut, this battery finished no slabs.

 

To see how well this compared to my old craftsman saw I put the charged battery into that and it lasted 4 minutes. It had 7 cuts, finishing 2 slabs off.  The saw was still moving when I stopped since any amount of pressure from the wood would stop the blade.

 

I waited 10 minutes and tried my first battery (the originally full one) again. It still did not run the saw and had a quick blinking status light (end of discharge).

 

A couple things to note, the fuel felt like it ripped through the pallets while the craftsman did not. I know the blade was getting older each cut but even the last cuts of the fuel went quicker than the craftsman. Although the fuel felt heavier the craftsman was harder on my body to use. The fuel felt great in the hands and although it still vibrated, come on it’s a reciprocating saw; it vibrated much less than the craftsman. Both saws had quick no tool blade changing although I like the fuel method better, a lever you twist up while the craftsman just had a lever you lift. Both very similar and both auto closed. You can remove the blade without needing to touch it, which is nice for those hot blades. The craftsman has a button you need to push to the side to run the saw. It is a run lock where you need to push it every time the trigger is released, a pain in my opinion. The fuel has a lock as well. Push it one way and it is locked so the trigger can’t be squeezed, the other way it is unlocked. The fuel’s lock remains where it is pushed to so it is left locked or unlocked, I liked this a lot. I used the fuels adjustable shoe at one point just to test it out. It worked great and even had a marking for max since the whole shoe can be removed. Before doing this project I was finishing up a pole barn out of poplar cores (4 inch diameter centers of logs). I used a miter saw to start my 45 degrees marks but finished the cuts with the fuel after receiving it. I used my dad’s DeWalt before this saw and was limited by cord, I also needed hex key to remove the blade (my wife loved the quick change after using my dad’s saw). I worked on this project mostly after work, which by then would be dark. The led light aided in making cuts that I had marked, before it was too dark to use a tape measure. Since the pole barn is about 8 feet tall at its shortest spot, the rafter hooked worked great in allowing me to set the saw down without having to go up and down a snowy ladder.

 

As I was writing this I was charging a fully drained battery. The manual says a fully discharged battery back with a normal internal temperature will take 30-75 minutes to charge. My first battery that was just used around 15 minutes prior to charging (so probably still hot on the inside) took 78 minutes. Just over what a normal battery would take. My second battery took 82 minutes 38 seconds to fully charge. Note these had quick flashing status indicators still so fully discharged.  I would guess if I had a M18 light I could get a tad more power out of the batteries but that’s just guessing.

 

The full battery with the pallets lasted 15 minutes of almost continues run time (20 minutes total time). 

 

Overall I am very please with the saw. Having 15 minutes of straight run time is pretty good in my opinion, especially since my craftsman one (I know NiCad and not sure of Ah as it wasn’t marked) lasted 4 minutes. I think the power can replace a corded one. I also think this one works better than my dad’s corded one, although a corded saw never runs out of power. Since I have this kit and another Milwaukee kit I have four 4.0 batteries. That is an hour of straight run time. That is pretty good in my opinion. I don’t want to give all the credit to the saw, I know a good blade makes a big difference and thanks to TIA I bought Diablo blades, since they were recommended. These blades were awesome. I don’t think I would go to another blade but Diablo. I may try Bosch as I have heard those are good blades but the Diablos were night and day compared to the Dewalt Demolition blade.

 

A couple things I would maybe do, if I wanted to improve anything. The obvious is more runtime. The case is great, and even has a spot for some spare blades that can be up to 9inches long. This is great although I would rather this area be a bit larger and deeper to allow more blades to fit. For instance I bought a kit of Diablo blades which came in a case, I think it would be great if this small case could fit in the sawzall case. Something minor, but it could still be improved by adding more space for more blades. Another nit pick would be to label the cases. They have a small label on the side for what came in it, although I would like large “sawzall” lettering on the topside of the case. Since, I have two cases similar in size this would help in grabbing the correct case quickly. Thank you for reading and I hope this is helpful to others.

 

Thank you. This is my first review so be easy on me. However; if you have any suggestions or tips on how to do better reviews I am all ears. Thank you.

[RedSionnach]

Informative review. Good job.

[Harold Wray]

Great review Brian! Lots of details. Sounds like a great sawzall.

[NicholasShetley]

I agree with both of them. Very detailed.

[Brian M. II]

Thank you. It is a great sawzall. For my wife to enjoy the tool says something in and of itself, as I was always asked to cut up the pallets and now she doesn't mind. Although, now I want to.

[Eric - TIA]

Very nice review.   Detailed and informative.  

[regopit]

Nice review. Just one more thing to add to the ever growing list.

[Conductor562]

Very detailed and informative! I'm impressed.