Cordless Saws
Saws are where a cordless battery stops being a convenience and starts being the limiting component. A drill draws current in short bursts; a circular saw pulls hard and continuously for the length of every cut. That single difference reshapes which specifications matter and which pack you need behind them.
The four saw types
Circular saw
Straight cuts in sheet goods and timber. Blade diameter — commonly 165 mm (6-1/2 in) or 184 mm (7-1/4 in) — sets maximum depth of cut, typically around 55 mm and 65 mm at 90 degrees respectively. No-load speed usually falls between 3,600 and 5,800 RPM. The heaviest sustained draw of any handheld cordless tool.
Reciprocating saw
Demolition and rough cutting. Judged on stroke length (typically 19–32 mm) and strokes per minute (often 0–3,000 SPM), with orbital action on better models. Stroke length matters more than SPM: a longer stroke clears waste and uses more of the blade, so it cuts faster and blunts more slowly.
Jigsaw
Curves and cut-outs. Specified on strokes per minute (commonly 0–3,500 SPM), stroke length around 19–26 mm, orbital settings and bevel range. Blade grip type — T-shank is now near-universal — matters more for consumables than the motor does.
Mitre saw
Repeatable crosscuts and angles. Defined by blade diameter, crosscut capacity at 90 degrees, bevel and mitre range, and whether the head slides. Cordless mitre saws are the most battery-hungry tool most people will own, and they are frequently the strongest argument for high-capacity packs.
Why current draw dictates your pack, not the other way round
The specification that governs a cordless saw is not printed on the saw. It is the discharge capability of the battery, and a pack that keeps a drill happy will disappoint behind a circular saw in two ways at once: it runs down quickly, and it sags under load, which shows up as the blade slowing mid-cut in dense material.
The mechanism is straightforward. Higher-capacity packs generally contain more cells, and more cells in parallel means each delivers a smaller share of the total current — less voltage sag, less heat, less accelerated ageing. A 2.0 Ah pack does not merely run for less time behind a saw than a 5.0 Ah pack; it works harder for every minute it does run.
This is why a saw purchase so often forces a battery purchase, and why the honest cost of adding a cordless saw is the saw plus one or two larger packs — a platform decision, worked through on battery platforms.
Practical consequence: matching pack capacity to tool draw is not an upsell. Undersized packs behind high-draw tools deliver worse performance and shorter battery life at the same time.
The specifications worth comparing
| Saw type | Primary specification | Secondary specification | Typical draw |
|---|---|---|---|
| Circular | Blade diameter and depth of cut at 90° | No-load RPM, bevel range, blade-left or blade-right | Very high, sustained |
| Reciprocating | Stroke length | SPM range, orbital action, shoe adjustment | High, intermittent |
| Jigsaw | SPM range and orbital settings | Bevel range, blade grip, dust extraction | Moderate |
| Mitre | Crosscut capacity at 90° | Bevel and mitre range, sliding head, blade diameter | Very high, peaky |
Notice what is absent from that table: torque. Saws are specified on speed and geometry rather than torque, which makes this category considerably easier to compare across brands than drills and drivers. Blade diameter, depth of cut and stroke length are physical dimensions — there is no measurement condition for a manufacturer to select favorably.
Brushless motors matter here more than anywhere else. Under sustained load the efficiency gain converts directly into cuts per charge and into a motor that runs cooler through a long session. In a category defined by continuous high draw, a brushed saw is working against itself.
Cut capacity and the numbers that get quoted quietly
Depth of cut is always quoted at 90 degrees and drops substantially at 45 degrees — often by a quarter or more — yet the bevel figure is frequently relegated to the small print. If you cut bevels regularly, that is the number to check, not the headline one.
Mitre saws hide a similar detail. Crosscut capacity depends on blade diameter and on whether the head slides, and a non-sliding 216 mm saw will not cross a board a sliding saw of the same blade size handles easily. Cuts-per-charge claims are all but uncomparable: they depend on material, thickness, blade condition and pack capacity, and those conditions are rarely stated together.
Which saw first?
For general building and renovation, a circular saw plus a reciprocating saw covers the widest range — one for accurate straight cuts, one for everything destructive. For furniture, joinery and cut-outs, a jigsaw earns its place before either. Buy a cordless mitre saw only when portability genuinely matters; if it lives on a bench next to a socket, a corded one delivers the same accuracy without the pack cost.
- Battery Platforms — why high-draw tools change which pack capacity you need
- Drills & Drivers — the tools that usually set your platform before you get here
- Measuring & Layout — marking out before cutting
- Comparison Methodology — how we source and normalize these figures
See the cordless saw spec comparison — blade diameter, speed and weight across 60 listings, with the fields we removed and why.
Compare them
The finder below is already scoped to this category — 58 of the 433 tools in the corpus. Widen or narrow it from there, or open the full cordless tool finder to search everything at once. Every result is placed against the median weight for its own size class, where that class holds at least eight tools. Saws sit at the heavy end of this corpus, so the class median here is a more useful yardstick than the whole-catalogue one.
