I second this.  OP, don't know if you want to buy into a battery system or not, but I have the Dewalt 20v Max battery chainsaw, which I carry in my truck for exactly the type of things you describe.   I can put a 60v Flexvolt battery on it and it runs even harder.  Milwaukee and Ryobi have them too, as does Makita.  Makita also has a nice little top handle saw which felt really awkward to me, but you might like it.

After trying all three, I believe the Makita is the better tool, but I am in the DeWalt battery system, and it's too expensive to switch.

I am at the GIE (Green Industry Expo) in Louisville as we speak, and today I tried five different Echo chainsaws.  Some were battery, and some were gas.  All were small and lightweight.  Some were EXCELLENT for their size, and some were a hard pass.

I will say that the gas saws started the easiest of any piece of equipment I've ever used.  That alone is a selling point for somebody like me, who hate hate HATES yanking on a damn pull rope over and over.

Half a pull and the saw was running.

Other than that, I apologize that I cannot give a full writeup at this point.  I've been trying equipment, and looking at equipment, for 2.5 days, not eating hardly any decent meals, and the thousands and THOUSANDS of people at this thing, and its sheer size, is a bit much for this introvert.

I will have to sleep a lot, figure out which exact saw models I tried, and write those up.  But they are certainly worth a look, especially at the price point they quoted.  I wish I could try the Echo saws right alongside some of the other small saws.  Unfortunately they don't offer that.  

The Echo Battery Trimmer prototypes I tried were pretty damn impressive as well.  The price tag reflects that, as the cost of getting into their 56v system is kind of high, IMO.  But I did not think I would consider a battery trimmer to EVER be viable for commercial use.  This one surprised me.  

However, this is a thread about chainsaws.  More later.

~Kitties