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Makita UC4051A Review
Makita chainsaws are always pretty easy to review, because they’re generally excellent…
And you’ll find that the same can be said for the Makita UC4051A.
It provides a great combination of performance and ease of use – You’ll find that it feels powerful and capable while also feeling well balanced and comfortable in your hands while making cuts.
In this Makita UC4051A review you’ll find everything you need to decide whether this is the chainsaw for you, or not…
- 16 inch bar
- Electric/corded
- Comfortable ergonomic handles
- Tool-less chain adjustments & other ease of use features
- 15.7lbs
Who’s it for?
Homeowners will especially love this Makita, whereas it would fall short in almost every department for a professional arborist.
The good news is that if you’re reading this article, you’re probably not a professional arborist. Another good news is that Makita stole one of our top spots in our best chainsaw guide.
The Makita can tackle trees and limbs of up to about 12 inches in diameter thanks to the generous cutting capacity provided by the 16 inch bar – Remember, you always want to have a few extra inches over the width of your cut.
It has plenty of power for dealing with small to medium sized trees or limbs, and makes your life easy along the way with several excellent features.
Electric chainsaws like the UC4051A are particularly useful for homeowners, because there’s likely to be power outlets available nearby to where you’re cutting.
If you’re managing trees on a larger piece of land, you might want to consider a battery or gas chainsaw where you’ll get more portability.
The Makita UC4051A does a great job of combining functionality and ease of use…
Performance
When we’re talking about the performance of a chainsaw, it mostly comes down to two things…
- Cutting capacity
- Power output
When walking about performance, we’re concerned with what a chainsaw can do and how well it can do it.
As mentioned above, the UC4051A offers a pretty nice cutting capacity thanks to its 16 inch bar… you’ll find 16 inches is about as big as it gets for a corded or battery powered chainsaws.
Although, you do see 18 inch options no some models.
This cutting capacity should give you enough room to easily deal with limbs and trees of up to about 12 inches in diameter – This is compared to smaller 12 or 14 inch bar options, which in combination with low power output will often only be good for 6 to 8 inch limbs or trees.
The Makita has no problems with power, and you’ll see in user reviews that many experienced chainsaw users are impressed with the output of this saw.
Power isn’t just important to ensure the chainsaw can actually make the cut, but also that it can make it reasonably quickly…
A slow cutting chainsaw can be frustrating, and make you quite unproductive.
Thankfully these are not issues with the Makita, as you’ll find that it glides through most jobs you give it like butter.
The performance is great, it’s what you’d expect from a Makita tool – But, the ease of use features is where this chainsaw really starts to shine.
Ease of use
If your sole concern when choosing a chainsaw was pure power and performance, then a gas version would be the best choice.
As you’ll see in our chainsaw feature guide, they’re simply the most powerful and capable of all options with their beefy petrol motors.
But this Makita is a corded saw… Which means the performance is somewhat lesser, in return for lots of ease of use benefits.
No noise, no fumes
You’ll find that the UC4051A runs really quietly. So quiet that you might not even need ear protection if you’re tackling a small job.
There’s also no fumes or no hassle of having to mix and pour gasoline.
Gas chainsaws try to choke you with fumes and deafen you with their roaring motors – But you get neither of those issues with corded versions like this Makita.
On top of that, the Makita (like most corded chainsaws) is really easy to maintain… There’s no spark plugs, and generally less mechanical parts to cause issues that you get regularly with gas options.
Lightweight
If you’ve ever used a gas one, you’ll know that they’re pretty heavy and can be awkward to use.
Corded and battery versions are much more lightweight though – Some small 10 or 12 inch options can be as light as 8 or 9 lbs.
The Makita isn’t superb in terms of weight, coming in at 15.7 lbs… Although with that said, this does have a large cutting capacity and that extra length in the bar also adds weight.
If weight was a major concern and if the 16 inch bar was more than you need, you might consider a smaller and lighter saw like the Dewalt DCCS620P1 – It’s a 12 inch cordless version, and it’s also an excellent choice.
Comfort and control
The saw’s lightweight build does a lot to help with your comfort and control of the saw in general, but the Makita goes beyond that…
It’s also very well balanced, with the weight distribution throughout the tool feeling steady and controlled in your hands.
You’ll also enjoy the Makita rubberized ergonomic handles… They really are a treat to use, especially as compared to the handles on lesser saws which basically amount to rounded plastic poles.
These handles are shaped specifically to fit nicely into your hands, which adds further to not only your comfort but also to your ability to control the saw.
Having a firm grip is important. It helps keep the saw secure in your hands and gives you more leverage to guide it through cuts… You’ll find that cheaper saws tend to slide around in your hands, and it can be a real pain.
This additional comfort reduces user fatigue and the enhanced control also helps keep you safer, as the chance of accident due to loss of control is greatly reduced.
The side benefits
When buying a saw from Makita, you can expect the bells and whistles.
They’re a little more expensive than some of the other brands out there.. But that’s because usually, they’re just better.
The Makita UC4051A differentiates itself both in terms of performance and ease of use, but these final touches are the icing on the cake:
- Tool-less blade and chain adjustments
- Easy start button
- Oil level check window
No more straining your arm as you try to fire up your chainsaw using an awkward pull cord – With the Makita, it’ll start up with the tap of the power button on the side.
The tool-less adjustments are also a really nice side benefit that you’ll find on most corded and cordless chainsaws these days… There’s clever controls on the side of the saw that control these adjustments, meaning you don’t have to carry finicky little tools around with you.
The oil check window is a nice touch, too.
With other chainsaws you have to actually open the reservoir to check the level… But with the Makita, you can see how much oil is in the reservoir at a glance.
Makita build quality
Like Dewalt and other top tier brands, Makita is known around the world as an experienced manufacturer of quality power tools.
You’ll see that Makita tools have a premium price as compared to the budget brands, but that’s because they truly are a cut above the rest.
They’re responsible for a lot of design innovations, and the overall quality of their tools is simply worldclass.
When you buy a Makita chainsaw, you’re buying from a world renowned brand that’s backed by decades of experience – And, a 1 year manufacturers warranty.
It’s actually a shame that the warranty is only 1 year… Some other premium brands offer 2 or even 3 year warranties.
Any downsides?
The main downside of using a corded chainsaw is the cord itself…
It can be a real pain – Firstly, it restricts you to working within a certain distance of your power outlets (unless you want to string extension cords all over the place).
Secondly, you’ve got to manage the cord as you’re using the saw… It’s a tripping hazard, and it can also get snagged in something and pull the chainsaw from your hands or throw you off balance.
Aside from that mild annoyance, if being near power outlets isn’t’ an issue for you then you’ll love the Makita.
Conclusion
For homeowners or anyone who needs to manage limbs or trees of up to about 12 inches in diameter, the Makita UC4051A will be a great choice.
It combined performance and ease of use very well to make for a very capable chainsaw which is also comfortable to use.
If the 16 inch bar is more than you need, you might consider a smaller option to save on some weight. Likewise, if the power cord is too restrictive then you might instead consider a battery powered chainsaw – Although do keep in mind that they come with other downsides as you can see in our best cordless chainsaw article.
Overall, the Makita performances excellently and has been very well received by customers.