58 tools match
Makita XSR01Z 36V (18V X2) LXT® Brushless Rear Handle 7-1/4" Circular Saw, Tool Only
Weight
5.49kg
Saws · 3-6 kg · 25 tools
Weight is +48% against the class median of 3.72.
Makita XSH04ZB 18V LXT® Lithium-Ion Sub-Compact Brushless Cordless 6-1/2” Circular Saw, Tool Only
- Max torque
- not stated
- No-load RPM
- 5000
- Pack
- not stated
Weight
1.81kg
Saws · 1.5-3 kg · 15 tools
Weight is -15% against the class median of 2.13.
DEWALT FLEXVOLT 60V MAX* Circular Saw for Framing, 7-1/4-Inch, Tool Only (DCS577B)
Weight
4.94kg
Saws · 3-6 kg · 25 tools
Weight is +33% against the class median of 3.72.
DEWALT 20V MAX 6-1/2-Inch Circular Saw Kit, with 5.0-Ah Battery and Charger (DCS391P1)
Weight
4.08kg
Saws · 3-6 kg · 25 tools
Weight is +10% against the class median of 3.72.
DEWALT FLEXVOLT ADVANTAGE 20V MAX* Circular Saw, 7-1/4-Inch, Cordless, Tool Only (DCS573B)
- Max torque
- not stated
- No-load RPM
- 5500
- Pack
- not stated
Weight
3.72kg
Saws · 3-6 kg · 25 tools
Weight is 0% against the class median of 3.72.
SKIL 20V 6-1/2 Inch Cordless Circular Saw Includes 2.0Ah PWR CORE 20 Lithium Battery and Charger – CR540602
Weight
3.54kg
Saws · 3-6 kg · 25 tools
Weight is -5% against the class median of 3.72.
DEWALT 20V MAX Circular Saw Cordless with Brake, 7-1/4 Inch, Tool Only (DCS570B)
- Max torque
- not stated
- No-load RPM
- 5500
- Pack
- not stated
Weight
3.40kg
Saws · 3-6 kg · 25 tools
Weight is -9% against the class median of 3.72.
Milwaukee M18 BRUSHLESS 7-1/4" CIRCULAR SAW – BARE
- Max torque
- not stated
- No-load RPM
- 5000
- Pack
- not stated
Weight
3.27kg
Saws · 3-6 kg · 25 tools
Weight is -12% against the class median of 3.72.
GALAX PRO DC20V 4-1/2" Cordless Mini Circular Saw with 2.0Ah battery | Laser Guide, Rip Guide, 2 Pcs Blades(24T+ 60T), 3400RPM, Max Cutting Depth 1-11/16"(90°), 1-1/8"(45°)
Weight
2.86kg
Saws · 1.5-3 kg · 15 tools
Weight is +34% against the class median of 2.13.
DEWALT 20V MAX* 6-1/2 in. Brushless Cordless Circular Saw, Tool Only (DCS565B)
- Max torque
- not stated
- No-load RPM
- 4950
- Pack
- not stated
Weight
2.86kg
Saws · 1.5-3 kg · 15 tools
Weight is +34% against the class median of 2.13.
DEWALT 20V MAX 7-Tool Combo Kit, Includes Cordless Drill, Impact Driver, Reciprocating Saw, Circular Saw, Oscillating Tool, Random Orbital Sander, Jigsaw, 5Ah Battery and Charger (DCK751P1)
- Max torque
- 169.4772435Nm
- No-load RPM
- not stated
- Pack
- 5Ah
Weight
13.52kg
Too few tools in this class to publish a baseline.
Milwaukee M18 FUEL 7-1/4 Inch Circular Saw (Bare Tool)
- Max torque
- not stated
- No-load RPM
- 6000
- Pack
- not stated
Weight
4.99kg
Saws · 3-6 kg · 25 tools
Weight is +34% against the class median of 3.72.
Common questions
Can a cordless circular saw replace a corded one?
For site work, framing and sheet breakdown, the specifications are now close enough that the answer is usually yes — provided you pair it with high-capacity packs. For all-day repetitive cutting in one place, mains power removes the pack constraint entirely and remains the more sensible choice.
How many cuts will I get per charge?
Nobody can tell you honestly, ourselves included. It depends on material density, thickness, blade sharpness, feed rate and pack capacity. Where a manufacturer publishes a cuts-per-charge claim we record the conditions it was quoted under, and where those conditions are missing we say so.
Does blade quality matter more than the saw?
Often, yes. Tooth count, kerf width and carbide grade change cut quality and current draw substantially, and a thin-kerf blade removes less material per pass, which directly extends runtime on a given pack. It is the cheapest performance change available here.
Why are stroke length and SPM both listed for reciprocating saws?
They describe different things. SPM is how often the blade cycles; stroke length is how far it travels each time. Material removal is roughly the product of the two, and a long stroke at moderate SPM generally out-cuts a short stroke at high SPM while spreading wear over more of the blade.