You guys might like this video I just did showing the XUC06. I was blown away, the video is true and I sold my Stihl MS201 after making it. Great saw!
Let's see:
On April 24, 2019, I post a 1,000 word write up and review on a freshly introduced Makita top handle brushless chainsaw. Revenue = zero.
Several months later, in July 2019, Silver puts up a video review, and in just a few days, no doubt assisted by promoting the video here, already has 4,000 views. I'm doing this all wrong!
And Silver doesn't even spell the model number correctly.
Of greater concern, in the video, he is demonstrating the use of one of the chainsaws in just about the most dangerous way one can use a chainsaw... holding the chainsaw in one hand, while holding the material that the chain saw is cutting in the other, within near proximity.
Why is that dangerous? Because the chain can grab, pull down the material, pulling the hand holding the material down with it, all within the blink of an eye at 4,750 feet per minute. In the case of Silver's video, his hand wasn't always that close, and the two by four he was cutting with the Stihl was likely clamped to something, as it was when he was cutting with the Makita, where he didn't have his hand in harms way, but that isn't seen with the Stihl cutting demonstration. What is visible is how people loose fingers, holding a small branch in one hand while cutting it with the chainsaw. Very bad practice. Very bad visual, especially for a video directed to DIY'ers who may not have the hands on experience to notice the detail and the difference.
And that is one of the reasons why Makita says "For Professional Use Only", as do other chainsaw manufacturers say on any of their light weight top handle chainsaws that can too easily be managed with one hand. The major risk in those is what uninformed people do with their other hand, since they don't need that hand to control the chainsaw. When they use that hand to grasp what they are cutting, as Silver did in his video, they may, one day, have less of that hand left, once that chain pinches the branch (more likely to happen with small diameter branches than 2x4s) and yanks down on it, yanking the hand down with it before the operator has time to let go.
Heck, that was another several hundred more words. I shoulda made this into a video, and gone around to all the forums dropping a link to promote it. Like Silver. Gettin' paid!
Bottom line, be very careful with that nimble little Makita XCU06. It is very small, very light, and ships with a high quality Oregon chain of Oregon's latest and most effective design. Wicked sharp too. This chainsaw is what the Samurai warriors wish they had.
Try to resist the temptation of holding the material you are cutting with your free hand when using a light top handle a chain saw, recognizing the chain's ability to act like a conveyor belt. A very FAST conveyor belt, one that you don't want drawing down your on your hand. If the material must be hand held, keep that hand as far away from the chainsaw as possible.