Milwaukee M18 Fuel Sawzall Brushless Cordless Reciprocating Saw - No Charger, No Battery, Bare Tool Only

Why it's worth it

A reciprocating saw is the tool you buy when something needs to come apart. Tools In Action clocked this one cutting 2x lumber faster than every competing cordless recip saw in a head-to-head, and its 1-1/4" stroke is a big part of why.

A SAWZALL cuts things you don't intend to keep. Nail-embedded studs, old cast-iron drain pipe, tree limbs at ground level, a kitchen you're gutting. Tools In Action found this model cut through 2x dimensional lumber faster than every other cordless recip saw in its comparison, and the 1-1/4" stroke length explains most of that — a longer stroke means more blade doing work per pass.

Blade changes are where cheap recip saws waste your time. This one uses a lever-actuated clamp with a wear-resistant insert, and owners consistently point out that you can swap blades with gloves on, in seconds, without twisting a collar. When you're breaking down cabinets and switching between wood and metal blades constantly, that adds up.

From our review of 8 milwaukee tools

What we like

• +A SAWZALL cuts things you don't intend to keep
• +Blade changes are where cheap recip saws waste your time
• +The battery connection is metal-reinforced, which sounds like a spec-sheet throwaway until you've dropped a saw off a ladder
• +This is a bare tool. It'll run on standard 5.0Ah packs — owners report decent runtime doing yard cleanup and stump work on those…

What to know

• –It's heavy. Just under seven pounds bare, and a big pack makes it worse
• –It eats batteries. Demolition draws hard and continuously, so a single mid-size pack won't get you through a serious teardown