Makita XCU04PT LXT Brushless 16" Chain Saw Kit 5.0Ah

After 8 months of occasional weekend use, I am down-rating this saw once again to only 2 stars. It took me a while to figure out what the saw's problems were vs. what the battery's problems were. I got the XCU04Z with a 16" bar. I keep it well oiled and sharpen my chains or use a new chain. For small limbing projects, this saw does fine. For cutting up softwood over 6" diameter and longer than 20 feet (dead windstorm blow-downs), this saw is USELESS after 15 minutes. The Makita batteries (2 sets) will still have plenty of charge left, but the saw itself just dies as it seems to just overheat and stop working. If I take out the batteries, and give the saw 20 minutes to cool, then it works fine again for 5 or 10 minutes with either the same uncharged batteries, or with newly charged ones. Limbing 1- and 2-inch branches does not seem to wear the saw out at all. But steady cuts in 8 to 12" pine or spruce (for bonfire wood, for example) just wears this poor little saw out in a few minutes - despite the batteries still having life. ---------- I wrote the two reviews below after 1-month, and 1-week using the saw. It gets frustrating when the saw dies after a 15 minutes because of overheating, and then you have to wait to use it again. Have never heard anything from Makita. ---------- Wrote the review below yesterday (1-month of occasional use), but am already going to downrate the performance from a 5 to a 3. The chain is still quite sharp and producing good chips, but battery life of the Makita batteries is much poorer after just 10 charges than expected. I am down to 20 minutes of operation now before the batteries are done. I get only about 8 cuts through the 12-13” spruce (not a dense wood) and have to go back for a recharge. This is not good, and Makita should do much better given that I am using two freshly charged and relatively new 5.0Ah batteries. I am not getting a lot done when I can only work 20 minutes and then need to wait! I would like to hear from Makita on this. -------------------------- I got this saw because it runs on the same batteries that power my Makita drill. I am used to a gas chainsaw with a 16” bar, so I got the same length bar for this Makita. It arrived quickly and in good shape. There has been some discussion of the power switch shutting off too quickly, but this model (see all the pic attached and the video with the type of switch) keeps power on for 60 seconds which is a suitable amount of time to move from cut to cut. It is not a powerful saw but did a nice job on a 12-14-inch spruce blowdown. If you are used to a more powerful gas chainsaw, this will feel underpowered - more like a lightweight climbing saw. Still, it did a nice job making quick work of cutting up the blow down -- although it took two battery charges to get through it. Some of us need a break every 45 minutes or so, so that works just fine - and the batteries charge very quickly (30 minutes or so.) The lighter weight of this saw compared to a gas chainsaw is very much appreciated. It is also really nice to get done sawing and not smell of oil and gas fumes.