DeWalt DCM575 vs Husqvarna 535i XP for Felling a Leylandii Screen

The DCM575 is supplied with a 40cm Oregon bar and one 54V FlexVolt 9.0Ah pack. Weight is roughly 3.5kg bare and 4.7kg once the battery is fitted. The 535i XP uses a 35cm bar, runs on Husqvarna BLi200 packs, and weighs 2.6kg without the battery.

Those measurements make the first filter simple. Stem diameters up to 130mm sit comfortably inside the usable bar length of both machines. The useful comparison then moves to chain speed retention and runtime during repeated bucking cuts. Husqvarna quotes chain speed near 20 m/s for the 535i XP. In use, the DCM575 loses more pace when a FlexVolt cell sags under a stalled cut, especially when a 25-tooth chain is buried in the wet, fibrous heartwood of mature Cupressus x leylandii.

Resin loading deserves more attention than it usually gets in felling advice. Leylandii sap gums the chain and bar groove within a dozen cuts, which lifts friction and draws more current. The 535i XP keeps rpm higher into that resistance because its brushless motor and 36V system were tuned for arborist duty cycles. Its savBox-style chain tensioning also makes quick re-tensioning easy when the gummed chain begins to loosen.

The DCM575 uses a broader 54V platform shared with DeWalt circular saws and grinders. It has plenty of bite in clean material, yet it bogs earlier and takes longer to recover in sticky conifer. A 4m screen can easily mean 35 to 50 cuts once limbing is included, and the repeated small delays add up across the line.

Runtime arithmetic for a single screen

A 9.0Ah FlexVolt pack on the DCM575 gives somewhere around 60 to 90 productive cuts in clean softwood before recharge, according to many owner reports. Leylandii is resinous and awkward, with larger cross-sections at the base, so a realistic working figure drops toward 30 to 45 cuts per charge. For eight to ten trunks over a 4m run plus the branch work, budget one full pack and part of a second.

The 535i XP on a BLi200 pack, rated at 5.2Ah and 36V, carries comparable raw watt-hours. It spends that stored energy more efficiently per cut because the chain keeps moving quickly and finishes each cut faster. Less time spent grinding in a stalled kerf means less energy wasted as heat and friction.

With one battery each, the Husqvarna can finish the screen with charge left. The DeWalt is more likely to send the job indoors while the charger catches up. A second FlexVolt 9.0Ah pack usually costs around 150 to 190 pounds at UK retail, which pulls down much of the DCM575’s headline price advantage once the spare pack is counted. The charger matters too: a DCB118 fast charger restores a 9.0Ah pack in roughly 75 to 90 minutes, enough time to break the rhythm of an afternoon’s work.

Working down the line

Start at one end of the screen and move along the row. Each removed trunk gives the bar more swing room on the next stem, which matters near fences, sheds, and tight boundary planting.

A Leylandii screen is a line of slender trunks, so the method differs from dealing with a standalone tree. On stems under 150mm, a formal hinge and back-cut is rarely needed. A single angled cut from the lean side usually drops these screen trunks cleanly when the trunk is roped or hand-steadied.

The 535i XP’s lighter nose helps during repeated low cuts near the root flare. Across 40-plus repetitions, fatigue becomes part of accuracy. Cut 45 still has to be as controlled as cut 5, and a kilo saved at arm’s length has more value than the bare weight figure suggests.

Limbing is the slow section. Leylandii branches are dense, springy, and packed close together, and the branch cuts outnumber the felling cuts by a wide margin. A gummed chain on the DCM575 drags through the fibre and leaves ragged stubs that catch on neighbouring growth. Keep a tin of resin solvent, or even WD-40, within reach and wipe the bar groove every ten minutes. Both saws benefit from the cleaning habit. The DeWalt needs it more often because its lower sustained chain speed lets resin spend longer bonding to the cutters.

Stump treatment can follow straight away. Leylandii will not regrow from a cut stump in the manner of deciduous species, so glyphosate stump painting is usually unnecessary. The root plate simply dies. If the same line is being replanted, the stumps need grinding or digging out because the dead root mass and its allelopathic residue can persist for years and sit directly under the replacement plants.

Replanting is where many screen removals fail. Soil beneath a mature Leylandii run is dry, root-bound, and stripped of the fungal networks a new hedge wants. A bare-root beech replacement has a high establishment failure rate on that depleted ground without intervention. Rootgrow, or an equivalent mycorrhizal inoculant, applied as a root dip at planting gives the beech a working fungal partnership from day one. That matters most in exhausted conifer soil. The inoculant is a one-time application because it colonises and spreads after planting.

Autumn and late winter suit the work because bare-root beech is dormant then. Compost dug into the line helps rebuild the soil structure the Leylandii has stripped out, giving the new whips a better chance against the dry shadow left by the old screen.

Weight in the hand

At 2.6kg bare, the 535i XP is over 25 percent lighter than the DCM575 before either battery is fitted. Across 45 cuts, that difference becomes a major part of the comparison.

Where the DeWalt earns its place

Existing DeWalt 54V FlexVolt owners get a very different calculation. A DCM575 body-only saw sells for around 130 to 160 pounds, and batteries bought for tools such as the DCS577 saw or DCD999 drill fit straight in. The 535i XP commits the buyer to Husqvarna’s 36V BLi platform. A bare saw plus one BLi200 and a charger lands closer to 450 to 550 pounds all in. For a one-off screen removal by someone already carrying yellow batteries, the DCM575 remains the rational spend despite its resin and runtime penalties.

The DeWalt also accepts rough handling well. Its larger housing and the robust FlexVolt casing cope with the drops and bar pinches a beginner can inflict during a first felling job. The 535i XP is a precision arborist tool. Its trigger response and chain brake are tuned for a user who already tracks the bar tip closely. In novice hands, the Husqvarna’s kickback sensitivity can become a liability.

Noise and emissions favour both cordless saws over petrol. Vibration tilts further toward the 535i XP, since Husqvarna quotes front-handle values under 3 m/s2. During a long limbing session, that lower vibration makes the work measurably easier on the hands than the DeWalt as its chain dulls on resin.

Durability across a whole hedge-renovation season belongs in the buying decision as well. The 535i XP’s arborist pedigree suggests better tolerance of repeated resin abuse, yet few owners put either cordless saw through enough Leylandii to publish a clear verdict on which platform still feels fresh after a third or fourth screen.

Chain choice changes the job

Chain choice can change both saws more than the badge on the casing. A semi-chisel chain in 0.325 or 3/8 low-profile pitch, kept sharp with a round file at the correct rake, keeps an edge against resin for longer than the factory chain on either machine. Dull cutters stall the cut, sag the battery, and gum the bar, so maintenance practice matters more than the familiar 54V versus 36V argument in online comparisons.

File every two trunks. Leylandii dulls a chain fast, and a chain that has lost its bite by trunk three turns both saws into the same labouring machine. For a larger screen, carry two sharp chains and swap them during the job. The bar oil reservoir on both saws is small for sustained conifer work, so top up at every battery change; a dry bar running through gummy heartwood is the quickest path to a glazed, useless chain on either tool.

The cheaper body-only purchase looks very different once the work has turned into a line of sticky low cuts, spare batteries, bar cleaning, and hand fatigue. The part left exposed is whether the saving belongs to the tool budget or simply moves into the afternoon itself.