Makita Chainsaws

How the Makita chainsaw range is organised

Makita's 45 saws in this database split by power source, and the families barely overlap: petrol saws in the EA and DCS families, cordless saws in the XCU family, and corded saws in the UC family. Deciding which family you are shopping in settles most of the rest.

Petrol: 32 cc to 79 cc

The petrol saws carry an intended-use label in their specifications, and it tracks displacement closely. The two smallest, Makita EA3200SRBB and Makita EA3201SRBB, are recorded as occasional-user saws: 32 cc, 1.3 kW, a 35.56 cm bar, 4.08 kg and 4.26 kg without bar and chain.

Farm and ranch duty starts at Makita EA4300FRDB — 42 cc, 2.2 kW, 4.9 kg on a 40.64 cm bar — and runs up to Makita EA5600FREG at 55.6 cc, 3 kW and 5.8 kg.

The professional group opens at 50 cc. Makita EA5001PREL and Makita EA5000PRGG both store 50 cc, 2.9 kW and 5.4 kg, and differ mainly in bar length: 45.7 cm against 50.8 cm. Makita EA6100PREG is the largest petrol saw here with a full spec set — 61 cc, 3.4 kW, 5.99 kg and a 0.8 L fuel tank. Above it, Makita EA7300PRZ and Makita EA7900PRZ are recorded at 73 cc and 79 cc with no bar length or weight stored.

Cordless XCU: 2.0 kg to 3.81 kg

The XCU saws are far lighter and cluster around a 20 m/s chain speed. Makita XCU06T is the lightest saw recorded in the brand at 2.0 kg on a 25.4 cm bar; its sibling Makita XCU06Z weighs 2.36 kg, is listed for professional tree care, pruning, trimming and limbing, and runs the fastest chain in the Makita range at 24.0 m/s. The volume sizes are 35.56 cm — Makita XCU08Z at 3.36 kg — and 40.64 cm, the longest cordless bar, on Makita XCU09Z at 3.4 kg. Makita XCU01Z sits apart with an 11.43 cm bar, the shortest recorded here.

Corded UC: heavy for their bar

Only Makita UC3551A and Makita UC4051A are corded. At 5.5 kg and 5.58 kg they are heavier than every cordless Makita in this data, and their chains run at 14.7 and 14.73 m/s — slower than the XCU saws on comparable bars.

Browse by size: 14-inch, 16-inch, 18-inch.

Reading a Makita model number

Four prefixes appear in this data, and they place a saw immediately.

On petrol saws the digits track displacement. EA3200SRBB stores 32 cc, EA4300FRDB 42 cc, EA5600FREG 55.6 cc, EA6100PREG 61 cc. DCS behaves the same way: DCS5121REG is 50 cc, DCS6421RFG 64 cc. A 1 in the fourth digit marks a variant of the same engine — EA5000PREG and EA5001PREG are both 50 cc.

The letter block is consistent in this data, described here as an observed pattern rather than a published key. The first letter matches the stored intended use: S on occasional-user saws (EA3200SRBB), F on farm and ranch saws (EA4300FRDB, EA5600FREG), P on professional saws (EA5001PREL, EA6100PREG). The second-to-last letter matches bar length: B with 35.56 cm, D with 40.64 cm, E with 45.7 cm, and both F and G with 50.8 cm. Designations ending PRZ have no bar length or weight stored at all.

On cordless saws the suffix describes the kit, not the saw. XCU03Z, XCU03PT and XCU03PT1 hold the same specifications — 35.56 cm bar, 3.72 kg, roughly 20 m/s. The two XCU digits identify a family rather than a size: XCU06 is 25.4 cm, XCU03 is 35.56 cm.

On corded saws the digits are the bar. UC3551A stores 35.6 cm, UC4051A 40.64 cm.