When it comes to home improvement tools, Stihl and Milwaukee are two household names. Both the brands come with a plethora of great products, including mini chainsaws. If you are looking forward to buying a mini chainsaw for tasks like cutting branches off trees, you may want to choose one between Stihl GTA 26 and Milwaukee Hatchet. We’ll do a detailed Stihl GTA 26 vs. Milwaukee Hatchet comparison in this article to help you with the purchase.
For our Stihl GTA 26 vs. Milwaukee Hatchet comparison, we choose five benchmarks- design, cut, battery life, usability, and price. Based on these factors, we will try to give you a picture of who wins and which product suits you the best.
Stihl GTA 26 vs. Milwaukee Hatchet Comparison
Design
In naked eyes, the Milwaukee Hatchet looks a bit bigger than the GTA 26, and it is bigger indeed. While the Hatchet comes with a 6” blade, the GTA 26 comes with a bit smaller one at 4”.
Apart from the blade size, the handle in the Hatchet is a bit larger than the GTA 26. For some people, it might be a bit difficult to hold the Hatchet with just one hand. The GTA 26 handle, on the other hand, fits perfectly in one’s palms.
The Stihl GTA 26 has a quick release cap, that helps adjust the tension. It has an LED light bar that displays how much battery life is left. Besides the light bar, there is a safety switch.
The Milwaukee Hatchet comes with a whip, and there is no need for you to manually oil the blade if the reservoir is full. It also comes with a safety button right on top of the handle.
The Stihl GTA 26 is a lighter tool compared to the Milwaukee Hatchet. It weighs around 3 lbs compared to the Hatchet’s 5lbs.
There’s no clear winner here for the design comparison, as both the tools have very decent designs.
The Cut
If you are comparing two mini-chainsaws, the most important factor is how they cut. The Stihl GTA 26 is not the best tool in terms of power and how it cuts. As the blade is a bit smaller, it is more suitable for pruning tree branches and regular gardening tasks.
In the user manual of GTA 26, Stihl has mentioned that the tool should not be used for any commercial or industrial purposes because it is not powerful enough to take care of tasks like those.
The Milwaukee Hatchet is more powerful than the GTA 26. On top of that, it comes with a longer blade, which is suitable to cut bigger things. Even though Milwaukee hasn’t disclosed if the Hatchet can be used for commercial purposes, we think light tasks like chopping wood for making furniture can easily be taken care of by this tool. It also cuts quicker than GTA 26.
We have to give this round to the Milwaukee Hatchet.
Battery Life
The average run-time you will get from the Stihl GTA 26 is about ten minutes. Even though the manufacturer claims that it is possible to get almost 80 cuts with one single battery charge, for real you will get around 65-70 cuts.
The Milwaukee Hatchet has a much better battery and lasts way longer than just 10 minutes- probably 20-25 minutes. You will easily get more than 100 cuts out of the Hatchet’s battery.
To fully charge the Stihl GTA 26 battery, it will take you a little over 70 minutes. For the Milwaukee Hatchet, it takes a bit less than 90 minutes. However, it is much easier to replace batteries for the Hatchet, as Milwaukee batteries are more available than Stihl’s.
In terms of battery life, Milwaukee takes this home.
The Verdict
In our opinion, the clear winner in the Stihl GTA 26 vs. Milwaukee Hatchet battle is the Hatchet. If you have the extra bucks to spend, you should definitely go for Milwaukee. However, if you don’t need so much power and can live with the smaller battery life, Stihl GTA 26 is not a bad choice either.
Point to be noted, you can use the Milwaukee Hatchet for multi-purpose usage. If you are willing to buy a tool for the long-term, it is highly recommended to choose the Hatchet over the GTA 26.
