Do I need a reciprocating saw?

[onedash]

I have a corded dewalt and with the pruning blade it cut through bushes like butter. I got a little over zealous and stated pruning maple branches and it was going ok unitl I tried to speed it up and applied to much pressure and bent the blade. Finished up with the chainsaw wich is much quicker but the saw is good for quick stuff within reach of a power outlet. Not loud enough to wake the neighbors either.

[John Hunter]

I have a corded Milwaukee and an 18 volt Ryobi. Would not be without them.

[SHADOWFOX]

I have the corded Bosch RS20 and I was glad I have it when I re-did the front porch.. Tore out the old rotten rails and balusters in less than a half hour. I cannot imagine manually ripping those out. A strongly recommend getting it. I don't see why it cannot be used in pruning trees I used mine for it and it cuts through the darn thing like butter.

[jAngiel]

I have a very inexpensive corded Skil recip saw that my son purchased for my birthday a couple of years ago. I think it cost him less than $40, variable speed and all. I have used it for practically everything mentioned here. I has received tons of use and is still going strong.

I use it a lot but not frequently so I am extremely happy that it is a corded version. Unless you have other tools that share the same type batteries it would be a pain to have a battery sitting in a charger for something that you occasionally use. For me, when I need the recip saw, I need it now and would prefer to not wait an hour or more for the battery to charge as the jobs that I use this tool for are usually unplanned.

If I had one that worked well and had batteries that it could share with other well used tools I could see some advantages to having a cordless. But I don't want one that is "one of a kind" sitting around, I'll keep the cord.

[Thalermade]

To add up all this information, the answer to your question is:
NO, you do not need to buy a sawzall.

You need to buy TWO, One corded and one battery operated.

have fun

Russ

[Tom Slick]

gotta have a recip saw. It's my second favorite tool of destruction closely behind the cutting torch. Flames and heat trump chips and usefulness!

seriously everytime I get mine out it is one of those "man I'm glad I bought this" moments. I've used it for pruning, cutting roots while digging out trees/shrubs, demolishinghousehold stuff, cutting pipes and tubes, cutting steel...

I have the portercable tigersaw and it does everything I want it to for it's $99 price.

[scorrpio]

For demo work, sawzall is indispensable. For about any other kind of rough work, it can come real handy. I plan to get one, but the fact that my neighbor has one, and we lend tools to each other as needed, keeps delaying the purchase. I actually once made a killer snipe on ebay, hooking a barely used DeWalt for only $25, but the seller refunded the money, 'regretfully' informing me that 'the saw has been stolen' Riiiiight. I told him he got 3 days to furnish a copy of police report. 3 days later, slammed him with a negative.

I do not like cordless. Batteries and I don't mix. I forget to charge them, or somehow mishandle them, and they seem to die on me in minutes - and rarely a battery lasts more than a year for me. Gimme corded any time. Another concern - with all the newfangled battery tech and new voltages coming out all the time, hoping that companies do not drop support for older style batteries several years down the road. Would be a drag to be unable to find a replacement for a dead battery on a tool that still works.

For demo work, I like Milwaukee's 'The Axe' blades - will go through anything. I had one of these cut a 16d nail in half LENGTHWISE, without me even noticing during the cut.

Things to look for in a sawzall:
1. Cushioned grips. A must if you don't want to kill your hands.
2. Toolless blade eject. Very handy when you want to discard a bent/blunted hot blade and snap in a new one.
3. Rotaring handle. four positions, letting you cut sideways and upward without changing your grip. You won't know what you are missing till you try it.